Question:

Answer:

1. I felt it didn't make sense to charge for such a small addition to an already free web browser.
2. Other browsers support these features, but I'm too cheap to purchase them. That's one reason I wrote Sogudi.
3. Other reasons I wrote Sogudi were to learn:
• How do Input Managers work?
• How can I decipher the inner workings of a program?
• How does the shareware & freeware model work?
• etc.
4. And finally, Sogudi could be a leader package to draw people to my other products (of which there are currently none).

What I've learned:

1. Writing software for distribution takes a great deal more effort and time than I had anticipated.
2. The user community can be very supportive, helpful, and appreciative, especially if they are getting what they want & for free.
3. This same group of people can be quite nasty if the author so much as hints that he'd like his efforts to produce enough for the occasional sandwich.
4. Sogudi has been downloaded almost 1600 times, is currently installed in over 900 separate computers, and I have received exactly $0.00 in donations. At that rate, it doesn't pay for the web space it takes up.
5. This project wasn't about money, but about fun, community interest, and a pretty neat idea.
6. I'm not ready to make the jump into what a shareware project would require.

What I've decided:

1. As long as Sogudi remains useful and fun for me, I will continue to develop it and it will remain free.
2. As long as the users contribute in a a positive manner to this site, I will be having fun, and Sogudi will stay free.
3. As soon as people start demanding one thing or another and get nasty, I will either stop developing Sogudi or start charging for it. I really do have better things to do than listen to a group of freeloaders complain about the unfairness of the world.
4. Apple has a tendency of taking good ideas that others have implemented and copying them into their own software (MultiFinder, Multi-Level Apple Menu, DropDrawers, LiteSwitchX, DragThing, ...) so this may become a pointless debate when some future version of Safari supports shortcuts.
5. If you are truly concerned about Sogudi remaining free and supported -- Donate!

• Kitzel Hoover, 15-XI-2003