Going semi-commercial, well... selling some new/improved stuff
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peterchen wrote: DWIM ¿Qué? --Colin Mackay--
EuroCPian Spring 2004 Get Together[^] "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want." --Zig Ziglar
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"Do what I Mean" i.e. it must fit almost flawlessly.
And you want to travel with her And you want to travel blind .
mlog || Agile Programming | doxygenThanks --Colin Mackay--
EuroCPian Spring 2004 Get Together[^] "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want." --Zig Ziglar
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I'm now going back over my thoughts immediately after graduation, I'd like to make a small bit of cash (maybe enough to pay for running the website) by extending, improving and providing better support with some controls etc. based on stuff I've written here. Previously this has always had a fairly luke-warm reception in places, people pulling articles from CP etc. My thoughts are that I've put code up for general consumption (and have been extremely happy to see people using code I wrote, and finding what I've written interesting and helpful) and have no plans to remove anything. I'd like to think I can extend and improve on what's in the code to pull in maybe a few sales. As I said, I have a job, I'd like to do this not only to try and cover the odd expense, but mainly as a learning experience. I'm fairly fortunate that I can handle accounts and the forming of the Company etc. Anyway, I just wondered what people's thoughts on it were. As I mentioned, I've seen the occasional backlash here, but I'd hope that by maintaining what I've contributed already (and writing future articles again at some point) I can provide both commercial controls and articles for general consumption. -- Paul "Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office." - David Brent, from "The Office" MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Download my PGP public key
Nothing wrong with commercial as long as you do not pull the rights people already have to the current code. That is where I think the flames came from in the past, they either pulled the code or changed the licensing to non-commerical, non-profit and self use only. I am sure most people would wish you the best as long as the can continue to use what is already out there. Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com www.GotTheAnswerToSpam.com
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I'm now going back over my thoughts immediately after graduation, I'd like to make a small bit of cash (maybe enough to pay for running the website) by extending, improving and providing better support with some controls etc. based on stuff I've written here. Previously this has always had a fairly luke-warm reception in places, people pulling articles from CP etc. My thoughts are that I've put code up for general consumption (and have been extremely happy to see people using code I wrote, and finding what I've written interesting and helpful) and have no plans to remove anything. I'd like to think I can extend and improve on what's in the code to pull in maybe a few sales. As I said, I have a job, I'd like to do this not only to try and cover the odd expense, but mainly as a learning experience. I'm fairly fortunate that I can handle accounts and the forming of the Company etc. Anyway, I just wondered what people's thoughts on it were. As I mentioned, I've seen the occasional backlash here, but I'd hope that by maintaining what I've contributed already (and writing future articles again at some point) I can provide both commercial controls and articles for general consumption. -- Paul "Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office." - David Brent, from "The Office" MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Download my PGP public key
I agree with what Rocky has said. Maybe CP will give you a discount on advertising, since you're already a contributor. If you think you have a good idea, then go for it. When it's not fun anymore, then stop.
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I'm now going back over my thoughts immediately after graduation, I'd like to make a small bit of cash (maybe enough to pay for running the website) by extending, improving and providing better support with some controls etc. based on stuff I've written here. Previously this has always had a fairly luke-warm reception in places, people pulling articles from CP etc. My thoughts are that I've put code up for general consumption (and have been extremely happy to see people using code I wrote, and finding what I've written interesting and helpful) and have no plans to remove anything. I'd like to think I can extend and improve on what's in the code to pull in maybe a few sales. As I said, I have a job, I'd like to do this not only to try and cover the odd expense, but mainly as a learning experience. I'm fairly fortunate that I can handle accounts and the forming of the Company etc. Anyway, I just wondered what people's thoughts on it were. As I mentioned, I've seen the occasional backlash here, but I'd hope that by maintaining what I've contributed already (and writing future articles again at some point) I can provide both commercial controls and articles for general consumption. -- Paul "Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office." - David Brent, from "The Office" MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Download my PGP public key
I agree with the consensus thus far, i.e. that leaving your current code free will prevent a backlash of negativity towards your decision to sell commercial controls. In fact, I'll go that one step further and say, hell yeah, go for it! Sharing your work with others is noble, but it's no less noble to make money and an honest living doing what you love. That's what most of us here are doing to pay the bills. I've always been a big fan of the "get this fully functional stuff for free, and if you like it, you can pay money for some even cooler stuff" model of doing things. When I use a limited version of someone's product, it tells me a lot about the quality, usability and usefulness of what they do. If I'm impressed, I have no problem with shelling out money for an even better product. If it turns out the free stuff sucks, then I don't spend money, and I didn't get ripped off (which happens way too often in our business). In fact, I'm going to use a similar model on some new audio course CDs and other products we're working on. I think a free sample of what you do is the best, and most benevolent, advertising you can get. So go out there and get in touch with your Inner Capitalist - I wish you much success! :cool: Christopher Duncan Today's Corporate Battle Tactic Unite the Tribes: Ending Turf Wars for Career and Business Success The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World
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It eould be OK if you build upon your existing stuff to go commercial. It would be a not-so-nice move if you pull your articles in this. Ask youself: Who is going to buy code from a guy he doesn't know, with no company "behind"? Part-time developers like you probably won't, and for a "serious" commercial project, reliability, experience, and support beat a low price tag. So the controls must either be with source, or just "DWIM".
