BetaTesters...Getting the word out
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Hi, I was wondering how all of you who have developed shareware applications get the word out on your product and acquired beta testers? I am close to releasing a simple shareware app and would like to know how others have went about it, as this is my first foray into "hobby" shareware-development. I have finally gotten off of my arse, after going through some rough times with my ex-wife, job, personal problems, ex girlfriend, basically life in general. X| I'm not looking to create a GIANT software company but a few extra dollars on the side wouldn't hurt, in addition to my current income :-) I can take my son to the movies during Matiness for $10... Thanks in advance for any replies. Sam C ---- Allsys Technologies http://www.allsystech.com "Making software simpler..."
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Hi, I was wondering how all of you who have developed shareware applications get the word out on your product and acquired beta testers? I am close to releasing a simple shareware app and would like to know how others have went about it, as this is my first foray into "hobby" shareware-development. I have finally gotten off of my arse, after going through some rough times with my ex-wife, job, personal problems, ex girlfriend, basically life in general. X| I'm not looking to create a GIANT software company but a few extra dollars on the side wouldn't hurt, in addition to my current income :-) I can take my son to the movies during Matiness for $10... Thanks in advance for any replies. Sam C ---- Allsys Technologies http://www.allsystech.com "Making software simpler..."
I'd say that one of the best ways to "Get the word out" would be to post a message in the "Collaboration / Testing" Forum here at CP. :-D Of course, you could also request your product be added to several large software website (ie Download.com) as 1.0 beta. They will list beta software, and its easy to update once the app has been listed. As one part time (real-life) shareware developer to another, I wish you the best of luck. And, don't get discouraged if the registrations don't come immediately. It took about 11 months for my first registration...since then I've had a few more. ;P Good luck again, Frank
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I'd say that one of the best ways to "Get the word out" would be to post a message in the "Collaboration / Testing" Forum here at CP. :-D Of course, you could also request your product be added to several large software website (ie Download.com) as 1.0 beta. They will list beta software, and its easy to update once the app has been listed. As one part time (real-life) shareware developer to another, I wish you the best of luck. And, don't get discouraged if the registrations don't come immediately. It took about 11 months for my first registration...since then I've had a few more. ;P Good luck again, Frank
Now that was a cool :cool: response! Thanks for the vote of encouragement and some other ideals. I'm not looking at this to be my "MAJOR" source of income, but it's something I enjoy doing even away from work. And I figure I can save up any money I may make, if at all, and put it away to but some more cool libraries, tools, and VS .NET. Since my current company has no plans on buying it :-( And I just have to have the latest toys out :-) Oh yeah and take my son to the matinees too...whew almost left that one out! :-O Sam C ---- Allsys Technologies http://www.allsystech.com "Making software simpler..."
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Hi, I was wondering how all of you who have developed shareware applications get the word out on your product and acquired beta testers? I am close to releasing a simple shareware app and would like to know how others have went about it, as this is my first foray into "hobby" shareware-development. I have finally gotten off of my arse, after going through some rough times with my ex-wife, job, personal problems, ex girlfriend, basically life in general. X| I'm not looking to create a GIANT software company but a few extra dollars on the side wouldn't hurt, in addition to my current income :-) I can take my son to the movies during Matiness for $10... Thanks in advance for any replies. Sam C ---- Allsys Technologies http://www.allsystech.com "Making software simpler..."
