Our old pal, Wolfgang, was bloodied by constructive criticism, but he’s not out for the count. His Encryptor-Decryptor add-in is now freeware. I enjoyed reading the comments on that original post. I wonder, though, why some add-ins are seemingly commercially viable and others aren’t. Maybe they all are, but the author lacks the skills to market them effectively.
I, for one, can think of no better gig than selling shrink wrapped software. You write in once, and just keep cashing checks. I’m sure there are support and upgrade issues that I’m not considering. Then, I suppose, it gets so popular that you have to write a product activation scheme to stop people from stealing it.
Hi all,
As usual, my 2 eurocent opinion:
The only free cheese is in the mouse trap (freely translated old russian joke) :)
There are some traps that defeat the wish “selling shrink wrapped software and just keep cashing checks”
1. You will need $$$ in order to market it.
It means that You, in addition to the already investment in time You’ve done, also need to take the burden of costs involved before earning the very 1st dollar (if any at all…).
2. Support
Support can be very time consuming (=costs) and the pressure on the support reflect the quality of the product and if it’s useful or not for the specific task(s) it target.
Most people, in general, will be very surprised how demanding some customers can be and that they are forced to treat the customers well.
3. Business as usual
There is no difference to be a new software provider or selling clothes in a newly set up shop.
Business means professionalism, long term commitment, taking full personal responsibility for financial risks, legal claims and being seriously.
Business also means that there are no shortcuts to “cashing checks” only hard work.
If You have no experience of doing business of Your own and never had made any experience in the field then the propability to “cashing checks” is less then 0.
However, from an experience standpoint, it’s an excellent good start ;)
As someone said to me, long time ago, it’s business and nothing personal ;)
Kind regards,
Dennis