Thoughts on ComicPress for Pay
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Hi there,
I am one of the cheapest webcomic bastards around, (my track record of using Commons PD art and open-source software speaks for itself.) Yet, I would totally pay for a ComicPress theme to show my support for the authors of this software, because of the effort they have made to make it work. I make enough money with my webcomics because of them and I would like to return the favor. Also, since there is a free version of ComicPress available, I fail to see the big deal is. Besides, how would you like it if you were forced to volunteer at your day job for free? Not everyone creates software as a charity effort, and maybe they would rather not have a “real job.” I sure as hell would hate to work a 9-to-5, so why impose this on anyone else?
Also your argument about WP being totally free and donation supported does not seem to take this into account: http://en.wordpress.com/products/
Part of the reason our economy is in shambles is because people expect something for nothing, and rag on others when they want to be rewarded for their efforts. I say as long as they have the free option, more power to them.
Cheers,
Vas-
(I’m not trying to be snarky; I’m honestly curious, but text communication being what it is this might “sound” bad. I don’t mean any offense.)
So you say you’d pay for ComicPress; you know they have a donate option right? Have you donated to ComicPress to show your support? Would you donate $80?
Also, WordPress.com is free. You pay for extras, not for using WordPress. And using it is entirely optional; you could purchase webhosting elsewhere or even setup your own webserver and install WordPress on it for free.
The problem with what was CPP (as described in Frumph’s own post from April: http://frumph.net/blog/comicpress-unleashed/ ) is that it was (as envisioned by Frumph back in April, at least) meant to be a total break with ComicPress “Legacy”. CPL would still be around and supported for free and forever, but only for compatibilities sake (e.g. no new features). Anyone wanting the amazing new features of CPP would have to pay.
Me, I have no problem with that. The CP dev’s can charge whatever they want for their work, and if they wanted to essentially cut “free” users off from new features, that’s fine too. It’s their work and it’s their choice, but it doesn’t make it a good idea for keeping CP a viable option in the future. And it doesn’t change the fact that every single feature announced for CPP is already available for WordPress for free.
My own major complaint against the whole thing is how it’s been handled: in typically heavy-handed fashion. That post is a great example; it goes on about how everyone else is stealing ComicPress’ ideas and how “Premium” is going to be a massive leap forward (with the only announced features, again, being available elsewhere for free). I’m sure part of that is marketing talk (they want you to pay for it so it better sound amazing, right?), but the CP dev’s know that ComicPress is synonymous with webcomic publishing on WordPress and seem to like to use that to ignore or belittle completely legitimate alternatives. They don’t owe those alternatives anything (trying to sell your product and then linking to ten alternatives that do the same thing for free isn’t a great idea), but they could at least be civil about it.
If they have legitimate complaints about their competition that’s one thing; random insults are another.
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