Sam C wrote: I was wondering how all of you who have developed shareware applications get the word out on your product and acquired beta testers? I put it in my CP sig my Email sig My Ng's sig and then posted in heaps of forums etc Sam normally Ansering Qu's but sometimes asking them etc. Also I submitted my software as beta at a variety of web sites etc. Check http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/softwaresites.html for a list of sites also download PAD an XML generator so the submissions are easier. Sam C wrote: I'm not looking to create a GIANT software company I suppose thats where we are different SAM ! :-) The way my application works Sam I can tell how many users use it per day etc. No it hasn't got spyware it's just html nag/splash screen requests Yesterday I had aprox 1198 users use VMTU excluding cached pages of course and aproximatly 43 betatesters give me responses and there e-mail addresses etc going on my "Sent" box. Whilst I'm still in beta mode with VMTU, I'll probably release version 1.00 at 10,000 downloads more or less. I guess I'm getting a good response now from beta testers now that I am advertising a free reg for ver 1.00 with every response given. Some of the responses have given me new ideas of add-ins and improvements etc. Be warned you'll be abused by MAC and Linux users if you develop exclusively for windows like me. :confused Also the FREE Tech support I offer has spawned and got my site a lot of hits as well. Just type VMTU in google! and it blurches out a good result without having been submitted to any search engines yet. I found emailing all my golfing buddies and asking them to beta-test for me was a waste of time. Anyhow best of luck with your enterprise's and make sure you check out www.vmtu.com :-):confused: Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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I'd say that one of the best ways to "Get the word out" would be to post a message in the "Collaboration / Testing" Forum here at CP. :-D Of course, you could also request your product be added to several large software website (ie Download.com) as 1.0 beta. They will list beta software, and its easy to update once the app has been listed. As one part time (real-life) shareware developer to another, I wish you the best of luck. And, don't get discouraged if the registrations don't come immediately. It took about 11 months for my first registration...since then I've had a few more. ;P Good luck again, Frank
Frank I submitted at download.com approx 5 weeks ago and it's still in processing mode, similar to webbatack.com Frank Deo wrote: It took about 11 months for my first registration Huh I'm not expecting that ! you are giving me the scares now! Ugh ! Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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Sam C wrote: I was wondering how all of you who have developed shareware applications get the word out on your product and acquired beta testers? I put it in my CP sig my Email sig My Ng's sig and then posted in heaps of forums etc Sam normally Ansering Qu's but sometimes asking them etc. Also I submitted my software as beta at a variety of web sites etc. Check http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/softwaresites.html for a list of sites also download PAD an XML generator so the submissions are easier. Sam C wrote: I'm not looking to create a GIANT software company I suppose thats where we are different SAM ! :-) The way my application works Sam I can tell how many users use it per day etc. No it hasn't got spyware it's just html nag/splash screen requests Yesterday I had aprox 1198 users use VMTU excluding cached pages of course and aproximatly 43 betatesters give me responses and there e-mail addresses etc going on my "Sent" box. Whilst I'm still in beta mode with VMTU, I'll probably release version 1.00 at 10,000 downloads more or less. I guess I'm getting a good response now from beta testers now that I am advertising a free reg for ver 1.00 with every response given. Some of the responses have given me new ideas of add-ins and improvements etc. Be warned you'll be abused by MAC and Linux users if you develop exclusively for windows like me. :confused Also the FREE Tech support I offer has spawned and got my site a lot of hits as well. Just type VMTU in google! and it blurches out a good result without having been submitted to any search engines yet. I found emailing all my golfing buddies and asking them to beta-test for me was a waste of time. Anyhow best of luck with your enterprise's and make sure you check out www.vmtu.com :-):confused: Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
Colin, Thanks for your reply the link you have given me is great! You answered my question before I had a chance to ask it. It looks like VMTU is working well for you, that is something I wanted to do was release a couple of freeware apps just to entice the public :-) Can I ask how do you generate your registration code? No I do not want the exact algorithm but the method used, or if you have a site link with that type of information it would be much appreciated! I was just thinking of getting the user name and information and such and just XOR some values. I know it sounds pretty lame, but this is one part of programming I never had to deal with since all applications I have developed up until this point has been in house apps. Sam C ---- Allsys Technologies http://www.allsystech.com "Making software simpler..."
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Frank I submitted at download.com approx 5 weeks ago and it's still in processing mode, similar to webbatack.com Frank Deo wrote: It took about 11 months for my first registration Huh I'm not expecting that ! you are giving me the scares now! Ugh ! Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
Since you gave information to download.com what other software download site do you recommend that will give you max exposure without having you wait forever for them to actually post a link to your software on it? Sam C ---- Allsys Technologies http://www.allsystech.com "Making software simpler..."
