Hello!

I've made a few little apps for other IT professionals like me to use over the last year or so, but they have all been fairly simple things with one form that just do one job, so I've been giving them away for free from my blog (shameless plug: http://cjwdev.wordpress.com ). However - I have now begun working on some applications that require a lot more time/work to complete and are very similar to applications that companies are selling for hundreds of dollars.

The thing is I dont want to sell mine for hundreds of dollars... I want mine to be completely free. Here are some of the reasons why I want them to be free:
  • I want to help other people out, simple as that.
  • I'm not a professional developer and have never been a professional developer, so I somehow feel like I dont really have the right to charge people for my software in case its rubbish. I know that sounds a bit daft but that's just how I feel.
  • I cant offer any 'proper' technical support. Whilst in most cases I would probably get back to people and get problems resolved just as quickly as any big software vendor, I cant guarantee that. I feel like if I charge money for a program then I have to commit to some kind of support cover for people who have paid money for it, and I cant do that as I'm at work all day.
  • My programs cant go through the same kind of testing and quality control procedures that software from a proper software vendor would go through. Again this makes me feel like I dont have the right to charge people for a program that could be buggy as hell (of course I test them as much as I can but I dont have the resources to test on a large variety of systems/networks)
  • At the end of the day, none of the programs I am making are ground breaking or new ideas. They might have the odd feature that other similar apps dont have, but in general there is nothing outstanding about my programs so the only real 'selling point' I've got is that they are free. If I charged money for them then they would be just like every other similar application but made by someone with less experience and less resources, so I doubt many people would be interested in them and then I've just spent weeks/months of my time making software that very few people end up using.

I would be interested to hear your opinions on some of those points - I dont know if maybe I'm being too hard on myself that's all. I recently released a public BETA of one of these apps I'm working on and someone who tried the BETA out sent me an email saying that at the risk of shooting themselves in the foot they thought I should charge money for it and they would buy it. That's encouraging n all but that's only one person (out of the 60 people who have downloaded the BETA so far that is the only feedback I've had)

But the main reason for this thread is this - despite all of those reasons for wanting my apps to be free, I would still like to be able to make some money from them if possible. I mean I'm spending an awful lot of my time (and money in some cases) on making these programs so it would be nice to get something more than the occasional thank you out of it The only two ways I can think of to make some money but also have the apps free are:
1. Have adverts in the app. I dont like this option though because firstly it will take up space and make the app look pretty ugly. Secondly, I dont recall the last time I saw a desktop app with adverts in it (other than adverts to buy the software itself). If I went down this route then I guess I could also provide an option to purchase a version of the software without adverts in (at a pretty low price).
2. Have an option on my website to donate (via PayPal or whatever). The problem with this though is that my apps are all going to be aimed at IT departments in businesses and I dont really think a business would donate when they could just have it for free.

What are your thoughts on these options? Have any other suggestions?

Thanks
Chris