From my perspective it's so funny that the author considers paid SDKs to be a showstopper. Yeah, right, absolutely no way around it.
Here in Russia paying for software is kind of a novel idea even today. Back in the mid-00s, literally no one even considered that as a possibility. You could go to a store and buy a pre-cracked version of Visual C++ on CD for 60 roubles (~2$ at the time). I still have mine somewhere.
And macs were so expensive no one could afford one. My first contact with OS X was through installing hackintosh on the PC I had at the time.
It's still friction. Maybe this was different in Russia, but due to propaganda (term used neutrally) further west people actually feel guilty about "stealing" software, are concerned about malware and lack resources for information.
Internet piracy is of course a thing, but I'm not sure physical pirated media was ever this available here.
Honestly, to me it feels like it's often more friction to pay.
If you want to pay, you have to register for an account, provide your card info, get the key, activate, etc. If it's a subscription, it gets even worse.
If you don't want to pay, you download the torrent and install the thing. Maybe you follow the (often simple) included instructions to crack it, if any. And that's really it. It just works forever. I remember that story how then-CEO of VKontakte paid for photoshop (back when you could pay for it just once), couldn't figure out how to download and activate it, and just torrented it because it's this much easier.
They closed those CD stores when Russia joined the cartel^W WTO. But by that time, high-speed internet was getting ever more available, and so naturally people just switched to downloads.
And another thing about Russian mentality: we REALLY don't like asking for help it seems. When you've bought something, you're on your own if you have any problems. Maybe ask for help on forums or something, but official support channels? Nah. Like, I'm well aware that Apple provides tech support, but whenever I have any problems with Apple products, the thought of contacting that tech support doesn't ever cross my mind. In many people's minds, me included, your relationship with the manufacturer or seller of the thing you're buying ends the moment the transaction completes. It's probably vastly different in the west.
In the US here... and I think that the notion of asking for help after a purchase is not evenly distributed here.
I am used to figuring things out, but I did ten years of corporate tech, I got paid to provide that support for the employees of my employer. It was my responsibility to get their things working. So I got used to calling for vendor support, usually a support contract, and just got used to working the problem with whatever help we needed, within budget limits. This was in the 20th century.
But my extended family, they wouldn't dream of such things. They figure if you call for help, it's just going to be more people trying to get money out of you, like everyone is trying to fool everybody else. They just buy the cheapest thing they can get, then if it doesn't work they either take it back to the store for refund or they give it up as a bad job.
I will come to Russia some time, buy a cheap laptop and take it home and use it for a week, then bring it back to the store for a refund because it doesn't work. How will that conversation go?
> I will come to Russia some time, buy a cheap laptop and take it home and use it for a week, then bring it back to the store for a refund because it doesn't work. How will that conversation go?
Consumer protection laws aren't as strong in Russia as they are in the US and Europe. But generally electronics come with 1 year warranty from the manufacturer. So if it's legit not working, they'll probably replace it with another that is working.
Returns are complicated. IIRC stores are required to take a return if the item is in a condition in which it can be sold again (sealed box, or all tags intact in case of clothing). But anything further than that is their own concession and thus varies. Some places like Ikea have a policy of "return within one year from purchase showing the receipt and your internal passport (ID), you get a refund, no questions asked". Some don't. Some electronics stores would let you test the thing in the store before you take it home, some would say "you have N days to test it at home, bring it back if it doesn't work".
I also know a guy who bought a phone to test an app he was making, then tried to return it. Wasn't a painless process, but he did succeed in the end.
It was still USSR in 1990 (and I wasn't born yet). They've allowed private businesses in the late 80s, but the country was still very much in the process of transitioning away from full socialism. It took many more years for international companies to establish presence and for local ones to form through privatization.
There was no Ikea, but the first McDonalds opened in Moscow in 1990 and many minds were blown.
So yes, these extended return policies are one of the things retailers use to compete.
Here in Russia paying for software is kind of a novel idea even today. Back in the mid-00s, literally no one even considered that as a possibility. You could go to a store and buy a pre-cracked version of Visual C++ on CD for 60 roubles (~2$ at the time). I still have mine somewhere.
And macs were so expensive no one could afford one. My first contact with OS X was through installing hackintosh on the PC I had at the time.