Re: mingw build?

[Thomas Weber]

On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 11:40:18AM -0400, John W. Eaton wrote:
> 
> It seems to me that support is the more valuable item here.  And as I
> see it, just providing the binary is a form of support, since it seems
> that most people can't build it on their own.  And even if they could,
> it would make sense to spend a few dollars just to avoid the hassle.
> 
> But again, if the binary that is for sale can just be uploaded and
> redistribute for free, then why would more than a few people pay?

Because people are not stupid.

When I was responsible for the software used in my group at the
university, it would have been trivial to spend some money on Octave -
"just for trying out a software". There was one reason why I couldn't: I
needed a written invoice. 

So, just the possibility for people to forward a nicely written piece of
paper with a big printed "invoice for your scientific software package"
or so to their accounting department can make a difference. 

You might be able to sell support contracts as well that way - it is,
after all, what Matlab does. And I've yet to come across a problem with
forwarding their invoices  (and they are anything but cheap).

There are all kinds of additional boni you could provide for such
subscriptions: a separate bug tracker or automatically a higher priority
in the bug tracker (not sure if that is possible with Savannah, though).
A different mail address for their bugs. Participation in votes on what
to prioritize for the next release ...

        Thomas