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I've done stuff for freinds and had the favour returned, that is work on my house.
That's just about paletable and any thing else leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
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Too dangerous. "for family/friends" + "for free" = "you are responsible for a lifetime"
Ok, not always but most of the time yes. Especially if they aren't developers themselves.
Oh, and of course your program should handle all future changes to operating systems, file formats and weather changes 
--
"My software never has bugs. It just develops random features."
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Yes. Very much.
They would start expecting you to serve as a bonded labor for lifetime.
Vasudevan Deepak Kumar
Personal Homepage
Tech Gossips
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep!
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weather changes heh 
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it's root searching i think bisection or newton raphson - the guy didn't really know how to program anything, I wrote him a app which does this + an User Interface. The instructor found out he failed the assignment!
dev
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I too done that .. but guy was lucky as his instructor never able to caught him 
"Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow
Never mind - my own stupidity is the source of every "problem" - Mixture
cheers,
Alok Gupta
VC Forum Q&A :- I/ IV
Support CRY- Child Relief and You
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my friend (who's my best friend) wasn't so lucky
if I just coded a console app he'd be fine, back then i gave him a MFC GUI - which basically tip off the instructor. Perhaps I should have purposedly gave a few bugs too! Just to make it look like real life student work
dev
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Writing software take a lot of time. Not many neighbors are willing to help me construct a house these days but you would be surprised at how many people would ask for several hundred hours of software dev time like it was no big deal. Personally, I would rather change a family members alternator than write them software. It is easier for them to see and appreciate the effort.
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Lots of people work with wood or leather or paint and give those items they produce to friends and family as presents (i.e. wooden toy train for grandchildren). I don't do any of those things, but I can write programs. I wrote a windows background changer and populated it with pictures from our family and ancestors. I think it was a good idea, but haven't really heard from my siblings as to whether they enjoyed it. If I count the amount of time I put into it, it cost me more than most presents I give.
SS => Qualified in Submarines
"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill
"Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
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You should sell the software.
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Yeah, then I could buy real presents for them next year. 
SS => Qualified in Submarines
"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm". Winston Churchill
"Real programmers can write FORTRAN in any language". Unknown
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Many years ago I wrote a quick program for a guy who worked in the wood shop at work. The program was for a club he was secretary for and he needed to do a task every month.
I ended up with a foot rest that I have taken with me to all jobs since. It is just some plywood (3/4") but it does not break down like the paper boxes I use to use.
djj
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As long as it is not a extemely large project no problem. Friends have helped me from time to time.
cheers,
Donsw
My Recent Article : Backup of Data files - Full and Incremental
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I put together a couple of Access UIs for my uncle. The question is if that is counted as an app? At least now I've left that far behind, with only a little bit of maintenance. On the other hand, the reporting capabilities of Access are so far ahead of anything I could ever dream of doing myself.
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It's the thought that counts.
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Many moons ago I did POS for drycleaning. One of the customers was a particularly nice guy, and helpful, too, in that when he found a bug he'd try to reproduce it - making my life oh-so-much better.
When let go by the DC software company, I no longer had a conflict of interests and made him several apps for his stores to work with the software (I wrote). No guilt trip for my former employer's needs: 2 weeks severance pay after 9 years - and no notice, either!*
In both our cases, we did what was done without expecting a payback - this little tastes of Utopia of which life allows us an occasional sampling.
If I get a bit of free time, I may code a present for him.
* They got their comeuppance: the person hired to replace me (at a higher salary) was supposed to recreate their app in 1 yr (it took me 2 yrs by their reckoning to build it from scratch). My replacement, and his "successors", took nearly 4 years, and it's still designed around my original layout and dbase schema. They also needed to contract with me to create DTS-like apps for rival software databases, since the replacements couldn't seem to handle it.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"How do you find out if you're unwanted if everyone you try to ask tells you to stop bothering them and just go away?" - Balboos HaGadol
"It's a sad state of affairs, indeed, when you start reading my tag lines for some sort of enlightenment. Sadder still, if that's where you need to find it." - Balboos HaGadol
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Balboos wrote: 2 weeks severance pay after 9 years - and no notice, either
Now THAT sucks.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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I do consulting work for a friend periodically, and I've written software for my step-dad's company. They both pay the same rate as my other contract customers. Neither one of them would ever think of asking me to work for free.
I think that's the crux of the matter. If someone would impose on a personal relationship like that just to get free work out of you, what does that say about how they view you?
Software Zen: delete this;
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You can reverse the question, how do they view you?
I have no problem to dedicate an hour to friend, but real project is different thing
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An hour or two is one thing; I'll do that, for free, as a matter of course. To my mind, a real project is anything that requires more than a few hours to develop, or requires maintenance.
I assumed this survey question referred to real projects.
While reasoning by example isn't proof, it helps illustrate the point.
Suppose your brother is a lawyer. You wouldn't expect him to file a lawsuit for you for free, would you?
What if he was a car salesman? You wouldn't expect to be able to walk into his showroom, say "I want that one", and have him hand you the keys.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary Wheeler wrote: Suppose your brother is a lawyer. You wouldn't expect him to file a lawsuit for you for free, would you?
I would.
Gary Wheeler wrote: What if he was a car salesman? You wouldn't expect to be able to walk into his showroom, say "I want that one", and have him hand you the keys
No, but I would expect him to give up his comission.
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Gary Wheeler wrote: What if he was a car salesman? You wouldn't expect to be able to walk into his showroom, say "I want that one", and have him hand you the keys.
No but I WOULD expect him to try and SELL me a car, probably used knowing my brother.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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rrrado wrote: how do they view you?
That preserves a professional relationship. If we attempt to disturb the professional boundaries by way of informal friendships and other such gestures; there might be more heartburns in the longer run.
Vasudevan Deepak Kumar
Personal Homepage
Tech Gossips
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep!
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I charge my friends and family $20/visit for the first hour, $15 thereafter.
Most of them had Windows for several years until they realize how much it cost them (I showed them the 2+ years of 'tech support' bills).
They bought Macs. I charged 1 hour of 'migrating' data from Windoze, then 1 hour of training. Then 2 hours of free training.
That was 2 years ago. Their total cost for ownership for Windows was 50% greater than the Mac in those 2 years, including the 2 free hours of training.
I now only hear from them when they want to do *MORE* with their Mac; not fix a problem.
I don't charge them anymore for 'help'.
Yup, it's that easy.
ASPX ~ Apple Simply Performs eXcellently
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