Re: The Small Developer
Re: The Small Developer
- Subject: Re: The Small Developer
- From: Jason Moore <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 12:16:56 -0500
To be quite honest, i have no idea. I have also read horror stories
about paypal, but more than that, i don't want users to have to sign up
for it to buy my stuff. With Kagi all they have to do is fill in their
info and bam!, it's done. I signed up for Kagi, but as of yet i haven't
used it (products still in development). Their rates don't seem too bad.
I wouldn't use it if i had $1000 software, i'd set up my own payment
system with a bank. But for small transactions (<$1000) it doesn't seem
too unreasonable.
Jason
On Saturday, June 22, 2002, at 12:09 PM, Charles Srstka wrote:
What's generally the best thing to use for accepting payments? Kagi
seems quite expensive, but I've read some horror stories about PayPal
on the Internet...
On Saturday, June 22, 2002, at 10:14 AM, Jason Moore wrote:
Edwin,
For large projects, an interesting idea. If done properly, maybe even
good enough to challenge the big boys. Kagi can handle payment for
such an effort, as they can accept one customer payment and then
distribute it to collaborators. It would still however require someone
to write the core of the application, not a trivial task. Who knows.
Good Luck. :)
Jason
On Saturday, June 22, 2002, at 10:04 AM, Edwin Zacharias wrote:
Jason,
I think the rules of software development have changed. Most large
programs are now a loose collection of plugins rather than one large
body of code. Why not let a different shareware author work on each
plugin and then package them with a registration program that
distributes the payments to each individual author. Suddenly there's
no company, just a bunch of shareware authors doing whatever they
want. You can write plugins and make money or bundle other people
plugins into an app and make money that way.
I'm working on an open source plugin management program that does
just that and I'd appreciate some feedback from small developers in
terms of features they'd like. Or just if you think the idea won't
work and why.
Thanks,
Edwin
On Saturday, June 22, 2002, at 02:45 AM, Jason Moore wrote:
Hello all! I just finished glancing over the 30 some odd digests
that had been piling up in my DevList folder in mail (i have them
auto dumped into their own, nicely searchable folder), and i noticed
(how can one not) the thread about protecting software with keys.
Don't worry, i have no intention of re-opening that can of
man-eating worms. I would however, like to pose another question of
great interest (to me anyway)...
What i'd like to know is what it takes to become a successful small
software developer. First, let me clarify what i mean by
'successful'. Successful to me is defined as making enough in
revenue to cover any relavent expenses and be able to pay the
developers a decent salery (say, around, $40,000 a year). Is there
some critical mass a small developer would need to achieve to reach
this sort of goal? Can one person do it? Do you need a 2 person
company? 6 person? 12? What? (let's assume that the software these
people develop is of the quality people expect from a Macintosh
program, and that it does either fill a void or differentiate itself
from competetors enough to be viable)
What i'm looking for is not on advice, but also some numbers. Not
exact numbers, but something. I have yet to find any hard data to be
able to size up the 'small business' developer in terms of how well
they do. What kind of numbers (users that register, support
requests, etc) should a budding small mac company expect? How do you
find that balance between charging enough for your software to be
profitable and charging so much that you start turning away most
people because your program is expensive and doesn't have a well
known brand plastered on it?
Some people write programs just because they need it and then give
it away to be nice and help out the rest of us, others (like myself)
would like to make some money doing it (so as to avoid the need for
a horrid retail job to pay the bills, and just maybe the ability to
pay for school without the need for loans). Am i nuts here?
Thanks in advance,
Jason
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