We fill nanoCAD subscriptions with buns - or is it possible to earn money for free?

Our company ( Nanosoft ) continues the development of the nanoCAD project, in which we are trying to combine the incompatible: the development of an accessible (in all senses) domestic CAD systems with obtaining finance sufficient for further existence and development.

Recall that we have been developing and manufacturing the nanoCAD universal design system since 2008. We distribute the program itself absolutely free of charge - register on the official website and get a license. Work and earn - nanoCAD allows both legally and technically: the functionality is pulled to the eminent CAD, the file format (DWG) allows you to use old practices, and the number of bugs is rapidly declining.

We earn two things: the development of specialized solutions that provide automation of design work (very useful for design organizations wishing to increase their competitiveness) and, more recently, on the technical support of a free product.
')
If the first is more or less clear, the second is a very big question for discussions. I want to put my thoughts on the discussion - maybe someone will be interested; maybe someone will share their own ...

What is technical support?

The question is very broad and the answer strongly depends on the point of view from which you look at it. 99% of users (and I myself, as a user) believe that these are consultations and support calls: they say, if something doesn't work for me, then I can call / write to the developer, and he will help, solve my problem here and now. Is free! In the end, I bought this product, and the developer should be interested in me working on his program.

But the free software is distributed "as is", the developer does not have to: the configuration of computers can be so wild that it is surprising how it works; the user can formulate the problem so abstractly that it is the time to open a psychological center. In such cases, only paid technical support can help. This is the first.



The second is that for a developer, technical support is more than just consultation. Questions may be different: from the user's low qualification to the wishes for the development of the functional; from the simplest setup of the program to the processing of the algorithms of the functions. Some questions are solved by the FAQ set, others require weekly study and reproduction of conditions, and others are processing software ... But everyone wants an instant solution.

Next - how to weed out the “problem” users, who always appear in a mass product, and concentrate on the “promising” users? Indeed, often “problematic” can be “promising” and vice versa ...

At the moment we solve these issues with the following rules:

• Paid solutions - technical support is included in the cost of subscriptions and boxes. This is the classic way of software support; everything is clear.
• Free software product (now it is nanoCAD 3.0), which is freely available on the site. Naturally, there is no official technical support for it - there is an official forum for discussing technical problems, consultations and other things: the community works on it, consults each other, discusses, gathers wishes. The more massive the product, the more massive the community, the faster everyone gets the answers.
• For a free product, you can purchase a voluntary subscription to technical support (3,000 rubles / rm.). In essence, a subscription means: “If you want our attention, then buy a subscription.” There was a question about the program, I want his decision - you get technical support (cheap!) And communicate with the developer. Again, hot, massive problems can be quickly addressed through such a subscription. There are also advantages to subscriptions - more on this ...

Subscription for technical support

Everything seems to be beautiful and correct: but there is one “but” - not all users need technical support. If the product works correctly, I know how to use it, and avoid any inconveniences, then why should I pay for something? Or if I ran into a technical problem for a free product, then why should I pay for technical support? I, most likely, will look for another software ...

The subscription technology is remarkable in that we can expand it by providing additional services to users. And then the question arises, what else can be included in the subscription?

The first thing that comes to mind is software updates. Is this technical support? Without a doubt, the updates include, first of all, bug fixes and wishes implementation. Does it apply to IT? Yes - we remember the game industry; cloud technologies, etc.

What else? To summarize, this is what we decided to include in the subscription for the free version of nanoCAD:

• Network Licensing - Additional convenience in licensing software products - installing a license server and using floating licenses. Those. the user has a choice - use the free version, but consistently install the software on each of the organization's 100 computers, or buy a support ticket, deploy one server and quickly distribute the program in images.
• Printed certificate - It is only possible to issue a legal user certificate for a free version distributed via the Internet in electronic form. When you purchase a subscription, the organization closes the accounting documents, which means you can transfer a paper certificate to the client.
• Software updates - After a period of time collecting requests from free users, a set of errors accumulates that can be quickly fixed. They can be attributed to the work of technical support, so we include them in the subscription.
• Access to materials on the site - Various materials that will be useful to users of the organization: video tutorials, software updates, manuals, PDF tutorials, etc. These materials can also be viewed as a type of technical support - often technical issues are associated with poor product knowledge. And the user can choose: either collect knowledge on the Internet and from colleagues, or pay and get access to the knowledge base.

It seems that such a scheme is convenient in every sense: both free users work with a mass product, and subscription users get advantages over free users, and we, as developers, are open to the further development of services and facilities.

In addition, a subscription for technical support can be considered as a veiled form of donation - donation, which is in many free software products and services. If the user is satisfied with the product and is ready to thank the developer - the developer will never mind :-)



For our part, we actively support subscriptions: the other day there was an update for nanoCAD, which we distribute only among users of subscriptions - the full list of fixed errors and improvements made exceeded 300 points. When I realized this, I realized that this is actually a new version of nanoCAD, which is still available only to those who paid. Overdid it? Look at the sales results :-)

Conclusion

Now, when developing and releasing nanoCAD, we try to cover various user layers and take into account various wishes:

• If you use nanoCAD from time to time, then, most likely, you will be satisfied with the functionality of the free version and you do not need technical support;
• If you professionally use nanoCAD in your work, then it is more important for you to use the most stable version possible and then it makes sense to purchase a subscription;
• If you want to “sponsor” the development of nanoCAD, then we are ready to accept donations in the form of a subscription for technical support - the cost of a subscription for technical support is only 3,000 rubles a year;
• If you are ready to automate design work, consider specialized solutions - we already have 11 of them .

But so far all our thoughts are our view of the situation. What is the attitude to the subscriptions from the Habr community? What other services do you think can extend the subscription? Are you ready to pay for a subscription for technical support, or is this idea a persistent disgust? Let's discuss - any thoughts are interesting.

And another suggestion - let's unite in the community :-) Judging by the number of licenses issued (77 thousand rm), we are many. But I would like more feedback - I would like to see examples of projects being carried out, comparisons, experience of studies, proposals for development. We are waiting for active users on forums, LiveJournal, blogs, Twitter, on the pages of Habr.