from cubes.fr/li26 Apr 4 2009 Photo

Gruber points out that many of the criticisms of MacHeist were based on a flat-payment scheme they used before, and that this time, developers are being paid a percentage. Gus Mueller (whose previous scathing criticism can be found farther down the page) writes: So why is Flying Meat participating in MacHeist time around, when I blasted it a couple of years ago? Well, it’s pretty simple. The folks at MacHeist fixed the payment terms after MacHeist 1, and developers are getting a much better deal now. Tada. This is a Good Thing, for sure. I’m still not buying the bundle. See the next post down for a big reason why. Mar 25 2009 Text

Its clear that many people take issue with MacHeist. My goal is to show some of the reasons I’ve decided to never support them, and I have faith that you are capable of making up your own mind. In response to his criticism of MacHeist, Marco Arment received a well-written email from Phill Ryu, one of the MH organizers. In response to this, John Casasanta, another of the organizers, replied to Phill with a cc to Marco: I don’t know why you feel the need to explain yourself to this ignorant, insignificant piece of shit. (yes the cc was intentional this time) I respect Marco’s decision to edit his post, but feel that the insight it gives into the attitude and behavior of John Casasanta, someone who stands to profit handsomely from MacHeist, remains newsworthy. Additionally, Marco wrote a post last month entitled Negativity that is well worth a read, especially now. 15:20 Text

EventBox MacHeist milen: You might have noticed that we’re featured on MacHeist and it’s a free download. I expect many people to ask the question why buy it then? Here’s the short answer: the MacHeist Edition of EventBox is not the same as regular EventBox. Here are the reasons: The MacHeist edition includes no official support whatsoever . If you’re having a problem or want to request a feature, you’re probably out of luck.

. If you’re having a problem or want to request a feature, you’re probably out of luck. Most importantly, the MacHeist edition includes no updates at all . This means you’re forever stuck at build 566. Since we’re planning on adding many many new features in the future, you’re essentially going to be running an ancient version. I’m talking about syncing, multiple accounts, TwitPic, centralized notifications, more services. We will be adding TONS of new stuff. And this is only up until version 1.0. We’re planning to have a very long 1.x series, so buying EventBox now will last you at least 1.5-2 years .

. This means you’re forever stuck at build 566. Since we’re planning on adding many many new features in the future, you’re essentially going to be running an ancient version. I’m talking about syncing, multiple accounts, TwitPic, centralized notifications, more services. We will be adding TONS of new stuff. And this is only up until version 1.0. We’re planning to have a very long 1.x series, so buying EventBox now will last you at least . We’ve got permission from Digg and we will be returning their plugin as soon as possible. You won’t be able to use Digg from the MacHeist edition. I hope that clears things up. 14:10 Text

Frasier Spiers on MacHeist in 2006 “…[MacHeist requested] a version of FlickrExport which had the registration code mechanism disabled.” Mmm, making piracy easier sounds like a great way to support a developer! 12:53 Link

Twitter Search for "macheist amex" It seems someone at MacHeist forgot that AmEx uses 4 digit security codes, and since the promotion went live, they have been failing. Several people missed out on the “early purchaser” deal due to problems with credit card and Paypal payments. 12:36 Link

Gus Mueller explains why he skipped MacHeist (in the comments) John said: “Right Gus. So you’re implying that the devs involved had guns held to their heads for this.” You must have skipped the part where I said “I’m certain the developers who are participating in the bundle know what they are getting into, and have good reasons for doing so”. John said: “You had the chance to be involved here and you turned it down.” I turned it down because it was a horrible deal for me. At the time, the deal was 5k to the developer for the rights to sell the app for a full week. I tried to negotiate for a percentage and was told there was no negotiating, the deal was the same for everyone across the board. And at the time there would have been at total of 5 apps. I was also told that you guys need to sell 2k to “break even”. Let’s look at the math for that and why I turned it down. 49 * 2000 = 98000

98000 * .75 = 73500 (this is the number after charity)

73500 - (5 * 5000) = 48500 And let’s just say it was 5k for credit card processing, which is a bit on the high side but that’s ok because the numbers make you guys look better. So that means you guys needed $48,000 dollars to “break even”. That set off a ton alarm bells in my head, and they were all shouting that you guys were going to screw me over. Let’s say that you do make 10,000 sales like you hope, let’s look at the numbers for that- and I’ll even double the amount you guys are paying the devs to 10k. 49 * 10000 = 490000

490000 * .8 = 392000 (charity + 5% credit card processing)

392000 - (10 * 10000) = 292000 $292,000 profit for you guys. Yea, that’s fair. 12:29 Link

Alastair's Place breaks down the math in 2007 And following on from John Gruber’s original guesses as to the amount of money made by the organisers of MacHeist, Wikipedia notes that MacHeist I raised $200,000 for charities and took $800,000 in total… So MacHeist’s organisers could have pocketed as much as half a million U.S. dollars, some 86% of the profit after the charitable donation and expenses, as compared with a total of 14% for the developers, or an average of just 1% per developer, and more than twice as much as was paid to charity. 12:29 Link

Gruber on MacHeist in 2006 Estimated profit for the MacHeist team: $463,500 MacHeist’s percentage share of the total profit: 87.5 Average percentage share of the total profit for each individual developer: 1.3 12:28 Link

Think Mac Blog: "The economics of MacHeist" (2006) “MacHeist themselves were rewarded disproportionately for their efforts” “…in conclusion, like most of these other free/heavily discounted app promotions that have been non-stop for awhile now, the only real value you get is in marketing exposure - unless your app really is only worth $4 per sale.” 12:28 Link