Question to all new members (10 posts or below)

[KynloStephen66515]

Hey guys,

I am sitting here, very bored, and wondering...How did you guys hear about DonationCoder.com?

Is there anything in particular that drew you to the site?  Perhaps the opportunity of getting a full Serial Key for some of mousers software?  Maybe it was the wide range of discussion available here.

I honestly want to know!

Also, if we have any Lurkers^w who would be willing to register and let us know why you choose not to be a member here, that would be fun too! (I realise that if your registered, you would no longer be a lurker^w...but oh well! - Register, Reply, then delete your account if you really want to!!!)

Is there anything that would make your experience here at DonationCoder.com more fun?

Any comments you guys have, would be brilliant to hear!!!

[Tinman57]

Hey guys,

I am sitting here, very bored, and wondering...How did you guys hear about DonationCoder.com?

Is there anything in particular that drew you to the site?  Perhaps the opportunity of getting a full Serial Key for some of mousers software?  Maybe it was the wide range of discussion available here.

I honestly want to know!

Also, if we have any Lurkers^w who would be willing to register and let us know why you choose not to be a member here, that would be fun too! (I realise that if your registered, you would no longer be a lurker^w...but oh well! - Register, Reply, then delete your account if you really want to!!!)

Is there anything that would make your experience here at DonationCoder.com more fun?

Any comments you guys have, would be brilliant to hear!!!

  Is it actually possible to make it more fun than it is now? 

[Joe Hone]

This seems an appropriate place for my first post. To give the basics as suggested elsewhere. . . professional, live in Arizona, not very computer savvy, write for a living, like free stuff but recognize that someone else spent money to make it. I searched for months off and on for a suitable and uncomplicated project timer to use for work, finally went through many posts at sites like portablefreeware, and ended up here. My thought was to post a request but decided to try the forum's search function, which led me off-site to a couple different timers I'm trying now, one of which looks promising. But I donated anyway because I believe in what is going on here. And the forums are a good read so I keep coming back.

[KynloStephen66515]

This seems an appropriate place for my first post. To give the basics as suggested elsewhere. . . professional, live in Arizona, not very computer savvy, write for a living, like free stuff but recognize that someone else spent money to make it. I searched for months off and on for a suitable and uncomplicated project timer to use for work, finally went through many posts at sites like portablefreeware, and ended up here. My thought was to post a request but decided to try the forum's search function, which led me off-site to a couple different timers I'm trying now, one of which looks promising. But I donated anyway because I believe in what is going on here. And the forums are a good read so I keep coming back.

Hello and Welcome!

Lets get off to a good start, by me mentioning that you should certainly not be scared of requesting something to do EXACTLY what you need.

Clicking This Link will start a new message in the "Request a new 'Coding Snack' section

What is a Coding Snack?

As defined by DonationCoder, a Coding Snack is a small utility that would be quick and simple, for someone with relevant knowledge, to sink their teeth into, and make specially for the person who needs it, with no care if it gets any more than 1 download.  Software authors here NEVER demand payment for coding snacks, but donations are most certainly appreciated.

[ProgBob]

Hello,

I am currently programming a POS, ecommerce and general business management software for Windows (2.5 years of work, almost ready) and wondered for a little while about donations as a way to finance my program. So I searched about donation software sites and eventually stumbled on this site. But I have since changed my mind and will sell the software instead of asking for donations as the kind of software that I'm working on will not reach the sufficient number of people to offer it as a donation software.

When I was wondering about donation for my software I was also thinking about selling "hours" of work. For example, instead of asking for donations I would ask people to buy me time to work on the software. I could charge let's say $20 per hour and people would have bought as many hours as they would like (from $5 for 15 minutes to full hours, I find donations below $5 a little ridiculous). I thought that it would be a good idea to help donaters realize how much work they are actually buying. I would possibly have made a chart of the hours of work bought per month.

So what am I doing here since I won't be asking for donations? When want to relax I read web sites and this forum still has interesting topics that are of interest to me (mainly General Software Discussion, Living Room and Developer's Corner).

So that's about it.

Ben

[mouser]

Welcome to the site Bob -- It sounds like you are making smart decisions.

The idea of people paying "bounties" to fund the addition of features has lots going for it and seems to be catching on as a way to fund software.  There have been a few threads about it on dc (see here and here), but we should discuss it more.

[ProgBob]

Thanks Mouser.

I've been reading the two threads and found them interesting. I think that one of the main points is that the decision of the method used to finance (paid, donation, ...) or not (freeware) software depends on the nature of the software and the potential public using the software and how the software is developped.

For example, in my case my software is aimed at small businesses or independent sellers (like on eBay). So I will have a rather limited number of potential users and these users will probably consist of a medium to high proportion of people not knowing how to use computers very well. This implies that the software has to be very user friendly and this takes way more time to develop.

On the development side, I have had the chance to work on my software almost full time for 2.5 years and will eventually need to have serious revenues from the software (let's say about $25K per year would be ok for me) for me to continue working on it full time. So at $100 per licence I will have to sell at least 250 per year (about 20 per month). Were I to offer the software as donationware I would have to get 2500 donation per year (200 donations per month) with an average $10 donation. This is not very realistic and is a huge risk for me and the software users as not enough donations would force me to stop development of updates and new versions and stop support.

I believe that the potential market for my software allows me to charge $100 for my software. Especially if the software help my users sell more of their products and help them reduce fees if they already sell on sites like eBay by selling on their own web site. Since I have some (limited) design talent I will include some basic templates with the software but will also offer templates for purchase that will directly work in my software with a few clicks. And I will probably also offer the possibility of doing unique templates for a higher price. I think that in my case, this is the best possible avenue to pursue.

I think that software developpers should ask themselves these questions before even starting:

- Do I develop for fun or for the revenue (but should include the fun factor)?
- What is the potential market for my software?
- Who are my competitors?
- How much money do I require from selling my software?
- What are the connex possible avenues for revenue?

On another note, one thing that I would like to see on this forum is a section devoted to people who have finished programs and would like to write a "debriefing" of their project for others. I forgot the term but it's a small to large document that tells the story of what happened, what went well, what went bad, what was learned, ... I think that it would be a good addition to this forum.

Ben

Edit:
P.S. I remember now, it's a post-mortem.