MacHeist is basically a software package of various Mac shareware applications that you can buy for a pretty reasonable all in price, of $39. I had already bought quite a few of the application before, so on the face of it, it was not an obvious decision whether to purchase it. However I sent on the email flyer to the rest of the family, and we eventually agreed to buy the package.
So far the games, World of Goo and Cro Magnon Racer have been huge family hits. I'll probably have a go with Times an RSS feedreader, although I am starting to get to grips with Google Reader, it does seem to shoot up to hundred of unread articles pretty much instantly.
Unfortunately downloading and installing a dozen different applications by a dozen different shareware developers is an experience in itself. I was in correspondence with one developer and he replied
Support is everything. It's the most costly part of being a developer. Some larger corporations lose track of this fact, but as a small company (it's just me) it's very easy to notice. ;-)If I do anything that increases support I will not be able to spend time on development. If I don't spend time on development then I don't make money. To function as a business your development efforts need to be spent minimizing your future support load. It's just that simple.
The better applications consistently seem to be the ones that are easiest to install, I suppose the developers either put their effort into reducing future support calls, or they don't and they end up firefighting. I don't imagine that I will ever earn a living a software developer, but it there is probably a useful principle in there somewhere. It really does pay to anticipate what your customers want.
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