Digsby and Ubertwitter – People just love to complain about free stuff

Over the past couple months there have have been at least two instances where a good number of Internet users and socialites alike that have been complaining about some recent changes to two of the hottest social networking apps out there:  Ubertwitter and Digsby.

Ubertwitter is a Twitter client for the Blackberry.  In my opinion it far exceeds the quality of any other Blackberry Twitter client currently available, and I’m not alone. Since it first became available a few months back it has caught on like wild fire. Other Blackberry client features pale in comparison to Ubertwitter. Then about a month ago an upgrade added a small advertisement to the top of the Twitter feed.  Advertisements were added without letting users know beforehand. Kicking and screaming ensued (READ)They then began to offer users the choice to pay $4.99 to get rid of the ads altogether.

Digsby is the hottest IM/Social Network aggregator on the market (w00t upstate NY!).  I first started using Digsby back when they were only allowing users to download it with private invitation codes – I don’t remember where I found that code, but I haven’t looked back since!

Now Digsby has a bunch of nagware you need to filter through and disable during the installation process – and it’s not difficult as long as you are awake and have your eyes open! Back in December of 2008 Digsby released (READ) an update that included, and enabled by default, a research module that uses only idle, low priority CPU power to help work on various grid computing projects.  The majority of users didn’t realize this was happening until just recently, and let me tell it you it was a shit-storm for the crew over at Digsby. They’ve since changed how they present these functions to the end user.

Now let’s look at this – here we have two free applications that generally speaking people are huge fans of – yes I’m a fanboy.  They do what they are supposed to do, probably better than their competition, quick releases and responsive developers. People seem to neither want them to stay free nor pay for them.  You know what happens when you get neither? The application ceases to exist!

I for one have absolutely no problem looking at a tiny advertisement at the top of my Twitter feed if it means I can use my favorite Blackberry Twitter client for free.  Nor do I have any problem with Digsby using a tiny piece of my idle CPU, at low priority no less, if it means I can continue to have all my social and IM networks aggregated together better than any applications does it for free.

Is it simply human nature to complain and be unhappy about stuff? Well yes I guess you can make that argument. I’ve been known to be a cynic. However I think it’s something different altogether: People just want to get onto the newest fad faster than ever before. Technology and the speed of communication is moving so fast now that the changing of trends and fads can’t even keep up with us. We for the most part are not willing to slow down and accept and appreciate what we have.  When you have something that is good – KEEP IT GOOD, then just try to make it better.

…..and Digsby and Ubertwitter are real good.