Developers: Stop undervaluing software

The post argues that developers often undervalue software because they think they could build a similar tool themselves, because market forces make software prices hard to judge, and because software purchasing is more complex than it looks. It says buyers are not paying only for features, but also for support, innovation, and the work behind the product.

Reading notes

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• Many developers assume they can recreate software with open source code and use that assumption to challenge pricing.
• Buying software includes support, innovation, and the time spent building the product, not only feature lists.
• Venture capital, crowded markets, Hacker News, and advice fatigue make software pricing harder to read from the outside.
• Software buying inside organizations can involve competing products, procurement, and delays caused by changes in work or business plans.
• The author says undervaluing software costs everyone money and limits the value captured by developers and software businesses.
• The post connects better software pricing knowledge with a better understanding of how software is produced, packaged, and sold.