Recent Posts

251

General Software Discussion / Re: What does it mean when I say "successful freeware"?

« Last post by vlastimil on February 14, 2011, 06:37 AM »

I agree that hearing about monetizing freeware is scary, but it seems to be happening all around us. One example may be Picasa. Free is the word Google is built around. They are best at the free+ads game.

Individuals can afford to give software away for free and receive no monetary compensation, but I believe all of us seek at least some kind of compensation and are happy when someone likes the software, recommends it, ...

On the other hand, any software has a live cycle. Coding the initial version is fun, adding new features that people request less so, writing documentation is usually boring, answering the same question N times (despite an answer being on the web) can be frustrating, updating for new OSes, solving compatibility issues is a chore. All that must be done to maximize the chances to be "successful" (whatever definition we agree on, but roughly more users = more success). If this is to be sustainable in a long run, some form of income is needed.

I made 6 freeware apps in the last 4 years. None of them is a financial success. Though 3 of the 6 apps brought at least a few bucks from donations. I also tried ads on the tools' web pages - this could be an alternative to donations if the typical users are not likely to send money. So far, I have resisted all the offers to include some kind of toolbar or adware in the installers.

From the limited experience I have, I believe it is possible, but extremely difficult to earn enough to pay for living by making freeware. One would have to carefully plan what kind of application to make, dedicate the right amount of time to it and make a lot of applications, because only some of them will "make it".

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General Software Discussion / Re: What does it mean when I say "successful freeware"?

« Last post by vlastimil on February 13, 2011, 05:07 PM »

Coincidentally, I learned about a possible solution for micro-donations - bitcoin ( http://www.bitcoin.org ). It is an attempt to create a virtual currency, something I have been thinking about for years, but never really started to work on it. While I feel that bitcoin has some drawbacks, it also has potential. The idea of eliminating the middle man (banks) and hence not needing to trust anyone is powerful.

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General Software Discussion / Re: What does it mean when I say "successful freeware"?

« Last post by vlastimil on February 13, 2011, 02:37 PM »

Thanks for the reactions! Money was mentioned a lot. Freeware or not, it seems to play an important role.

Kip, you have a great number of tools on your web, some of them completely unique. With the number of downloads you have, I would expect at least some donations. It could be due to the web. It feels a bit impersonal - visitors may have hard time seeing a human behind. What if you integrated for example facebook comments on your pages? It would give the users a way to communicate with each other, there is power in the social network  .

Renegade, I am in similar position as you, having some paid and some free software. I guess the free tools have impact on the paid tools, but how can we measure this? And should we?

I started this topic, because I did not know how to "measure" the success of free tools. I am inclined to consider a popular freeware a success regardless of the direct financial compensation for the author. BTW is there a guide how to make successful (popular) (profitable) freeware?

What are the core ingredients of success (in freeware)? Is is the niche? The typical users? The programming skills? The marketing skills?

254

Official Announcements / Re: January 2011 Giveaway - Winners Posted

« Last post by vlastimil on February 12, 2011, 06:29 PM »

I do not think so. If you have selected part of the image, it is copied simply as a normal image, without any additional information. When pasting it, it is always placed to the top left corner of the visible area. You would have to copy it with an additional free space - that would be possible if you added the top left pixel to the selection (hold SHIFT when selecting to add things to the selection (if it is not a floating selection)), but it seems kind of weird. Maybe the operation you are trying to do can be accomplished by some other method.

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General Software Discussion / Re: What does it mean when I say "successful freeware"?

« Last post by vlastimil on February 12, 2011, 03:55 PM »

Why are any of those comments restricted to "freeware" except 8?

-timns (February 12, 2011, 03:21 PM)

Good point. I guess in case of commercial software, the success is usually measured by the number of sold copies. For freeware I was forced to look for other metrics.

256

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple Photo Resizer - Please Give Feedback

« Last post by vlastimil on February 12, 2011, 03:49 PM »

One of the "inspirations/motivations" for it is someone I know and who shall remain unnamed -- Asking him to rename a file is a major task. Watching him browse to a different location on his computer is enough to make you want to rip your eye-balls out and scream. While seeing Cthulhu may give you a few insanity points, he'll max you out real quit as you find yourself screaming wildly and attempting to bash your brains out in a padded cell.

