Cost is also associated with freedom, I don't see how you can think of it in any other way. The cost of software for startups is so significant that it can lead to bankruptcy.
This is my main gripe when people compare Gimp vs Photoshop, or Microsoft Office vs LibreOffice, or desktop Linux vs Windows - as that cost is not associated and placed in balance to what people actually need.
I also don't buy that "everyone uses evernote personally". If they do, then those people haven't evaluated their options.
Without the premium account, you have some pretty harsh limits, like a maximum of 60MB/month, or search that sucks, or no mobile app. And the premium version is what? Last time I checked it was $5 / month. Do you know what I also pay $5 per month? Google Apps, but that's only for the privilege of using GMail with my own domain, because otherwise Google Docs and 15 GB of Google Drive are free. And Office 365 is also in that range.
> The cost of software for startups is so significant that it can lead to bankruptcy.
What? Here's the software you listed:
Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Windows, Google Apps, Evernote. All of these added together comes to less than $3000 a year per employee (and I've generously padded pricing and then rounded up).
That's $250 a month per employee. I'd argue that if your startup cannot afford $250 a month per employee in software costs, then the startup is hiring too fast and cannot sustain the number of employees it has.
Maybe in the US, but in poorer countries things are a bit different. And let's not forget that money are scarce in startups unless you have some investors.
This is my main gripe when people compare Gimp vs Photoshop, or Microsoft Office vs LibreOffice, or desktop Linux vs Windows - as that cost is not associated and placed in balance to what people actually need.
I also don't buy that "everyone uses evernote personally". If they do, then those people haven't evaluated their options.
Without the premium account, you have some pretty harsh limits, like a maximum of 60MB/month, or search that sucks, or no mobile app. And the premium version is what? Last time I checked it was $5 / month. Do you know what I also pay $5 per month? Google Apps, but that's only for the privilege of using GMail with my own domain, because otherwise Google Docs and 15 GB of Google Drive are free. And Office 365 is also in that range.