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Sam C wrote: I was wondering how all of you who have developed shareware applications get the word out on your product and acquired beta testers? I put it in my CP sig my Email sig My Ng's sig and then posted in heaps of forums etc Sam normally Ansering Qu's but sometimes asking them etc. Also I submitted my software as beta at a variety of web sites etc. Check http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/softwaresites.html for a list of sites also download PAD an XML generator so the submissions are easier. Sam C wrote: I'm not looking to create a GIANT software company I suppose thats where we are different SAM ! :-) The way my application works Sam I can tell how many users use it per day etc. No it hasn't got spyware it's just html nag/splash screen requests Yesterday I had aprox 1198 users use VMTU excluding cached pages of course and aproximatly 43 betatesters give me responses and there e-mail addresses etc going on my "Sent" box. Whilst I'm still in beta mode with VMTU, I'll probably release version 1.00 at 10,000 downloads more or less. I guess I'm getting a good response now from beta testers now that I am advertising a free reg for ver 1.00 with every response given. Some of the responses have given me new ideas of add-ins and improvements etc. Be warned you'll be abused by MAC and Linux users if you develop exclusively for windows like me. :confused Also the FREE Tech support I offer has spawned and got my site a lot of hits as well. Just type VMTU in google! and it blurches out a good result without having been submitted to any search engines yet. I found emailing all my golfing buddies and asking them to beta-test for me was a waste of time. Anyhow best of luck with your enterprise's and make sure you check out www.vmtu.com :-):confused: Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
ThoHave you ever heard of punctuation? You only used one comma in that entire post! It had great difficulty following the flow correctly. E.g.: You said: I put it in my CP sig my Email sig My Ng's sig and then posted in heaps of forums etc Sam normally Ansering Qu's but sometimes asking them etc. Where you should have said: I put it in my CP sig, my Email sig, My Ng's sig, and then posted in heaps of forums, etc, Sam, normally Answering questions but sometimes asking them etc. (And yes, the comma is allowed before that and, as it is part of a list, and, no, you should not have added an apostrophe to “questions” - unless Qu's is an accepted abbrieviation in NZ?) In fact, as the sentence itself was badly constructed, you *should* have said: I put it in my CP sig, my Email sig, my Ng's sig, and then post it in heaps of forums, etc - normally Answering questions, but sometimes asking them. (Note the final etcetera was unnecessary as there are only two options available and you have stated both, and the hyphen-appended phrase could be enclosed in parenthesises instead. The final comma is optional, but helps define the correct flow of the sentence) And as I'm feeling particularly pedantic tonight, none of the above should really have been used as the “it” you refer to has not been previously identified... :rolleyes: You could also try shorter sentences. If you keep them short they are easier to read. They also have more effect during an argument or debate. Just keep them short and to the point. Not really long and rambling and without any inline punctuation etc to break up the flow into logical stages and prevent people like me from getting eye strain because they have to read the entire sentence about four times and try to guess at the intended meaning given all the possibilities that a lack of punctuation creates. (My English teacher would be proud, where it not for the fact he despised me) Seeing as you are not American, you have no excuse... I think you’ve jumped on one too many deer in your time. ;P ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk "The best way to accelerate a Win9x machine is at 9.81m/s2" - Annon
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Colin, Thanks for your reply the link you have given me is great! You answered my question before I had a chance to ask it. It looks like VMTU is working well for you, that is something I wanted to do was release a couple of freeware apps just to entice the public :-) Can I ask how do you generate your registration code? No I do not want the exact algorithm but the method used, or if you have a site link with that type of information it would be much appreciated! I was just thinking of getting the user name and information and such and just XOR some values. I know it sounds pretty lame, but this is one part of programming I never had to deal with since all applications I have developed up until this point has been in house apps. Sam C ---- Allsys Technologies http://www.allsystech.com "Making software simpler..."
