My Shareware program (or rather Commerical Program with a time limited demo) used to have sales of around $2,000 per month around 2002, but then I got busy at work and didn't have time to maintain it, so sales dwindled off to about $200 a month or less. I still get the odd sale now and again.
Recently whilst looking for a job I've spent months updating the software and I believe it's better than the competition, but after 2 months zero sales!
I think it may well be a sector that is in decline - my biggest competitor (who I think took some ideas from me) has 87,000 downloads on download.com - but only 87 in the past week so either less people are downloading this kind of program, or download.com is no longer as widely used.
I was reading about .Net Paint, which is free, but the user manual is on the website rather than a download, so he gets advertising revenue from people reading the user manual.
He says he is making $3,000 a month, but I'm a little sceptical, and also a paint program has a very wide potential userbase, my program is aimed at web developers so it's a little more specialised.
Just wondering really if anyone has succesfully made the transition from Shareware to OpenSource or Freeware and made anything out of it?
I once had a program that sold for $20 and I sold 2-3 copies per week. I the made it free, but asked users that appreciated it instead of sending me money, next time they are purchasing something from Amazon to use my affiliate link so that it doesn't cost them anything, but makes me a few cents. 9 years later I'm still waiting! Strange that people would pay $20 for a program, but wouldn't do that. So I am a little sceptical about donate buttons (unless you've got millions of downloads).
Obviously something as popular and mainstream as Firefox can generate significant advertising income (Millions of $s I read - I wonder how much of that went to the people who wrote it) but the open source "market place" seems a very crowded place these days to really stand out?
I'd be more than happy to give the whole thing away and make nothing out of it, if the mortage company will let us have the house for free, and the supermarket let us have food for free!
1  2302   RedSon 5,000
Recognized Expert Expert
Shareware and open source are two completely different business models. When you take your program and make it open source you are changing it so that your program now has a license that allows others to use, modify and change the program at will. In opensource you make money by selling services related to the product. In shareware you are selling the product after a certain demo period. The license says that you are free to give copies of the program to your friends but only the time bombed version, if they want the full version they will need to pay for it just like the original person did. You can additionally sell services related to the shareware software but many of the services people expect to come for free from a product they purchased.
The advantages to open source software are "many hands make light work" scenario in which a community of developers grows out of your product and they work to make it better and add functionality that is useful to them. Additionally since your product will cost nothing the user base may become much larger therefore if you sell services related to the product you have a larger community that may be interested in purchasing from you.
Sign in to post your reply or Sign up for a free account.
Similar topics | |
by: poisondart |
last post by:
Hi,
I'm not sure if this is the right group to post this. If not, then I
would appreciate if somebody could point me to the correct group.
This is my first time releasing software to the public and I'm wanting
to release a Python program I wrote for review (and critique) and
testing on other platforms, but also I would like to explore the
different software licenses that are available (there seems to be
many). Since the specification...
|
by: RFox |
last post by:
I date back to the early days of the web when HTML was limited
but very managable, and have always maintained that hand-coding
HTML gives you far better control and cleaner HTML markup than
any WYSIWYG editor.
But all the sites I created and manage are small sites (<50 pages).
And I've been out of the loop in terms of what's new in
methodology and with the specifications for the past couple
of years.
|
by: Jeremy |
last post by:
I'm new to .Net. Specifically, I just started playing around with VB
..Net 2003.
I'm considering developing some shareware applications. Would you
consider .Net a suitable platform for this?
I know I can create my apps in VB.Net since I've already built some
prototypes, but the Framework issues concern me.
I understand you have to have the framework installed and that it can
|
by: JL |
last post by:
I'm wondering .NET is good for writing shareware at the moment since it
needs .net framework installed in client's computer. But current windows
don't have pre-installed .net framework which is quite big to download from
internet for many customers. I'm afraid that will turn some customers away
from your software.
|
by: Robby Russell |
last post by:
Should be a simple question.
When selecting a field that is of type money, how can I remove the $
when selected?
example: $10.00 would return as 10.00
-Robby
| | |
by: Jim Hubbard |
last post by:
I am downloading the REALbasic 5.5 demo and was just wondering if anyone
else had tried it.
I am tired of Microsoft constantly changing things and breaking backward
compatibility ON PURPOSE.
