What do you thing about including ads into freeware tools?

[vilgeits]

I was thinking about new ways of doing bussines and I have the idea of putting something like google ads into a widget of a freeware tool.

Do you think that you can make money in that way? I could be legal have a hlml loader into you app?

[betajaen]

Spotify does this for free users, and it fits in quite well. As long as it's not in your face and appropriately placed in your application, why not?

But I would be careful with a HTML control though; some of the adverts on the web I've seen are really nasty.

[reptor]

The Opera browser used to have an ad bar. They removed it eventually - wonder why they removed it... perhaps they didn't get enough return to justify it being there and annoying people.

[xavier]

I personally wouldn't use a tool that did this -- if the tool was worthwhile I'd just buy it if that's what it took, and if it's not, the added distraction while trying to get work done would just make me uninstall it that much faster.

My $0.02...

[spacegaier]

I personally wouldn't use a tool that did this -- if the tool was worthwhile I'd just buy it if that's what it took, and if it's not, the added distraction while trying to get work done would just make me uninstall it that much faster.

My $0.02...

Same here. It would probably distract (especially if it's moving advertising, such as these annoying browser game ads).
There are three possibilities:

• Good Tool: I am willed to pay for it
• Bad Tool: Will only (if at all) use it, if it's free (and has no advertising)
• Medium Tool: Depends, if it's free and gets the tasks done, I'll use it, otherwise...

[betajaen]

But what if the tool is of high quality or you can't find it anywhere else?

Spotify has adverts but has a large user base. Although generally adverts are considered a bad thing, Spotify has a large userbase due to it's only place in the market, and how the music is free.

Opera on the other hand has/had adverts but it is also free so it degrades the look of the program, appearing "cheap". Considering there are plenty of other free browsers without advertising - people will go somewhere else.

Using advertising in your program, may make it look cheap - but if it does something nothing else does - people will have no choice but to use it.

[xavier]

The difference is that Spotify isn't a tool -- it's a music player, at its core. It's not much different than putting up with ads on the radio, IMO.

A tool is something completely different, in an entirely different mental space.

[betajaen]

Hmm, perhaps, but unlike Radio; Opera and Spotify don't stop what your listening/using to when an advert starts playing.

Are there any other examples? The only ones I can think of are the games that use in-game advertising such as Battlefield 2142.

[xavier]

The in-game stuff is less obtrusive if it's done in a way that molds into the background we're already used to seeing -- for example, city environments, we're probably used to seeing billboards and signage on buildings, so it's more immersive than obtrusive.

The point about a tool, however, is that when I am using a tool, I am concentrating on performing some form of work -- anything that would distract from my productivity makes a tool less attractive, IMO.

[vilgeits]

I was thinking about something like googleads a inline ad no games and such.

[akem321]

There is acceptable and unacceptable ads, you can add a line of text in the very bottom
of the window or other non intrusive things like that, but not big panels...
I'm sick of advertising, looks like everybody relies on ads to make money nowdays;
incredibly annoying, boring and sometimes even killing the real content.
If there was a (very) usefull tool doing ads i would try to find out a way to remove the ads,
just like what i did for some well known messenger program already.