Sam C wrote: Can I ask how do you generate your registration code? No I do not want the exact algorithm but the method used, or if you have a site link with that type of information it would be much appreciated! In the best wishes sorry SAM, I'm keeping my reg system to myself, I spent close on 3 months obfuscating my code etc, building in antidebugger stuff and anti Spy access, anti filecheck, selfmodifying and hardware checks etc etc, I've been accused in this forum before of using undocumented windows processes etc ! Lol but as a starting point learn about cracking, purchased protection systems seem to be easy to crack,and you need to impliment your own unique system etc here is a link to a spidersnest of cracking information etc. http://tsehp.cjb.net/ although it seems broken at the moment, a guy called fravia has published his cracking techniques etc. Hey good luck once again Sam! Remember use loooooong keys and even consider submitting your code to a cracker for testing etc. :-) Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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Since you gave information to download.com what other software download site do you recommend that will give you max exposure without having you wait forever for them to actually post a link to your software on it? Sam C ---- Allsys Technologies http://www.allsystech.com "Making software simpler..."
Forget about beta testing. Just release it :rolleyes: There is a huge list of shareware sites in the following web page. Hope it helps. http://www.programmingart.com/free/shareware/ PS: My favorite is http://www.webattack.com Kind regards Mustafa Demirhan Sonork ID 100.9935:zoltrix
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Now that was a cool :cool: response! Thanks for the vote of encouragement and some other ideals. I'm not looking at this to be my "MAJOR" source of income, but it's something I enjoy doing even away from work. And I figure I can save up any money I may make, if at all, and put it away to but some more cool libraries, tools, and VS .NET. Since my current company has no plans on buying it :-( And I just have to have the latest toys out :-) Oh yeah and take my son to the matinees too...whew almost left that one out! :-O Sam C ---- Allsys Technologies http://www.allsystech.com "Making software simpler..."
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Frank I submitted at download.com approx 5 weeks ago and it's still in processing mode, similar to webbatack.com Frank Deo wrote: It took about 11 months for my first registration Huh I'm not expecting that ! you are giving me the scares now! Ugh ! Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
Colin Davies wrote: I submitted at download.com approx 5 weeks ago and it's still in processing mode, similar to webbatack.com Yea, it takes a while. Pitty that they can't automate that process a bit more and get the submissions done in less time. Colin Davies wrote: you are giving me the scares now! Ugh ! Sorry Colin, that wasnt my intent. You have to keep on keeping on though. I was prepared to not renew my domain, kill my account on RegNow and give up. A couple weeks later I got my first registration. If you build it, they will come. ;P Funny thing is, that the hackers had a keygen for my apps faster than several of the software sites had listings. Go figure. :omg: Good luck, Frank
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ThoHave you ever heard of punctuation? You only used one comma in that entire post! It had great difficulty following the flow correctly. E.g.: You said: I put it in my CP sig my Email sig My Ng's sig and then posted in heaps of forums etc Sam normally Ansering Qu's but sometimes asking them etc. Where you should have said: I put it in my CP sig, my Email sig, My Ng's sig, and then posted in heaps of forums, etc, Sam, normally Answering questions but sometimes asking them etc. (And yes, the comma is allowed before that and, as it is part of a list, and, no, you should not have added an apostrophe to “questions” - unless Qu's is an accepted abbrieviation in NZ?) In fact, as the sentence itself was badly constructed, you *should* have said: I put it in my CP sig, my Email sig, my Ng's sig, and then post it in heaps of forums, etc - normally Answering questions, but sometimes asking them. (Note the final etcetera was unnecessary as there are only two options available and you have stated both, and the hyphen-appended phrase could be enclosed in parenthesises instead. The final comma is optional, but helps define the correct flow of the sentence) And as I'm feeling particularly pedantic tonight, none of the above should really have been used as the “it” you refer to has not been previously identified... :rolleyes: You could also try shorter sentences. If you keep them short they are easier to read. They also have more effect during an argument or debate. Just keep them short and to the point. Not really long and rambling and without any inline punctuation etc to break up the flow into logical stages and prevent people like me from getting eye strain because they have to read the entire sentence about four times and try to guess at the intended meaning given all the possibilities that a lack of punctuation creates. (My English teacher would be proud, where it not for the fact he despised me) Seeing as you are not American, you have no excuse... I think you’ve jumped on one too many deer in your time. ;P ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk "The best way to accelerate a Win9x machine is at 9.81m/s2" - Annon
