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"If you build it, they will come..."
For/From an (Indie) software development perspective, does this sentiment even slightly hold true?
Assuming you have identified some need and have found a good/efficient way of providing a (software) solution that works well and is user friendly, how do you get people to:
0) Find it
1) Try/Evaluate it (for free)
2) Get sufficiently engaged in it (i.e. post on message boards / forum / read documentation)
3) Buy or license it
asking for a friend.. ![Java | [Coffee]](https://www.codeproject.com/script/Forums/Images/coffee.gif) 
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My perspective, from a somewhat different point of view:
When I create a new way I want things done I introduce it gently at first and then cut the cord and the old way is gone. I already learned years ago, that where I work, users want to do it they way they were doing it = even if it's stupid, irrational, and/or mistake-prone. I'm not overstating this.
So, pretty much I, my fearless leader, and our upcoming (welcome) third wheel make the decisions ourselves and that's how things are.
"Resistance is Futile"
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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As Jerry Pournelle used to write in the Chaos Manor column in Byte magazine (Yes I know I’m old!) -
‘Good enough is the enemy of better.’
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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I'd want more context for that quote.
I interpret it as meaning that a less-expensive product which is "good enough" will out-sell a "better" product which costs significantly more.
Just as MS-DOS outsold OpenVMS, and Ford outsells Porsche -- in numbers at least, if not dollars.
If so, then the quote also applies to "feature creep"; few will pay more for a product simply because it has more features if those features aren't required.
The result being that a developer who's trying to compete can't simply keep adding features in the hopes of gaining market share.
The quality (is job one) and price must remain competitive.
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So let me throw this out there...
Hypothetically...
My software can do perhaps 10% of the things that my (closest/big) competitor can do, but I am offering it at 1% of the cost.
Assuming that the user base spans a sufficiently broad spectrum (not all of them need all of the features), if they currently have 10k users, would you expect my user base to be 100 or 1M?
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I doubt you'd be pulling current customers away from them.
Would your mother buy a copy?
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wasn't strictly speaking about pulling away, thinking about new customers given a choice...
No, she wouldn't. But my dad has asked for a key... probably just being polite 
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The bigger issue (in my opinion) is that if it is at least moderately successful, others will try to duplicate it and undercut you. You will have done a lot of market research and such for them at no cost. Feedback about what's good/bad/missing will be available for others to react to.
Your ability to respond to feedback and make updates available quickly will be critical in staying ahead of the competition.
Releasing a product doesn't mean you'll have time to relax.
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The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I assume you're asking about software that would be released commercially. I also assume there's no budget for advertising, so it has to spread by word of mouth. Two common approaches are to offer a free version of the software that (a) expires after a trial period or (b) only provides a subset of the full functionality. Both approaches aim at getting users to pay for either a license or the extra features.
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Your assumptions are correct...
I see the issue as not being able to sufficiently attract people in the first place. Yes, advertising is a big deal, but short of giving google some $100/mo to get clicks, low cost software cannot justify high cost advertising, especially for a niche app.
The Freemium model does partially work, but I have found that the free, time limited trial is often a better way to go.
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Do you have experience offering a limited trial? If so, I'm curious how you enforced it, and more curious as to how you mitigated the risk of the executable being hacked to make it permanently free.
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Yes, some..
the previous approach I took was to use a 3rd party library (cryptoLicensing) which gave me so~so results. Nothing truly problematic, but some inflexibility and other issues related to how I was/am using it.
The current approach I am using is a completely hand-rolled option which requires an online user account (on my domain) and the executable interacting with the server on a random basis. Don't want to give away too many details, but there is randomized 256bit encryption between the app and the server and the exe is obfuscated, with the main library 'testing' the others for their integrity during use. Not completely un-hackable, but even with knowledge of the code, I am not sure I could do it, even if it wasn't obfuscated.
So the basic time limit is enforced by the server side (to prevent users turning back their clocks and similar).
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Interesting. Thanks.
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Put a free version on SourceForge or GitHub, and later offer a paid version with more features.
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My experience is (and this is just me and doing it on my own) but the overhead of supporting a product, maintaining a product and running the business around doing it usually doesn't pay for itself.
However, getting a good project out where people can see it and use it and get it known can both be a win for your commercial projects that can use it, and can even get you scouted.
Personally I think the odds of success are better going the latter route, and there's less risk involved.
Real programmers use butterflies
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Do lawyers say goodbye with "I'll be suing you”?"
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Don't know, I'd argue that the jury's still out on that.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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That could be courting disaster. I would object to Such behavior is in-defense-able. but, being lawyers, the verdict is not yet in.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Just like a seamstress:
- I'll be sewing you.
"If we don't change direction, we'll end up where we're going"
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I always tort so, but it would certainly happen when one damages the other's nisi Prius.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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I love the way you make your prose cute.
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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Who cares, as long as they leave when they do?
Software Zen: delete this;
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I'm not suer about that, but in totally unrelated news, they say "Hello" on page twelve of the privacy agreement you need to sign before they agree to introduce themself.
GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)
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