The real problem is that most acqui-hire teams disappear into BigCo never to be heard from again until they resign a few years later.
The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition
81–90 of 202 posts
Re: The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition
#82The reason sparrow had to sell is because they didn't have a recurring revenue model. This is what limits all "pay once" desktop (and mobile) software: either they have to charge prohibitively high amounts or they have to get you to upgrade frequently. The former limits adoption and the latter is tricky and encourages feature bloat. I now want to pay for the desktop software I like as a subscription: it keeps the dev…
Nobody outside the developer community will ever pay for any software on a recurring basis, especially if free alternatives are available.
SlySoft does a good of this.
Re: The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition
#83Not that it would have prevented this, but the App stores really need to work on an paid upgrade process. It's hard making $10 a head on software, especially when that's all you're ever going to make. I can't believe paid upgrades aren't a part of at least the Mac App store yet.
Re: The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't use Sparrow so please correct me if I am wrong. The applications are still fully functional and are working perfectly fine until Apple changes anything they heavily depend on or something replaces imap. You own your copy of Sparrow and it still works. Imagine you buy a BMW and in 10 years you cannot get the required fuel anymore. Does this mean you only pay for a new car when you get all plans for the engine…
Obvious thing: Some security vulnerability is found which gives attackers access to your system or so. Or: There is some bug which gets active let's say after year 2013 or after 10k mails or so. Or: (I don't know Sparrow so not sure if this applies.) You have created/build some app-specific content/database (like have done all your mail tagging with Sparrow) so you want to re-use it on future Apple hardware. Now assu…
Everything valid - but as time passes there is sometimes just no way around upgrading your software. The fact that there could be an immediate problem was ignored by me, that's true.
Since they want to keep it alive (in its current state) I believe they'd fix something critical.
Re: The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't use Sparrow so please correct me if I am wrong. The applications are still fully functional and are working perfectly fine until Apple changes anything they heavily depend on or something replaces imap. You own your copy of Sparrow and it still works. Imagine you buy a BMW and in 10 years you cannot get the required fuel anymore. Does this mean you only pay for a new car when you get all plans for the engine…
For something as critical as email, "fine until Apple changes anything" is not good enough, given that Apple has a habit of changing things.
If Sparrow would be your only option to access your mails this would be true.
Re: The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think github would be the exception that proves the rule, because the github investment isn't a typical "Venture" investment- it was much closer to a late stage hedge, or hedge fund investment. This was a company that was profitably growing like crazy and thus could effectively dictate terms. Whatever A16H's exit expectations are here, I'm pretty sure they are rather long term, and on the order of "github goes publ…
Not to mention that github's foundation is git which is very much open source so your repos are moveable.
Sparrow's foundation is imap/smtp...
Re: The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition
#87Unfortunately, this is what you get when you pay $10 for an app. There is a huge disparity when it comes to the cost of apps these days vs the salaries required to sustain the engineers who make those apps. Even at $10/pop, you need to sell a lot of apps just to sustain the salaries of very good engineers, and THIS is what makes great products vulnerable to acqui-hires. The problem is that the $0.99 model of the App…
It's easy to blame the app store and focus on Apple here, because Sparrow runs on Apple products, but it's not Apple's fault. Developers have given away software products for less than $0.99 since long before Apple conceived of an app store.
Open source software is free. Firefox is free. Thunderbird is free. That anyone would pay for an email client at all is exceptional.
It's not Apple who is at fault here -- it's us.
Re: The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition
#88Unfortunately, this is what you get when you pay $10 for an app. There is a huge disparity when it comes to the cost of apps these days vs the salaries required to sustain the engineers who make those apps. Even at $10/pop, you need to sell a lot of apps just to sustain the salaries of very good engineers, and THIS is what makes great products vulnerable to acqui-hires. The problem is that the $0.99 model of the App…
Many users actually think everything should be free.
And they even claim they are 'ripped off' because the free version of software does not do 'X'. And they post bad reviews and send hate emails. (First hand experience).
Somehow, thanks for Facebook and Google, people feel entitled to free software and service.
Re: The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to mention that github's foundation is git which is very much open source so your repos are moveable.
Sparrow's foundation is imap/smtp...
True, but I expect you use access github through the standard "git commit" , "git pull" type commands. So switching git providers can be done relatively transparently without changing the "UI".
Although I guess you would lose whatever extra features github provides, which is partly why I build my git workflow around "standard" git.
Re: The real reason we’re upset about Sparrow’s acquisition
#90Unfortunately, this is what you get when you pay $10 for an app. There is a huge disparity when it comes to the cost of apps these days vs the salaries required to sustain the engineers who make those apps. Even at $10/pop, you need to sell a lot of apps just to sustain the salaries of very good engineers, and THIS is what makes great products vulnerable to acqui-hires. The problem is that the $0.99 model of the App…
It's easy to blame the app store and focus on Apple here, because Sparrow runs on Apple products, but it's not Apple's fault. Developers have given away software products for less than $0.99 since long before Apple conceived of an app store. Open source software is free. Firefox is free. Thunderbird is free. That anyone would pay for an email client at all is exceptional. It's not Apple who is at fault here -- it's u…
Why? People pay for quality and the OSS email apps tend to be unlovable. Sparrow proved there's a market willing to pay for better clients but Apple doesn't want their money and nobody else seems interested in trying for it.