Re: The Small Developer
Re: The Small Developer
- Subject: Re: The Small Developer
- From: dave dowling <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 13:52:39 -0400
i'd like to hear the synopses of a few of these "horror stories".
i've used Paypal for billing with success, but i'd be interested to
learn about the pitfalls as well.
feel free to back-channel me on this. i'd imagine, though, that
this would be a topic of interest to many on the list, so you might
consider sharing this info with everyone.
On Saturday, June 22, 2002, at 01:09 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
_______________________________________________
cocoa-dev mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives:
http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa-dev
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
_______________________________________________
cocoa-dev mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives:
http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa-dev
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
_______________________________________________
cocoa-dev mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives:
http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa-dev
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
thanks.
dave dowling
free at last! how i found peace with God:
http://www.davedowling.com/steps.html
_______________________________________________
cocoa-dev mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives:
http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa-dev
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.