How to monetize free Windows apps?

Question

Monetization

Welcome all.
In connection with the ongoing events, I decided to see what could bring additional income.
Given: a dozen different free classic applications written in different languages ​​- VB, VB. Net, Delphi/Lazarus, C++ and C#, hosted on various sites and having a good number of downloads.
Idea: insert a small ad unit, like a frame or under the context.
The question is, has anyone already monetized like this? Are there any examples of inserting such blocks and advertising partners that are most convenient for this?

Answer 1

Insert ad block == Opt out by most app users. Who needs it with spam that cannot be killed with an adblock?
And it’s easy to monetize: because. most mastdayka users are stupidly unable to type make && make install, it is enough to sell binaries. And the code, of course, as required by the GPL license, should be kept somewhere on sosforge / github, etc. Can a person compile - let him collect; if he can't, let him buy it. Everything is fair, no violations of the GPL.

Answer 2

It makes theoretical sense only if the applications have tens of thousands of regular users. Otherwise, you will not pay back the electricity spent in the process of programming advertising blocks.