More Proof Good Software Needs A Good Price.

What should good software cost for your Mac? As the reigning Mac360 value vixen, you know I love low cost utilities and applications.

In some cases, a stiff price tag is even better. What? How can that be, Alex?

Our Jack Miller started a thread in the Forums about an iPhoto plugin he needed but didn’t want to buy.

He groaned and moaned and complained about the price tag, and finally bought the utility anyway.

Why? Because it was the best solution for his requirements and ended years of pain doing keywords in iPhoto.

That’s the key. The “best solution” should be part of the criteria for purchasing a Mac utility. It’s not just price.

Yes, you heard it from me, the queen of Mac360’s Low End section.

As you may have noticed, Mac360 doesn’t review Mac utilities or applications that we don’t like or wouldn’t use ourselves.

Fortunately, that leaves us with plenty of options, as Mac software continues to improve with every version of Mac OS X.

My focus is value, and I love Mac software that provides great value; often in the form of low price or no price.

For what it’s worth, I’m awfully selective about those freebies that show up in my reviews.

Often, the open source or freebie applications are a labor of love or an exercise in communal understanding of a Mac solution.

Kudos to all those Mac developers working on free or low cost apps and utilities that make using a Mac more rewarding.

Kudos to all those Mac developers working on great applications that have a price tag—even one that makes us cringe a little.

John Gruber’s Daring Fireball has been running a series of articles on software pricing techniques, problems, and issues.

Others have chimed in with experiences that tell an interesting tale for developers and Mac users.

The basic idea is that a good Mac utility or application should have a matching price tag. John thinks that $25 is about the bottom.

While a price tag is not always indicative of worth or value, it does say something about the product, the developer, and the buyer’s expectation.

For free or open source Mac solutions, support isn’t much of a consideration, though the software may be superb. Firefox is a good example.

BareBones charges $125 for their highly acclaimed text editor, BBEdit. Is it worth that? It must be, as it’s very popular and often considered a good reason to buy a Mac.

When Tera and Bambi started Mac360 nearly three years ago, they were adamant that we review only such applications or utilities that we would have and use on our Macs.

Good software deserves a good price tag. Not necessarily an expensive sticker, but worthy of the product’s value to the user.

As a Mac user for many years, I’m used to paying something of a premium for the privilege to maintain the Mac’s computing experience.

Cheaper PCs using Windows are available, but Mac users are willing to cough up hard-earned cash for Macs with more bells and whistles. Why?

We understand the difference between cost and price. We understand the differences between quality, value, and cheap, regardless of price.

Mac360 has reviewed a few hundred Mac utilities and applications in the past few years. Tera was proud to pay the freight for all Mac software on her Mac.

I’ll keep looking for bargains and value, even freebies, but rest assured that Mac software that comes with a price tag and gets reviewed here is worthy of your attention.

Do you have utilities or applications on your Mac that have a price tag that made you cringe, grimace, or have second thoughts—but you bought it anyway?