19 replies to this topic

[kakarukeys]

I am trying to set a learning goal for myself: to write one workable software on my own and sell it as a shareware. The software is to help computer users who spend more time than the others on computer finish their job faster.

Features of the software that I am working on:
1. suggest and set abbreviation for repetitive phrases, word blocks that the user usually type.
2. suggest and set keyboard shortcuts to folders/programs that the user frequently opens
3. analyze startup programs and suggest to remove those that are not needed.
4. minimize file search time through better search algorithm.
5. provide scripting to let user codes simple robots to automate some easy tasks.
6. and many other features that helps user to do things faster.

What you do think, in your opinion, at what price you will buy this software, will the software sell?

[Turk4n]

Uhm, well open software is always the best for starters, while having free software you will attract a lot of new commoners and you in the end can do a premium version if you feel for so, or end up setting it as open source code and let the world use the source to upgrade it for their own needs.

[kakarukeys]

Is it legal to do so? If the open-source codes are under GPL license, and to write premium version, inevitably, some codes are being reused.

[WingedPanther]

What you are talking about is a combination of utilities that are already available for free (for the most part). None of them are of interest to me.

Regarding licensing, if you write all the software, you can distribute both a GPL and non-GPL version. There are other open-source licenses available as well, including the MIT license and the ones used by Mozilla and OpenOffice.org.

[kakarukeys]

WingedPanther said:

What you are talking about is a combination of utilities that are already available for free (for the most part). None of them are of interest to me.

May I know why the utilities (and hence my future project) are not of interest to you?

I do use some of the utilities myself and feel that I can make something better. One example: What is already available in the market could only list out the startup programs from registry, startup folder, etc. It is then up to the user to decide which program should be removed. But I believe I could write a function that can do the analysis for the user.

"Analyze startup programs and suggest to remove those that are not needed."

[WingedPanther]

kakarukeys said:

Features of the software that I am working on:
1. suggest and set abbreviation for repetitive phrases, word blocks that the user usually type.

This sounds like auto-complete, a feature in many programs that I quickly turn off.

kakarukeys said:

2. suggest and set keyboard shortcuts to folders/programs that the user frequently opens

I always organize my folders/programs for easy access, making this redundant.

kakarukeys said:

3. analyze startup programs and suggest to remove those that are not needed.

I do this myself. I generally don't trust analysis programs to do this well.

kakarukeys said:

4. minimize file search time through better search algorithm.

Google search.

kakarukeys said:

5. provide scripting to let user codes simple robots to automate some easy tasks.

I'll use AutoIt if I really need this.

kakarukeys said:

6. and many other features that helps user to do things faster.

This isn't something you can download/sell.

[kakarukeys]

Thank you. This is a good sign to me that the program will sell.
The first feature isn't auto-complete, it is something similar to Autokey, a tool for linux

[ArekBulski]

Only 1 person voted for possible buying, and after reading Winged comments, I would say it won't sell great. Sorry, but many programs that are advertised as helpers and time-savers are in fact only consuming time and efforts. :mellow:

Only advice from me: make the GUI as easy to use as possible. No nagging for configuring this and that. You run it and it works by itself. Another thing is tutorials. Your buyers won't trouble to read documentation (help files?) so you could include graphical suggestions within program's windows. :thumbup1:

[kakarukeys]

ArekBulski said:

Only 1 person voted for possible buying, and after reading Winged comments, I would say it won't sell great. Sorry, but many programs that are advertised as helpers and time-savers are in fact only consuming time and efforts. :mellow:

Only advice from me: make the GUI as easy to use as possible. No nagging for configuring this and that. You run it and it works by itself. Another thing is tutorials. Your buyers won't trouble to read documentation (help files?) so you could include graphical suggestions within program's windows. :thumbup1:

I will be looking into a light-weight software design. It's possible to sell well if I do just the way users need, isn't it?

[WingedPanther]

Unfortunately, my experience is that every user has different needs. Generally, users have widely varying needs, and your program will either target them exactly, or require a fair amount of configuration to meet them.

[ArekBulski]

And fair amount of configuration means wasting lots of user's time, does it not?