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ThoHave you ever heard of punctuation? You only used one comma in that entire post! It had great difficulty following the flow correctly. E.g.: You said: I put it in my CP sig my Email sig My Ng's sig and then posted in heaps of forums etc Sam normally Ansering Qu's but sometimes asking them etc. Where you should have said: I put it in my CP sig, my Email sig, My Ng's sig, and then posted in heaps of forums, etc, Sam, normally Answering questions but sometimes asking them etc. (And yes, the comma is allowed before that and, as it is part of a list, and, no, you should not have added an apostrophe to “questions” - unless Qu's is an accepted abbrieviation in NZ?) In fact, as the sentence itself was badly constructed, you *should* have said: I put it in my CP sig, my Email sig, my Ng's sig, and then post it in heaps of forums, etc - normally Answering questions, but sometimes asking them. (Note the final etcetera was unnecessary as there are only two options available and you have stated both, and the hyphen-appended phrase could be enclosed in parenthesises instead. The final comma is optional, but helps define the correct flow of the sentence) And as I'm feeling particularly pedantic tonight, none of the above should really have been used as the “it” you refer to has not been previously identified... :rolleyes: You could also try shorter sentences. If you keep them short they are easier to read. They also have more effect during an argument or debate. Just keep them short and to the point. Not really long and rambling and without any inline punctuation etc to break up the flow into logical stages and prevent people like me from getting eye strain because they have to read the entire sentence about four times and try to guess at the intended meaning given all the possibilities that a lack of punctuation creates. (My English teacher would be proud, where it not for the fact he despised me) Seeing as you are not American, you have no excuse... I think you’ve jumped on one too many deer in your time. ;P ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk "The best way to accelerate a Win9x machine is at 9.81m/s2" - Annon
David Wulff wrote: Seeing as you are not American, you have no excuse... I think you’ve jumped on one too many deer in your time. ROTFLOL You David, are so write. When is. That Chris Maunder. Going to hurry up. And get the CP. Spellin! and grandma! checker! working, He"s so buzy Huggin, His, Stupid serber Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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Colin Davies wrote: I submitted at download.com approx 5 weeks ago and it's still in processing mode, similar to webbatack.com Yea, it takes a while. Pitty that they can't automate that process a bit more and get the submissions done in less time. Colin Davies wrote: you are giving me the scares now! Ugh ! Sorry Colin, that wasnt my intent. You have to keep on keeping on though. I was prepared to not renew my domain, kill my account on RegNow and give up. A couple weeks later I got my first registration. If you build it, they will come. ;P Funny thing is, that the hackers had a keygen for my apps faster than several of the software sites had listings. Go figure. :omg: Good luck, Frank
Frank Deo wrote: Funny thing is, that the hackers had a keygen for my apps faster than several of the software sites had listings. Go figure. Yeah I take the whole protection vs cracking setup, as a bit of a challenge, No matter what you do you'll get cracked at sometime! But I find it a fun game to play. :-) Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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Forget about beta testing. Just release it :rolleyes: There is a huge list of shareware sites in the following web page. Hope it helps. http://www.programmingart.com/free/shareware/ PS: My favorite is http://www.webattack.com Kind regards Mustafa Demirhan Sonork ID 100.9935:zoltrix
Thanks for the link! I'm going to add it to my collection of links! :-) Sam C ---- Allsys Technologies http://www.allsystech.com "Making software simpler..."
