In reply to Lauren.

Freemium isn't a bad thing and it's a valid business model, not only when it comes to WordPress. Look at the App Store on your iPhone and you'll find lots of freemium apps as well.

The problem isn't the freemium model itself, the problem starts when people submit low-quality stuff to the directory. But that's a problem which usually solves itself, if a freemium product is bad (doesn't work well, provides no value or whatever), it won't get good user ratings, not many active installs and evenutally won't be used and the developer won't generate sales and possibly abandon the product.

In the end a freemium model gives the user an option to use a product for free with the possibility to upgrade in case he wants more. There is nothing wrong with that process itself and in general it's very unlikely that someone will invest money if he/she isn't happy with the freemium product.

Imagine the other way around, if there only were free and premium themes/plugins, users would always need to invest money without knowing what they will get. With a freemium product, the user can at least test a product and see if it works well for the preferred purpose, doesn't cause compatibility issues or else. I really don't see an issue with that.