i already said this in one of my response to subs in this forum.
but i think i want to get a general idea from what you all think.

one of my business contacts told me after i indicated what a ridiculous turn micro has gone with subs, and he, being a shrewd business person suggested this.
if you want to settle for 30 cents, why not get your own site or blog to give away your images for free, like freeware, and then add , "if you like this image, donate.
you can keep this site alive and continue to get more "freeware" photos.

he said, donations from freeware are sure not to be 20 or 30 cents.
they are still making freewares, so they must be surviving.
so why not with photos too?

thx in advance for all those who will respond with their opinion.
it is afterall for our own interest.

This whole idea comes from somebody who do not understand the stock business I would say: buyers are mostly professional designers who prefer to pay for a high quality service and the insurance that they obtain the proper license.

Going through a microstock site has two obvious advantages: it is a lot safer for the buyer from a legal point of view and there are millions of images to choose from, all of them being inspected by neutral reviewers to ensure a certain level of quality.

I bet that if you give for free your images on your site and ask for a donation, you will get only downloads from non-professional bloggers and nobody would give you any donation unless your portfolio is actually exceptionnal in which case you may earn a few dollars per month.

Freeware softwares are a completely different business I would say: each business has its own rules.

i take an intermediate position, with ideas from shareware marketing -- i allow free use of my images in smaller web-sized images, as long as a link to my site is included [my photo gallery generates these links automatically for users]. 

yes, this may compete with subscription sales, but only if you assume the same audience is looking at SS and my gallery.  for me, most people arrive at my photo gallery after visiting my travel or online games pages - they'ree unlikely to have a SS sub.