I've not given him a link for it yet, but he'll be the acid test to see if I've managed to get the UI right.

-Renegade (February 06, 2011, 03:51 PM)

Having such person is a big +. It is too bad that each person can only by used once for such tests.

Anyway, what I wanted to emphasize in my previous post is that you should pick an area and make your picture resizer be totally awesome in that single area. The area may be for example ease of use, resizing speed, image quality, user interface sexiness, understandable documentation, portability, seamless integration with another software, or something completely different. I followed that path years ago and it worked. There is a good number of free picture resizers out there competing for attention (some of them even online services), and being best in something is a must.

257

General Software Discussion / What does it mean when I say "successful freeware"?

« Last post by vlastimil on February 12, 2011, 03:08 PM »

In my opinion, these are some the signs of a successful freeware (in no particular order):
1. If you show it to people, they will keep using it.
2. People will recommend it to their friends with similar interests.
3. There are independent blog posts about your software.
4. People are recommending your software on forums/facebook/twitter/...
5. People are requesting new features.
6. You already have plans for next version.
7. You get a good spot on Google for relevant keywords.
8. People are offering help/sending donations.
9. People are making tools that complement/extend your software.
10. You are surprised, what people are using your tool for.

I would like to know which of your freeware projects are you considering the most successful and why. And what lessons have you learned coding/extending/supporting the free software?

258

Living Room / Re: A question for Google -- why are you so desperate to have me switch to Chrome?

« Last post by vlastimil on February 11, 2011, 07:19 AM »

Hmmm, why is google saying they spend a lot on promotion?

Not sure, but maybe saying "we are spending a lot" is generating more buzz than saying "we have released a new version, again". It may then serve as a reinforcement of the campaign itself. It is something people can talk about. It makes the campaign "special".

259

Living Room / Re: A question for Google -- why are you so desperate to have me switch to Chrome?

« Last post by vlastimil on February 10, 2011, 03:20 AM »

To answer the original question, I believe Google is pushing Chrome, because they want to minimize risks. Risks -> fear -> discomfort. They are big enough to minimize the risks and they believe that it is the best use of their resources.

Consider the default search provider in FF. I think it is still google at this moment, but what if FF changes that in the future? What if a better search service appears, FF recognizes that and switches the default search provider? Lots of $ will be lost. Open source may be open, but there is still a small group of people in control. Google cannot directly control FF.

So, Google is not trying to take over the world, they are just trying to control the money pipeline leading to them. Having its own browser is logical.

260

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple Photo Resizer - Please Give Feedback

« Last post by vlastimil on February 05, 2011, 08:12 AM »

Renegade, I was in similar situation years ago, but went even more extreme with the ease of use and ended up with this free resizing tool: http://www.rw-design...r.com/picture-resize
I added a lot of features over the years, but the basic functionality remained the same. Drag and drop photo or folder on it and it creates resized copies. No GUI, no sliders, no buttons. It can be configured by changing its name... Newbies just drag and drop, power users can do a lot more.

BTW cubic resampling is no good when shrinking images. It is for magnification of images.

261

General Software Discussion / Re: Axialis License Key Frustrations

« Last post by vlastimil on February 05, 2011, 07:44 AM »

Strange that people fall for these marketing tricks so easily. That time limited offer has been up almost permanently since the summer... Wait a bit, maybe it will go to 75% soon  (rant of an informed competitor)

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Official Announcements / Re: January 2011 Giveaway - Winners Posted

« Last post by vlastimil on February 05, 2011, 04:43 AM »

God is in the details.

Well, English not being my native language, I use whatever seems right at the moment. I often wonder how do native speakers perceive my "creative" use of English.

