Do you buy software (for Windows or Mac)? * if yes, give examples of software you bought. * if not say why.
Yeah, sometimes. Depends on what it is, but for instance I run a company, and for that I usually buy professional packages, because they're needed to do my job. (Accounting software, recovery software, ways to read different file formats across different systems and such. Also Windows, of course). I also pay for software I use a lot, even if they're free to begin with. If it's possible to donate, pay for it some way, I usually pay that amount, if I feel it's worth it. Sometimes, though, I use software that I should be paying for, which I don't, because I could do the exact same stuff I use it for, with a completely free program. It's just my preference for the non-free version. I can't, however, justify paying for such software. Also, I rarely pay full price - I'm good at getting deals for software packages I need, simply by being nice, and presenting value as a customer.
If there isn't a free version and I can see the value. I bought a 5 year support package for a tool called SqlYog because I used it with and without support for years prior and think it's brilliant and have a vested interest in the developers continuing success. I use lots of freeware too.
At home, I pay for MS Office and my anti-virus program (Kaspersky or Webroot, these days) when I get a new machine. I have also occasionally bought specific applications if I need it, but that is pretty rare. For computers at the office, we are very careful to only buy/license software and rarely use freeware.
I once purchased the Mighty Eagle extension in Angry Birds game coz I was unable to cross one very hard level.
At home I use freeware and at the moment there is no reason to pay for some soft. But sometimes I buy games too
For a small company you have to purchase windows software especially office, and even the antivirus and security software aren't for commercial.
I usually use freeware. Main reason is that I don't have enough money to buy paid software. I think I only use paid Antivirus.
Depends on my needs and options. I have a subscription to Adobe Cloud so that I can use Photoshop and Illustrator. I use an open-source code editor for websites (brackets). I use paid software for typing (Microsoft Word + Grammar checker plugin). Other than that, I mostly use open source software.
I only pay for antivirus,i use freeware I have money to buy software but I don't want to waste it on that.
Never since I found out about torrents 10 years ago. I think I have bought 1 piece of software in my life. That was a DVD copy program when DVDs were first released.
Last software I bought was over 20 years ago and then ONLY because NOTHING else would do the job. Since then I have used THAT software to write programs on my own without needing to buy them, and am still using it today. I have downloaded 2 simple freebies in the last 20 years simply because they did what I wanted done without me having to reinvent the wheel to code my own.
I echo comments by oPSiCle & Sarahk. As a tech company owner, I buy software mostly for servers and sometime some windows tools. Google docs are faaantastic for business use. Thankfully Google went and finished the job that Sun Micro Systems/Open Office started 20 years ... to webify office applications. Google docs do so much more than MS Office especially in the area of sharing info with others, security, backup etc. By far the best piece of software I bought over the last 20 years was/is "Last Pass". The free version is excellent. The pro is just $12/year ... yes per year. It has saved me tons of time, effort and stress. It SO MUCH MORE than a password management tool. Note: Last Pass is a brilliant 'service' but I did install the plugin in my browser and the app on my phone. I cannot tell you enough about Last Pass. Just use the free version and see for yourself. Ditto Google docs.