The Oil Drum

Why would anyone buy software?

Because not all valuable software is free.

Huh? What are you trying to say?

I'm answering your question.

People buy software because they find pieces of software which (a) have value to them, and (b) are for sale. Not all pieces of software are both (i.e., software might not have value and/or might be free rather than for sale), but for many people software exists which is indeed both.

And, sometimes, defective software is the best there is, and is better than nothing.

Having nothing or having something that is broken and defective, and you are claiming that it is better to use a broken tool?

Sometimes, yes.

A few years ago, used OpenOffice's spreadsheet to do some statistical analysis. It had some bugs in it that were irritating, but did not invalidate the result, and hence using it was better than doing the calculations by hand.

Or, for a more visceral example, consider a hammer with a broken handle. It's cleaerly a broken tool, but I'd certainly rather use that to try driving in a nail than use my hand. Broken tools are often better than no tools at all.

Interesting view - that one should pay for crap.

Interesting view, but not my view, suggesting you've misunderstood what I'm saying.

All I'm saying here is that if a piece of software's value is greater to a person than its (total) cost, it makes sense for them to use it. If that's not true - if, for example, it's so buggy as to be practically useless and is quite expensive, then my logic is that they should not use the software.

You just keep taking a swing and missing in this thread. 1st on small business, now this.

I suggest you re-read the thread, then. I haven't said anything about small business in this thread, so you appear to be somewhat confused.