Info-Mac

In case you hadn't heard, Macheist II, a bundle of 14 3rd party applications valued over $400, was available for $49 for a about two weeks. A debate has stirred up among the Mac Community, about wether or not selling this bundle is good for the third party software business.

One side of the debate centers its arguments that it is not good for 3rd party developers, based upon an influx of potential tech support issues, devaluation of software (several of the 14 programs offered are normally for sale for over $50).

The other side argues that tech support is not really an issue, customers would be more likely to upgrade to later versions further down the road, and that overall, This introduces 3rd party developers to customers that otherwise, would never have heard about them.

Macheist also gave a portion of the proceeds to various charities. Check out http://www.macheist.com to learn more

I see nothing wrong with this brief promotional competition/game thing. I've never personally participated though.

I don't see a problem with it if as long as all of the software developers don't mind their programs being sold for that price.

macuser77 wrote:customers would be more likely to upgrade to later versions further down the road

This applies to me. I never would have bought some of these apps on their own. Now I'm sold, and they own me. Sort of.

I recently partook in MacHeist III, and got nearly $2000 of software for $31 ($39 minus my $8 discount). The software available was excellent (DEVONThink, Delicious Library 2, and BoinxTV ($299)), and I'm definitely happy with the price I paid.

I think it must benefit the developers, otherwise they wouldn't agree to doing it. I know that this year the developers get a share of the total revenue, which is obviously better than the flat fee they used to get.

I'm with you lessthanthree. Delicious library is fantastic. So is eventbox. I can't even think of all the software I've gotten at this point but it's been great. I can't wait for MH4 which won't be for a while. This is a great concept.