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Official Announcements / Re: January 2011 Giveaway - Winners Posted

« Last post by vlastimil on February 04, 2011, 04:16 AM »

Does that mean me too? While I didn't submit a project this year (first year I haven't done so) I did help out with anyone that wanted icons (made a whole set of dice for worstje I think, and the icon for N.A.N.Y. Excuse Manager)

-app103 (February 04, 2011, 03:04 AM)

Yes, just PM me your name.

264

Living Room / Re: preparing for an expedition to the treacherous land of Drupal

« Last post by vlastimil on February 02, 2011, 04:35 PM »

Drupal = lots of spam. It is too popular. Spammers invested time to develop automated tools to spam Drupal sites. Email verification, captchas, it does not help and only makes user experience worse. If you plan to make a large popular site, where people would participate, I would think twice before using Drupal.

Now, I am not sure if Joomla is better, I can only compare to WordPress (just as bad when it comes to spam) and my own custom CMS. The custom CMS is the king when it comes to spam. Anonymous (ajax-powered) comments are not a problem. Spammers are too lazy to make tool to spam just one site. Creating a custom CMS is not easy, but if you are into coding, why not try that?  

265

Official Announcements / Re: January 2011 Giveaway is open for entry

« Last post by vlastimil on February 01, 2011, 11:16 AM »

NANY is getting better and better. This is the first time I participated and I am amazed. The press release possibly helped my tiny tool being added to komando.com getting 1000's of downloads, then the mug  , and now a chance to win :-).

I feel kind of generous, WTH, whoever from the participants wants a free license to my icon editor ( http://www.rw-design...m/3D_icon_editor.php ), just sent me a PM with your name.

266

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by vlastimil on January 14, 2011, 05:19 AM »

I'm always using IcoFX now if I have to do anything with icons, which is mostly converting other pic formats to .ico or doing simple modifications on icons.

-phitsc (January 14, 2011, 01:53 AM)

IcoFX hit the optimal spot. It can do what you mentioned and that is what most people expect. (Though, you can convert images to icons via numerous free web services just as well.) Sure, I have gamma-correct resampling, background detection, outline shadows and dozens of other features, but most people do no really care. And the mass is what counts in Google's eyes and that is probably one of the better ways.

So. Just me thinking. But is it illegal to publicize an example order-confirmed page, or example invoice on your webpage, then post that over a place where your competitors potential customers gather?

...

Maybe it isn't a super nice tactic, but hey, might as well let their own competitive pricing bite them in their butt, yes?

-worstje (January 14, 2011, 02:37 AM)

Yeah, it would not be super-nice  . I think I just let it go and consider it a desperate try to get more customers...

All of these ethical business decisions stem from increasing profits for western companies and all of this small sample is, IMHO, thoroughly unethical.

-Carol Haynes (January 14, 2011, 04:22 AM)

Today's world prefers quick profits, not creation of long term value. It's sad.

267

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by vlastimil on January 13, 2011, 03:27 PM »

40hz,

Heh, IcoFX is fine. It is a decent free icon editor. The one with the "competitive upgrade" has the place right above me.
Google is not an ideal search engine and gives too much weight (indirectly) to free software. I am not complaining though - try searching for "icon maker".

Wikipedia, well, it was me, years ago, who added most of the content to the "icon editor" entry http://en.wikipedia....&oldid=112038555
Someone decided to rewrite it... There are no criteria. Whoever changes it, changes it.

Getting good organic rankings for a commercial software is not an easy thing these days. It simply is not newsworthy. Spamming or producing tons of useless content apparently still works, but I do not want to go that way. Maybe facebook will save me  .

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Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by vlastimil on January 13, 2011, 02:00 PM »

Eh, OK, I think it would not hurt anything at this point - it is RealWorld Icon Editor - as the name suggest, tool to primarily make .ico files or other application or web graphics.

269

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by vlastimil on January 13, 2011, 12:35 PM »

40hz  , I guess, I am mostly annoyed about him calling it an "upgrade". Also, no one in this niche has ever offered something like this. While I doubt the effectiveness of such offer, I feel threatened by it. It is a clear move against the competitors. In the past, it was about product features and such, but in the later months, I saw more aggressive marketing.

I did not know what would be the proper reaction, so I started this topic to learn what people think about similar marketing techniques.

