Why I don't pay for software (and why sometimes I do)

Trust me or not, I've actually paid for (some) Mac Apps even after having cracked them.

You know sometimes you just feel that the developers deserve compensation for their work, i.e. I use a slightly patched version of SubEthaEdit (remove the "Highlight Syntax Warning" for big files and a few other small patches, that and... well the trial limit) but I did bought a license too. (No, Coding Monkeys I didn't register under KellogS name).

But I'm not writing this post to tell you how nice I am with software developers.

I did the mistake of buying a small, inexpensive*, application for my iPhone from the AppStore (yeah, yeah I know you can find all of them cracked over the net, that's not the point).

This application has been developed by a member of the so called "Delicious Generation". No if you ever read something about this "Delicious Generation" (AppZapper, Disco, ...), you may know that they care more about:

- pre-Release Hype
- Nice looking UI
- Hype
- Did I mention "hype" ?

Than:

- Features
- Support
- Releasing something past version 1.0 (which, probably shouldn't be called 1.0 in the first place)

Yes I do love nice looking UI (otherwise I would still be under Linux, wouldn't I ?) and let say that I can understand the 80/20 rule and live without some features (after all, the command line is there for something, isn't it ?).

But what I can't live without, is this:

Basic functionality doesn't work (in this case, internationalization issue that render the App useless). Probably not enough "Delicious Testing" ?

And more important than a broken App:

No fucking support, sent a mail more than a week ago, explaining the issue in details, even give hints as to how/where to fix this.... No answers!

Now, here's my point why should I pay for something without actually having a working application and/or some kind of support (or at least a, "we are aware of this issue, we're working on it") ?

What I should probably do, is patch every "Delicious Apps" out there and post them online, this way they can claim the application is dead and WON'T HAVE TO BOTHER WITH SUPPORT ANYMORE**


* inexpensive > useless
** But I won't, it's not because I feel ripped off that I should become a dick, but If I ever write an Essay about a "Delicious App", I won't protect/hide the application name this time....

Updates: Thoughts & Links

I came across this very nice Blog about OS X reversing: http://reverse.put.as/, nice articles and very nice tips & tricks.

I'm working on a "re-Method-izer" ATM, trying to get back high level objective C from a disassembly listing, written in PHP for rapid prototyping, I'm close to have something working... still need to sort out the getParentObject function/construct.

I didn't implement any logic block analysis for now (if...else/for/while constructs).

I might post something when I feel it's good enough.


In the meantime, Happy Reversing!