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

Dave,

There are only a couple of active open source projects that I am aware of that are i specific and they have some activity but when compared to other non-i open source projects that are running on i (e.g. PHP, Java, Rails, etc) they pale in comparison. The i community is inching toward the open source world but there has been no "embracing" yet. I think that is because the primary focus of the i is business computing, and more specifically mission critical business computing and so the community leans to the more secure side of the fence with fully supported, proprietary systems rather than open source systems. But, I think that is beginning to change.

I mention Open Source because that is a good bell weather, I think, for the Shareware world. My point is that the i community is reticent to embrace open source and I think that that would apply to the shareware world as well. The good news is that you could be ahead of the curve because, as I said, the climate for the acceptance of open source on i is changing and that could bode well for the i shareware world as well.

Unless you have a very cool and flexible app (maybe it is!) I would guess that even covering your investment of time will be difficult. But, you never know.

Pete Helgren

Dave wrote:

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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