Daniel Jalkut on paying for good software:
But smaller companies don’t often have the variety of products and services that lends itself to such a complex strategy [of giving things away for free]. Given a good product idea and a market to sell to, they’re forced to adopt the simplest of all strategies: pure payment. Build something brilliant, and be rewarded with money. This money translates into a great motivation for the developer, which in turn translates back into product greatness. It’s easy to understand why the majority of great products in this world do cost money to obtain.