Is the real MacHeist on the developers?

We have been covering MacHeist here at TUAW because it is a heck of a good deal. A good deal for users, but what about the developers? Gus Mueller, the man behind Flying Meat software, doesn't think that MacHeist is good for developers. Why? He did the math and it turns out that each developer takes home something like $3.67 (if they split the profits evenly between the developer, the charity, and MacHeist themselves). All of this outrage (oh, and there is some adult language in that post) stems from the MacHeist team declaring this week, 'The Week of the Independent Mac Developer.'

One must remember that all the devs participating in MacHeist are doing so out of their own free will, and there is that darned charitable part of the whole enterprise (it is hard to criticize someone for donating something to charity). With that said there is the little matter of 'perceived value.' If you give something away, people think it is worth nothing. Charge a little money for it, and suddenly people see the value in it (the classic case here is bottled water).