270

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by vlastimil on January 13, 2011, 12:12 PM »

Trouble is where the big boys go the tiddlers follow (just look at activation methods for software).

-Carol Haynes (January 13, 2011, 11:31 AM)

Online activation sucks, I'll never follow that way. Sure, I am happy when a customer registers an account, but it is optional and only serves the customer if they forget the registration code and need to retrieve it (less support for me).

Loads of big companies use/have used this as an incentive to steal customer eg. Corel Word Perfect Suite X can be bought at upgrade price if you have owned Microsoft Office XP or later.

There are similar deals from leading graphics companies etc.

It isn't really surprising it happens as the dollar/euro/pound/yen or whatever is king in business. It shouldn't be but it is.

-Carol Haynes (January 13, 2011, 11:31 AM)

Direct money may not be the main motivation for these actions. Hell, I would give the license away for free to an active user of a competing product, but it is impossible to put an offer like this on the web, because it would annoy the "normal" customers. Each user brings value, he/she dedicates piece of their brain to learn to work with the software and would probably recommend it to their peers if they needed a software of that kind. Even pirates bring value.

The ethics should not be ignored, it is the part of how the customer perceives the product...

271

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by vlastimil on January 13, 2011, 11:42 AM »

I'm not sure what message you would be trying to convey by doing that.

-40hz (January 13, 2011, 09:17 AM)

The message could be: I (the author) am dedicated to keep the software top quality, if I fail and a competitor makes a better product, I'll give you some money back ... maybe min(competitor_price, 50% of paid price). And/or: buying this product is safer than the competing ones, if I (the buyer) make a decision that turns out to be wrong in the future, I get at least some of my money back.

I am not really a marketing type of person, so this may be a complete nonsense, or plainly not worth the effort.

(I did not want to post any links to keep the discussion as neutral as possible, but you guessed right.)

272

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by vlastimil on January 12, 2011, 04:19 PM »

JavaJones, 40hz, no worries, I did not plan to actually do it, I was just summarizing the suggestions in this thread so far.

JavaJones's guess was actually right, I have been thinking about doing something like this in the past and decided not to due to both ethics and economics. It would actually make more sense for me than for the competitor. He has an older product, he is a very good marketer, but in the recent years a bit lazy developer. I tend to focus on the product and neglect marketing hoping that it would pay off in the long run. He probably has more no-so-happy customers, while I probably have less, but happier customers.

Anyway, I also prefer coming with something new rather than just reacting in a predictable way. Here is a thought:
What if I offered my customers 50% of their money back if they switched to a competing product? Sounds crazy? What do you think?

273

Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by vlastimil on January 12, 2011, 03:33 AM »

Thanks for the opinions and advice given so far. 

It seems like there is a second group of people, who see this as a valid (although a bit aggressive) marketing gimmick and I should possibly return the "favor", although with less manipulative and more accurate phrases.

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Developer's Corner / Re: "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by vlastimil on January 11, 2011, 10:58 AM »

I doubt I'll lose a user due to this offer. I live in a happy delusion that my tool is better than his.  

What annoys me is the word "upgrade". That indicates superiority. And it isn't supported by any facts, not even by a biased comparison chart. It is one thing to believe that your software is better and another thing to offer an "upgrade" in the public.

It seems that the advice so far is "ignore it". I may do that...

jgpaiva, they require a copy of an invoice, but you have a point, it is very easy to fake it. This would actually be a very smart (and questionable) marketing tactic. I mean making it easy to fake it for the customer. Ugh, I hope it is not that.

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Developer's Corner / "competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

« Last post by vlastimil on January 11, 2011, 05:02 AM »

Hi there,

just today I found out, my competitor is offering 40% discount to customers who already own my tool and he is calling it "competitive upgrade".

It is understandable that everyone wants as big market share as possible and providing an incentive to switch is not unheard of. But I still do not like it...

What do you think about the ethicality of such action? What would be your response if you were in my shoes?

I am considering returning the favor and offering "competitive upgrade" the other way, but maybe I should not.

Thanks for your opinions!