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Colin Davies wrote: I submitted at download.com approx 5 weeks ago and it's still in processing mode, similar to webbatack.com Yea, it takes a while. Pitty that they can't automate that process a bit more and get the submissions done in less time. Colin Davies wrote: you are giving me the scares now! Ugh ! Sorry Colin, that wasnt my intent. You have to keep on keeping on though. I was prepared to not renew my domain, kill my account on RegNow and give up. A couple weeks later I got my first registration. If you build it, they will come. ;P Funny thing is, that the hackers had a keygen for my apps faster than several of the software sites had listings. Go figure. :omg: Good luck, Frank
Frank Deo wrote: Funny thing is, that the hackers had a keygen for my apps faster than several of the software sites had listings :-) yeah, I can understand, I sure can understand..... I searched on google for my shareware app and more crack links popped up than legal links :-( Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org Nish is a BIG fan of Goran Ivanisevic
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Forget about beta testing. Just release it :rolleyes: There is a huge list of shareware sites in the following web page. Hope it helps. http://www.programmingart.com/free/shareware/ PS: My favorite is http://www.webattack.com Kind regards Mustafa Demirhan Sonork ID 100.9935:zoltrix
Mustafa Demirhan wrote: Forget about beta testing. Just release it I can't quite decide whether to agree with you or disagree with you zoltrix. I do believe in doing things and stuff! But when you are in beta mode you get journalists and other credible people evaluating your product, And there is nothing better than a good techo write-up to stimulate interest, and its FREE! Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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Mustafa Demirhan wrote: Forget about beta testing. Just release it I can't quite decide whether to agree with you or disagree with you zoltrix. I do believe in doing things and stuff! But when you are in beta mode you get journalists and other credible people evaluating your product, And there is nothing better than a good techo write-up to stimulate interest, and its FREE! Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
and its FREE! ... I think that is the crucial point !;) Kind regards Mustafa Demirhan Sonork ID 100.9935:zoltrix
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ThoHave you ever heard of punctuation? You only used one comma in that entire post! It had great difficulty following the flow correctly. E.g.: You said: I put it in my CP sig my Email sig My Ng's sig and then posted in heaps of forums etc Sam normally Ansering Qu's but sometimes asking them etc. Where you should have said: I put it in my CP sig, my Email sig, My Ng's sig, and then posted in heaps of forums, etc, Sam, normally Answering questions but sometimes asking them etc. (And yes, the comma is allowed before that and, as it is part of a list, and, no, you should not have added an apostrophe to “questions” - unless Qu's is an accepted abbrieviation in NZ?) In fact, as the sentence itself was badly constructed, you *should* have said: I put it in my CP sig, my Email sig, my Ng's sig, and then post it in heaps of forums, etc - normally Answering questions, but sometimes asking them. (Note the final etcetera was unnecessary as there are only two options available and you have stated both, and the hyphen-appended phrase could be enclosed in parenthesises instead. The final comma is optional, but helps define the correct flow of the sentence) And as I'm feeling particularly pedantic tonight, none of the above should really have been used as the “it” you refer to has not been previously identified... :rolleyes: You could also try shorter sentences. If you keep them short they are easier to read. They also have more effect during an argument or debate. Just keep them short and to the point. Not really long and rambling and without any inline punctuation etc to break up the flow into logical stages and prevent people like me from getting eye strain because they have to read the entire sentence about four times and try to guess at the intended meaning given all the possibilities that a lack of punctuation creates. (My English teacher would be proud, where it not for the fact he despised me) Seeing as you are not American, you have no excuse... I think you’ve jumped on one too many deer in your time. ;P ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk "The best way to accelerate a Win9x machine is at 9.81m/s2" - Annon
I put it in my CP sig my Email sig, my Ng's sig, and then post it in heaps of forums, etc - normally Answering questions, but sometimes asking them. It should be: I put it in my CP sig, my Email sig, my Ng's sig, and then post it in heaps of forums, etc - normally Answering questions, but sometimes asking them. You forgot a comma after CP sig. ;P There is a difference in knowing the path and walking the path.