Interesting that you bring this up at this point in time!
We've just launched a software project we really believe in and we want to monetise it now, the basic version is free. The
SiteKist WMS is a program that gives people everything they need to create and manage their own websites in a single program - including all sorts of tools as plugins and widgets for internet marketing and we're sure there is a big market for that, it's never been done before like this as far as we know.
You may be aware that
Steve recommends Site Build It! on his site and blog - I have followed him on that and built my website for translations with it and
SBI! is great when it comes to teaching you marketing techniques ... but the actual site-building is cumbersome and slow; that was the trigger to actually develop SiteKist further and now offer it to others, because it is a lot better in that respect.
I agree with you that software development is very exciting and rewarding and I am sure there are millions of ways to earn love-dollars with it. So what if it's a bit more expensive? For good stuff, people will always pay good money.