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+[1]
+[12878]
+Maurice Parker
+
+Follow [2]@vincode on Micro.blog.
+
+  • [3]Home
+  • [4]Archive
+  • [5]About
+  • [6]GitHub Profile
+  • [7]Zavala
+  • [8]Feed Compass
+  • [9]Feed Curator
+
+[10]
+
+[11] Toggle navigation info_outline
+
+[13]Blog
+
+  • [14]Recent
+  • [15]search
+  • [16]rss_feed
+
+[17]close
+[18][                    ] arrow_forward
+[20]close
+
+August 11, 2025
+
+Zavala Will Always Be Free
+
+My promise to you.
+
+I have every intention of maintaining and updating Zavala for as long as I am
+able. I’m also committed to keeping it free. I have no intention of getting you
+hooked on using it and then starting to charge a subscription.
+
+To show I am serious about this, Zavala is Open Source software released under
+the MIT license. This means that any other developer can take the years of work
+that I have in Zavala and make a competing outliner from it should I start
+charging for it. Given how small and competitive the outliner market is, I
+don’t stand much of a chance of making any money by going commercial. After
+all, I could be competing with my own past work.
+
+What if I get ran over by a bus?
+
+Since Zavala is Open Source someone could pick up the project and continue to
+update it. Worst case scenario, some enterprising independent developer could
+try to make a commercial product out of it. I don’t see much money in the
+endeavor, but others may see it differently.
+
+Why don’t I charge for Zavala or accept donations?
+
+Funny story. I fully intended to when I started writing it. After doing some
+competitive analysis on the Mac-only, outliner market, I realized there wasn’t
+much money there. There was so little in fact, that it isn’t enough for me to
+be motivated enough to do the business side when I’d rather be coding.
+
+Let me break it down. Up front payments are a dead-end these days. I would have
+to add a free tier, in-app purchases, and maybe a subscription option to the
+app. That means more coding. Then I need to incorporate a business of some kind
+and do all the regular bookkeeping associated with it. That would be payroll
+taxes, quarterly and annual tax filings, etc… I used to own my own software
+consulting business and really don’t want to do that stuff again.
+
+But if I thought I could make it up on volume, that might make it worth while,
+right? The simple truth is most computer users don’t know what an outliner is,
+much less how useful they are. Even those that do, rarely need to use one on a
+daily basis. Zavala is free and has been all the years that it has been
+available in the App Store and I couldn’t make it on the number of users I have
+now. That number would probably drop to about zero if I were to start charging.
+Could I get more volume by marketing Zavala? Sure, but that is another business
+thing that costs time and money, that I don’t want to do.
+
+There is an upside to not having money involved when you write software. I
+don’t have to add features just to drive an upgrade cycle. With commercial
+software, you constantly have to deliver upgrades to keep a steady income
+regardless of if you are subscription based or charging up front. I don’t want
+Zavala to become bloatware. I don’t want to add features that I don’t believe
+add core value, just to keep the money coming in.
+
+Same goes for donations. I don’t accept donations because I don’t want to feel
+obligated to implement a feature that a donor may want, but that I don’t think
+belongs in Zavala. I would rather accept feature requests on an equal basis
+from all users and decide which to implement on the merit of the idea, rather
+than who gave me money.
+
+Why write Zavala at all?
+
+I retired early after a successful career as a software consultant. I really
+liked writing software, I just didn’t always like the work I had to do. Now I
+have the freedom to craft software how I see fit and only work on projects that
+I am interested in.
+
+The way I usually explain it is like this. Imagine you made furniture your
+whole life, but your employer only gave you pallet wood to use and half the
+time needed to make a piece. You were good at it and loved furniture, but were
+unfulfilled at your job until you retired. Now you can make furniture using
+walnut and take the time needed to make something you are proud of.
+
+How can you help, you ask?
+
+Please, please email me with bug reports using the Provide Feedback option
+under Help (in Settings on iOS). I take them seriously and fix them as fast as
+I can. I do test Zavala as rigorously as I can. Unfortunately it is the nature
+of software that a developer will never be able to predict every way that users
+will use an app. Production bugs do happen. The best we can do is squash them
+as fast as possible.
+
+Follow [21]@vincode on Micro.blog.
+
+
+References:
+
+[1] https://vincode.io/
+[2] https://micro.blog/vincode
+[3] https://vincode.io/
+[4] https://vincode.io/archive/
+[5] https://vincode.io/about/
+[6] https://vincode.io/github-profile/
+[7] https://vincode.io/zavala/
+[8] https://vincode.io/feed-compass/
+[9] https://vincode.io/feed-curator/
+[10] https://micro.blog/vincode
+[11] https://vincode.io/2025/08/11/zavala-will-always-be-free.html#
+[13] https://vincode.io/
+[14] https://vincode.io/
+[15] https://vincode.io/2025/08/11/zavala-will-always-be-free.html#
+[16] https://vincode.io/2025/08/11/zavala-will-always-be-free.html
+[17] https://vincode.io/2025/08/11/zavala-will-always-be-free.html#
+[20] https://vincode.io/2025/08/11/zavala-will-always-be-free.html#
+[21] https://micro.blog/vincode