Re: Shareware on the i - Need some opinions....

Dave,

This topic piqued my interest because I've also been considering some form of user/usage based licensing and pricing, along with a price incentive for the first user. That type of licensing option appeals to me because price is often the biggest barrier to new users to trying a new product, and usage-based pricing may be the most fair in cases where a product gets little or moderate use. Of course, an unlimited use license may be better in other cases.

Just yesterday I completed a program for maintaining license keys by machine serial number and product ID, where a session limit and expiration date are encrypted and embedded in the license key. In my case, I plan on redirecting browsers to a configurable HTML page if an attempt to establish a session exceeds a licensed limit. So this discussion is timely.

Nathan.




----- Original Message ----
From: Dave <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 8:39:07 PM
Subject: Shareware on the i - Need some opinions....

Hi All,

I have created a tool that has proven very effective in reducing program dumps and help desk calls in our company. It also adds a couple of 'nice to have' features for users and programmers. I have spent some time the past couple of weeks turning it into something customizable enough to run in most any shop.

At this point, a lot of my personal time has gone into the program, and I have been considering releasing it as shareware. I have not seen a lot of shareware for the System i, and I do not know how well the market has received shareware in the past. I am considering a very inexpensive package - maybe a couple of dollars per user.

Definitely not going to make me rich, but maybe help get some return on my time investment. My logic is that if it saves even one or two help desk calls per year, then the program more than pays for itself. I want near instant ROI. And I also do not really have time to consider rolling out a full-blown commercial product -- although I did consider letting someone else distribute it...

Has anyone in the group ventured into shareware for the I?

One area I wonder about is piracy. I have never used hacked/stolen software on the I, nor do I know of any company that has done so, or even of any software vendor who had their products illegally distributed. Just debating how much time I should put into licensing/anti-piracy... Would it be ridiculous to expect people to be honest about their usage?

Anyhow, thanks for letting me think aloud. If anyone has any feedback I would like to hear it.

Thanks,
Dave

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