I have this HUGE Mailing/Marketing application that I have over 300 hours into as well as paid someone else to do a portion of it. It was intended for one client way back when I started, but as I was working on it, I realized that I could make it portable to as many clients as I wanted.
So I have been spending the time and headache working it into a piece of art, and I will then give it away to 3 different clients. This is nuts you say ... HOWEVER ... With these 3 different clients, I will have a great testing ground. Each of them are different, and if the app works and performs correctly, and any bugs that get discovered get fixed, then I have a nice app that I can then resell, confidently, to other clients. AND I wouldn't mind giving the code to others if it helped them, retaining authoring rights. And if improvements were made, sharing those improvements. People on these lists do it all the time. It's a big pond out there ... lots of fish to catch, I don't think we are treading on each others toes by doing this. For me, this giving away of a commercial grade app is worth it for now, because hopefully, I can resell in the future, and to help sell it, I have three companies already using it. Good references and reviews are worth their weight in gold. So my motives may be a bit different than someone who develops solely for Open Source, but you got my 2 cents anyway. Or should I say two pence now? :) Erika (with a K) ----------------------------------------------------- >>|-----Original Message----- >>| I know this is not the place for this, but I just have to ask this >>| question of the community. What is the benefit of developing a >>| commercial grade application and then giving that application away for >>| free? I see message boards out there where people have obviously spent >>| hours and hours of development time and effort, just to turn around >>|and >>| give the thing away. Is this type of mentality not hurting the >>| development community? I understand that a message board is not that >>| huge of a deal, but some people are trying to make a living developing >>| such items. Is it not more beneficial to design a product and sale it >>| for the going rate of such an application? I am eager to hear what >>| everyones thoughts are on this subject. I would have posted to the >>| community list, but hardly anyone really reads it. >>| ------------------------------- >>| Enjoy! >>| Hatton >>| >>| ______________________________________________________________________ Macromedia ColdFusion 5 Training from the Source Step by Step ColdFusion http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201758474/houseoffusion Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