I'd like to offer my customers the ability to run my apps on Windows, MAC or
Linux - and REALbasic claims the ability to do that from one set of source
code.
|
by: mike11d11 |
last post by:
I'm trying to create an application that will have multiple users
working off a table on a SQL server. Since multi users will be
updating different records at any given moment, how can i get those
changes and merge them into my current Dataset. I've been playing
around with the GetChanges method and Acceptchanges but they just dont
seem to be pulling over the changes and updating my Dataset. Maybe if
someone could give me a sample of...
|
by: JohnQ |
last post by:
(The "C++ Grammer" thread in comp.lang.c++.moderated prompted this post).
It would be more than a little bit nice if C++ was much "cleaner" (less
complex) so that it wasn't a major world wide untaking to create a toolchain
for it. Way back when, there used to be something called "Small C". I wonder
if the creator(s) of that would want to embark on creating a nice little
Small C++ compiler devoid of C++ language features that make...
|
by: ThatsIT.net.au |
last post by:
I want to sell a VB application I am making.
I want to be able to publish it using the Visual Studio publish tool. and I
want to charge money for the application. How do I charge for it, is there a
standard way of doing this?
|
by: marktang |
last post by:
ONU (Optical Network Unit) is one of the key components for providing high-speed Internet services. Its primary function is to act as an endpoint device located at the user's premises. However, people are often confused as to whether an ONU can Work As a Router. In this blog post, we’ll explore What is ONU, What Is Router, ONU & Router’s main usage, and What is the difference between ONU and Router. Let’s take a closer look !
Part I. Meaning of...
|
by: Hystou |
last post by:
Most computers default to English, but sometimes we require a different language, especially when relocating. Forgot to request a specific language before your computer shipped? No problem! You can effortlessly switch the default language on Windows 10 without reinstalling. I'll walk you through it.
First, let's disable language synchronization. With a Microsoft account, language settings sync across devices. To prevent any complications,...
| | |
by: Hystou |
last post by:
Overview:
Windows 11 and 10 have less user interface control over operating system update behaviour than previous versions of Windows. In Windows 11 and 10, there is no way to turn off the Windows Update option using the Control Panel or Settings app; it automatically checks for updates and installs any it finds, whether you like it or not. For most users, this new feature is actually very convenient. If you want to control the update process,...
|
by: tracyyun |
last post by:
Dear forum friends,
With the development of smart home technology, a variety of wireless communication protocols have appeared on the market, such as Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. Each protocol has its own unique characteristics and advantages, but as a user who is planning to build a smart home system, I am a bit confused by the choice of these technologies. I'm particularly interested in Zigbee because I've heard it does some...
|
by: isladogs |
last post by:
The next Access Europe User Group meeting will be on Wednesday 1 May 2024 starting at 18:00 UK time (6PM UTC+1) and finishing by 19:30 (7.30PM).
In this session, we are pleased to welcome a new presenter, Adolph Dupré who will be discussing some powerful techniques for using class modules.
He will explain when you may want to use classes instead of User Defined Types (UDT). For example, to manage the data in unbound forms.
Adolph will...
|
by: conductexam |
last post by:
I have .net C# application in which I am extracting data from word file and save it in database particularly. To store word all data as it is I am converting the whole word file firstly in HTML and then checking html paragraph one by one.
At the time of converting from word file to html my equations which are in the word document file was convert into image.
Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveDocument.Select();...
|
by: TSSRALBI |
last post by:
Hello
I'm a network technician in training and I need your help.
I am currently learning how to create and manage the different types of VPNs and I have a question about LAN-to-LAN VPNs.
The last exercise I practiced was to create a LAN-to-LAN VPN between two Pfsense firewalls, by using IPSEC protocols.
I succeeded, with both firewalls in the same network. But I'm wondering if it's possible to do the same thing, with 2 Pfsense firewalls...
|
by: muto222 |
last post by:
How can i add a mobile payment intergratation into php mysql website.
| | |
by: bsmnconsultancy |
last post by:
In today's digital era, a well-designed website is crucial for businesses looking to succeed. Whether you're a small business owner or a large corporation in Toronto, having a strong online presence can significantly impact your brand's success. BSMN Consultancy, a leader in Website Development in Toronto offers valuable insights into creating effective websites that not only look great but also perform exceptionally well. In this comprehensive...
| |
