forum.vdsworld.com

Hortalonus · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2003 5:34 pm Post subject:

Absolutely! What Tommy said is true... we sometimes forget that there's a LOT more that goes into programming than just writting the code.

PGWARE · **Web Host** Joined: 29 Dec 2001 Posts: 1562

My initial figure of 25 hours for the original release of vdsobj was just the hours sitting down and actually typing away coding it. This doesn't include testing, bug removal or even thinking of how to get it to work. I know alot of people won't be able to afford the vdsobj, however I tried lowering the price and not many purchased. To continue to support the product there was no choice but to raise the price on it.

vdsalchemist · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2003 6:27 pm Post subject:

Hi All,
I could not tell you how many hours I have spent writting my Gadget.dll... Lets just say that I spent numerous weeks staying up all day and night for the whole week just typing the support code. That was not including the main functions for it to be a VDS DLL. I remember one week that my Girlfriend came into the study and fell asleep behind me on the floor. She said it was better than sleeping alone Embarassed

So I fully agree with the price changes and I know exactly how much work is needed in the development of these DLL's.

FreezingFire · **Admin Team** Joined: 23 Jun 2002 Posts: 3508

Woah... no offence meant at all! Wink

I entirely agree with the price raise... it's just that my programs have
brought in less than $100 and with buying VDS I can't really afford it
as of now... but as I said before I entirely agree with the price
raise! If I were you I would probably charge that much since I would
have worked extremely hard on it just like you. Unfortunately I can't
build DLLs yet, but I'm learning. Very Happy

PGWARE · **Web Host** Joined: 29 Dec 2001 Posts: 1562

No offense taken Smile

Just remember don't park your car where birds fly above. In this case a penguin Twisted Evil

Serge · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2003 10:23 pm Post subject:

hi all,

being a software developer myself who is also not getting that much return from all my hard work, i 'd like to add my 2 bits

- the reality is that we will never get what we think we deserve from the sale of our software, for whatever reason...with the advent of the internet, it seems that people now want everything for free...also, you can't sell what people don't want to buy and you can't sell what there isn't a market for...

- making your software expensive will not help...i bought vdsobj.dll because i needed it and because it was affordable...if pg was selling it for $100 at the time, i would not have bought it because i could not have afforded it and he would have missed out on a sale from me

i too know the frustration of not getting what i feel i deserve

- i was giving away free registrations to one of my programs and getting around 10 registrations a day

- i then decided to sell it for $10 and nothing!!!!!

- i made it free again and now i get 1 registration every few days...

like an artist, i write the code because i enjoy it...i enjoy the creation of something new...i enjoy the achievement of creating new code that works...i enjoy having control over what i can do with my program...i enjoy being able to create something useful for me and for others...and so on...

i accept the reality that i will never get back all that i have put in and i think that putting up the prices too high will stop sales from people who would like my product but who can't afford a high price

you also need to consider the currency exchange...while US$100 may not be much for folks in the us, it is a lot for me from australia as the currency exchange means that the price is anything between A$200 and A$150...which is a lot for me

while i agree with wanting to be rewarded for our hard work, and while i agree with setting appropriate prices, be careful about setting them too high

Serge

FreezingFire · **Admin Team** Joined: 23 Jun 2002 Posts: 3508

Nicely said there, Serge. Smile

I don't think my software will ever pull in what
I put into it. I spent the money on it because I enjoy developing software
for exactly the reasons that you listed.

BTW, $100 is significant in the US too... I'm not sure what that equals in
Austrailian dollars though. Smile

Serge · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2003 5:18 am Post subject:

thanks ff

the australian $ changes compared to the us$ so us$100 is around a$150 to a$200

i have tried many times to work out the purchasing value of us$100 compared to the australian dollar and didn't get very far

i got the impression that the purchasing value is the same but because of the currency exchange, we in australia lose out

i know i write software mostly for the enjoyment...would be nice to get paid in return but...

i also have the added problem with taxes which mean that i have to declare all the money i make from selling my software but i can't claim as deductions what i spend eg vds 5 upgrade

i used to be able to but not anymore...thanks to the kindness of my government so the only thing left is for me to give it away and ask for donations...not sure if donations count as income...

Serge

Serge · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 7:08 am Post subject:

just an idea...if dll developers want to make some money out of writing dll's, can i suggest that they put their idea to the forum to see if there is interest in their idea first

for example, garrett put out a dll for zip support and someone else put out a dll for pdf support...if there is no interest for these dll's then garrett and the other person will no doubt feel disappointed that no one is buying their product...i for one have not purchased either of these products, not because i don't want to support their authors, but simply because i currently have no need for them

perhaps there could be a forum topic dedicated to such a topic with ideas that users such as myself would like to see in a dll and then the dll developers will be able to see what dll would be worth developing based on the interest shown by the forum community

Serge

vdsalchemist · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 12:10 pm Post subject:

FreezingFire · **Admin Team** Joined: 23 Jun 2002 Posts: 3508

vdsalchemist · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 2:36 pm Post subject:

FreezingFire,
That spell-checker is too cool. I will go and get it now;-) Thanks for the info...

Hey I just tried it and it works too Rolling Eyes

Serge · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 10:38 pm Post subject:

hi mindpower,

i must have misunderstood the purpose of the wish list forum...i thought that it was a wish list for vds Embarassed

you mentioned the g word "greedy"...i never mentioned that dll developers are greedy just that if developers make their dll's too expensive then they could lose out on much valued sales Laughing

i understand about the time and money that goes into developing dll's but i don't think that you can pass on the costs that easily to customers as customers will determine whether something is expensive or not from their point of view...in other words, how many features does it have? how good is it?...you could spend $400 on a piece of software to bring out a dll with a couple of features and you can't then ask for a high price to recoup your $400 Sad

following on your idea of how bad people want it, perhaps polls could be used to see how much interest there is in an idea + how much money people will be prepared to pay for the dll

interesting idea about bartering...i thought that a set price was fixed...will keep it in mind for the future...the exchange of services is a good idea, that's how i got my logo Smile

hi ff,

i never thought of using the wish list of the developers forum because i thought that it was for dll developers...and not being one of them, i never go there...perhaps i should pop over once in a while Very Happy

Serge

FreezingFire · **Admin Team** Joined: 23 Jun 2002 Posts: 3508