And you want to travel with her And you want to travel blind .
mlog || Agile Programming | doxygenMy immediate thoughts are to leave the articles well alone, I'm going to update a few over the coming week and weekend (made some drastic changes to a few a while ago and never got around to updating the article, just posting the projects on my webspace). I'd hope that I would never have to pull the articles as they are. As Christopher Duncan posted, they would be an important part of establishing a level of credibility. As for the products themselves, they would be with source code which would hopefully make up for the 24 hour response time for any problems, if I were buying a full commercial product I'd expect responses within the hour but with being at work this won't be possible. If I can't have a quick response I'd at least want a shot of solving the problem myself. What I can guarantee is that I'll respond to everything within 1 business day. Sound reasonable? -- Paul "Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office." - David Brent, from "The Office" MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Download my PGP public key
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I agree with the consensus thus far, i.e. that leaving your current code free will prevent a backlash of negativity towards your decision to sell commercial controls. In fact, I'll go that one step further and say, hell yeah, go for it! Sharing your work with others is noble, but it's no less noble to make money and an honest living doing what you love. That's what most of us here are doing to pay the bills. I've always been a big fan of the "get this fully functional stuff for free, and if you like it, you can pay money for some even cooler stuff" model of doing things. When I use a limited version of someone's product, it tells me a lot about the quality, usability and usefulness of what they do. If I'm impressed, I have no problem with shelling out money for an even better product. If it turns out the free stuff sucks, then I don't spend money, and I didn't get ripped off (which happens way too often in our business). In fact, I'm going to use a similar model on some new audio course CDs and other products we're working on. I think a free sample of what you do is the best, and most benevolent, advertising you can get. So go out there and get in touch with your Inner Capitalist - I wish you much success! :cool: Christopher Duncan Today's Corporate Battle Tactic Unite the Tribes: Ending Turf Wars for Career and Business Success The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World
Thanks for the suggestions, you make a good point that allowing people to read current articles and try out current components could provide a good basis for establishing some level of credibility. -- Paul "Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office." - David Brent, from "The Office" MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Download my PGP public key
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Thanks for the suggestions, you make a good point that allowing people to read current articles and try out current components could provide a good basis for establishing some level of credibility. -- Paul "Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office." - David Brent, from "The Office" MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Download my PGP public key
Just remember us working class folks when you're rich and famous. :-D Christopher Duncan Today's Corporate Battle Tactic Unite the Tribes: Ending Turf Wars for Career and Business Success The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World
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Just remember us working class folks when you're rich and famous. :-D Christopher Duncan Today's Corporate Battle Tactic Unite the Tribes: Ending Turf Wars for Career and Business Success The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World
Hahaha, I think I'm a way off that :) I'm doing it primarily to cover a few expenses and give me something to put on my CV and talk about during job interviews! Time to get the action plan in order and spec out some stuff... exciting :-D -- Paul "Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office." - David Brent, from "The Office" MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Download my PGP public key
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My immediate thoughts are to leave the articles well alone, I'm going to update a few over the coming week and weekend (made some drastic changes to a few a while ago and never got around to updating the article, just posting the projects on my webspace). I'd hope that I would never have to pull the articles as they are. As Christopher Duncan posted, they would be an important part of establishing a level of credibility. As for the products themselves, they would be with source code which would hopefully make up for the 24 hour response time for any problems, if I were buying a full commercial product I'd expect responses within the hour but with being at work this won't be possible. If I can't have a quick response I'd at least want a shot of solving the problem myself. What I can guarantee is that I'll respond to everything within 1 business day. Sound reasonable? -- Paul "Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office." - David Brent, from "The Office" MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Download my PGP public key
Paul Ingles wrote: What I can guarantee is that I'll respond to everything within 1 business day. No vacations? :cool: That's fair enough - especially when source code is available. You can expect "same-day" answers if it's a product that has developed quite a community, but getting a response (beyond "we're lookin at it) within one workday is something I don't expect anymore. I didn't want to discourage you (reading m post again it did sound a bit like that), jut point out that it's maybe not an effective way to earn money (lots of work and dedication for uncertain returns), but well, if this is what you like, better get started ASAP ;)
And you want to travel with her And you want to travel blind .
mlog || Agile Programming | doxygen -
Paul Ingles wrote: What I can guarantee is that I'll respond to everything within 1 business day. No vacations? :cool: That's fair enough - especially when source code is available. You can expect "same-day" answers if it's a product that has developed quite a community, but getting a response (beyond "we're lookin at it) within one workday is something I don't expect anymore. I didn't want to discourage you (reading m post again it did sound a bit like that), jut point out that it's maybe not an effective way to earn money (lots of work and dedication for uncertain returns), but well, if this is what you like, better get started ASAP ;)
And you want to travel with her And you want to travel blind .
mlog || Agile Programming | doxygenThat's fine peter, I'm pretty fortunate that I enjoy what I do at work (and where I work). This is mainly as an opportunity to give something else a go, and most importantly give me something else to put on a CV. I'm very aware of how competitive finding work is so I'm trying to think ahead as to what I can do to improve my long-term prospects. As you say, I'd hope to actually provide some constructive help with any problems that arise, rather than just acknowledging they'd sent an email, and on the whole I reckon within 24 hours, 48 hours at most. Anyway, time to get on and actually build something... still, hopefully this resolve will continue for the next few weeks :D -- Paul "Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office." - David Brent, from "The Office" MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Download my PGP public key