Software that doesn’t treat you like an ATM.
Respectware is the set of principles I build my apps by. Nothing grand, just written-down things that should be obvious but somehow stopped being so.
Version 1.0 · [publication date]For years I’ve watched software turn from tools into fee-collecting machines. A feature that used to be a button becomes a subscription. The cancellation dialog has three questions and one small grey link. A note-taking app wants to know where I am.
I have no say in how others do it. I do have a say in how I do it. Hence these principles.
You pay for the software, not for access to your own stuff.
A subscription only makes sense where something genuinely costs me money every month, like a server. Otherwise you pay once and it’s yours.
No tricks in the interface.
The “cancel” button cancels. Unsubscribing is as easy as signing up. There are no countdown timers for fake promotions.
Your data stays yours.
I only collect what the app can’t work without. I don’t sell data and I don’t send it to “partners”, because I don’t have any partners.
Your time is not my metric.
I don’t measure success by how many minutes you spend in the app. A good program lets you get things done and close it.
I add features when they’re needed.
I don’t bolt anything on just to justify a higher price or a new version. Sometimes the best update is bug fixes.
Making money is fine. Honestly.
I have nothing against money. I have something against making money from the fact that it’s hard for someone to leave.
What Respectware is not
- It’s not a licence or a certificate. Nobody checks it except you and me.
- It’s not an open source movement. My apps are closed source and that’s fine.
- It’s not a manifesto against making money. I want my software to pay for itself. Honestly.
Where you can see it
For now in Masto Don't. Future apps will be built by the same principles, and if I ever break one, feel free to call me out.
Write to me. I’d love to see what you’re making, and maybe I’ll link to it.