Selling software is a bad business to be in.

Prices of goods tend to drop to their marginal price. That would be zero for software, since it doesn't cost anything to distribute once it's made.

Your better off getting your software in as many hands as possible and sell related scarce goods instead, such as your time and expertise (service contracts, books you wrote, software writing service).

In other words, the software is a great promotional tool for other services and goods. Or even for yourself. Like you mentioned in your update, you could gain notoriety from it, which you can trade in for connections, a better job, etc.

Seems like you already reached that conclusion. I really really skimmed the topic, but Techdirt has a lot to say on this subject if you want to read more.