Refactor the numbers
Scripting News: Who will pay, part 2
Let's say you spend 100 hours a year using a piece of software and assume your time is worth $50 per hour. So that's $5000 of your time flowing through the software. How much self-respect is there in paying nothing for software that leverages so much of your time?
Because if for lack of quality documentation, poor design, lack of bug fixes, I spend 100 hours instead of 50 using a piece of software, and my time is worth $50 an hour, then how much self-respect is there in paying for software that wastes $2500 of my time?
It just seems silly. I pay $1 to ride the subway downtown. It costs $300 to fly to NY and back (two hours in the air). A cab ride to the airport -- $40. My monthly rent is in the thousands. Medical insurance about $10,000 per year. Everything costs money. So does software. Don't fool yourself.
Take Amtrak. Get a cheaper apartment. Berkman fellows aren't staff? Harvard doesn't provide them with health insurance? Things are tough all over.
If you pay nothing for software, you probably won't die from it, but you may lose data, you're virtually certain to waste time, and at some point, money.
Oh, please. Was there some particular software this is referring to, by any chance?