Rewarding Good Software Companies

By Daniel Miessler on January 18th, 2006: Tagged as CSS | General | Philosophy | Webdesign | XHTML

I’ve been using TextWrangler for a while now — a free uber-text editor that’s used heavily by web developers. It’s actually the free, mini-version of BBEdit — which is supposedly everything TextWrangler is and more.

I’ve been thinking that I might want to “step up” to BBedit and buy it to get the features I’m lacking with TextEdit, but then I looked at the stuff and it doesn’t seem all that compelling. It then came to me that if even one or two of the features are useful — ever — then it might be worth it. Why?

Because I love TextWrangler so much. That doesn’t seem to make sense, but I almost feel like it’s good karma to buy BBEdit because I like their free offering so much — especially since it does offer some extra features that could come in handy. I’m going to download the demo and play with it for a bit — just to make sure I’m not being too nutty.

What do you guys think; is it just abject stupidity to “reward” a company in this way?

Edit: Thanks for the input; I bought it. For anyone thinking of doing the same, there’s a $100 discount for anyone using TextWrangler. The details are a bit weird, but it’s a real discount. I got the product for $99 instead of $199. W00t.

  • Carl M

    No! It’s not stupidity. Think of it as purchasing shareware. I know that some folks use shareware programs LONG term without buying them, but like you, I believe that the programmers deserve to be rewarded. There are only a couple of shareware products I use, but I have always paid for the upgrades when they come out with a new version. Often the upgrades (even major ones) are free to registered users, but I’ll buy the CD version … not because I need the CD for easier installation, but to support the programmer. So, I’m with you. In fact, I use an old version of BBEdit Lite as a plain text editor from time to time … so perhaps I should step up to BBEdit too. Hmmmm …

  • Carl M

    No! It’s not stupidity. Think of it as purchasing shareware. I know that some folks use shareware programs LONG term without buying them, but like you, I believe that the programmers deserve to be rewarded. There are only a couple of shareware products I use, but I have always paid for the upgrades when they come out with a new version. Often the upgrades (even major ones) are free to registered users, but I’ll buy the CD version … not because I need the CD for easier installation, but to support the programmer. So, I’m with you. In fact, I use an old version of BBEdit Lite as a plain text editor from time to time … so perhaps I should step up to BBEdit too. Hmmmm …

  • http://www.kenswain.com/ Ken

    I agree. I try and always support good software venders.

  • http://www.kenswain.com Ken

    I agree. I try and always support good software venders.

  • Brian

    Buy it.

    BareBones has always had a free version of BBEdit, even before TextWrangler came out. I started with the freeware version, and bought the full version when they added syntax highlighting in the for-pay version. I’ve bought every major upgrade since – it’s the only for-pay software that I upgrade so regularly, and I’ve always been happy with the newer versions.

    The built-in HTML tools and CVS/Perforce/Subversion integration alone make it worth the price, if you hand-code a lot of HTML.

    You’ll be encouraging the practice of offering no-charge software, and getting some very cool new tools at the same time. You even get a $100 discount for having tried TextWrangler first – check the “cross-upgrade” page.

  • Brian

    Buy it.

    BareBones has always had a free version of BBEdit, even before TextWrangler came out. I started with the freeware version, and bought the full version when they added syntax highlighting in the for-pay version. I’ve bought every major upgrade since – it’s the only for-pay software that I upgrade so regularly, and I’ve always been happy with the newer versions.

    The built-in HTML tools and CVS/Perforce/Subversion integration alone make it worth the price, if you hand-code a lot of HTML.

    You’ll be encouraging the practice of offering no-charge software, and getting some very cool new tools at the same time. You even get a $100 discount for having tried TextWrangler first – check the “cross-upgrade” page.


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