How do you profit from your applications?

I've been working on an E-Commerce application like OSCommerce, except
mine is object-oriented, with a much better architecture, and a lot of
AJAX. I originally intended to release it as Open Source, and I still
may, but, recently I've been wondering how I could profit off the
script.

Selling the script doesn't seem to be a viable option, since if I sell
the application in full it can easily be duped. My best idea has been
to release the script, but make an off-site file old all of the primary
functions of the application. In those functions would be a script for
displaying the results of a product search, where I could place ads
every 10 or so entries down.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how to profit from your applications?

A bit off topic, but, AJAX isn't always great for an E-Commerce
application. Critical business applications shouldn't limit users to
just a few versions of a browser. Just a heads up. Good luck with
profiting!

And actually, I have a script that I'd like to take profit off myself,
so I'm just going to keep my eyes open here. ;-)

stryfedll wrote:
> I've been working on an E-Commerce application like OSCommerce, except
> mine is object-oriented, with a much better architecture, and a lot of
> AJAX. I originally intended to release it as Open Source, and I still
> may, but, recently I've been wondering how I could profit off the
> script.
>
> Selling the script doesn't seem to be a viable option, since if I sell
> the application in full it can easily be duped. My best idea has been
> to release the script, but make an off-site file old all of the primary
> functions of the application. In those functions would be a script for
> displaying the results of a product search, where I could place ads
> every 10 or so entries down.
>
> Does anyone have any thoughts on how to profit from your applications?

stryfedll wrote:
> I've been working on an E-Commerce application like OSCommerce, except
> mine is object-oriented, with a much better architecture, and a lot of
> AJAX. I originally intended to release it as Open Source, and I still
> may, but, recently I've been wondering how I could profit off the
> script.
>
> Selling the script doesn't seem to be a viable option, since if I sell
> the application in full it can easily be duped. My best idea has been
> to release the script, but make an off-site file old all of the primary
> functions of the application. In those functions would be a script for
> displaying the results of a product search, where I could place ads
> every 10 or so entries down.
>
> Does anyone have any thoughts on how to profit from your applications?

Personally, I would let the code be open source. You are the world's
foremost expert on what you've written. You could sell people your
services, and then they'd pay for your expertise in installing, dealing
with, maintaining, or branching your software to meet there needs. I'm
sure if its a valuable piece of code people will be interested in
getting you're help any which way, and since its open source if it
becomes really in demand, they can hire some other schlub to work with
or extend your project as needed (though he'd probably not be nearly as
efficient or add as much value as you could, at least at first).

stryfedll wrote:
> I've been working on an E-Commerce application like OSCommerce, except
> mine is object-oriented, with a much better architecture, and a lot of
> AJAX. I originally intended to release it as Open Source, and I still
> may, but, recently I've been wondering how I could profit off the
> script.
>
> Selling the script doesn't seem to be a viable option, since if I sell
> the application in full it can easily be duped. My best idea has been
> to release the script, but make an off-site file old all of the primary
> functions of the application. In those functions would be a script for
> displaying the results of a product search, where I could place ads
> every 10 or so entries down.
>
> Does anyone have any thoughts on how to profit from your applications?

Theres a PHP obfuscating tool called Zend Guard. Personally, I think
open source would be the way to go, however, you could use this to sell
your application and retrain your intellectual property.

http://www.zend.com/products/zend_guard

stryfedll wrote:

> I've been working on an E-Commerce application like OSCommerce, except
> mine is object-oriented, with a much better architecture, and a lot of
> AJAX. I originally intended to release it as Open Source, and I still
> may, but, recently I've been wondering how I could profit off the
> script.
>
> Selling the script doesn't seem to be a viable option, since if I sell
> the application in full it can easily be duped. My best idea has been
> to release the script, but make an off-site file old all of the primary
> functions of the application. In those functions would be a script for
> displaying the results of a product search, where I could place ads
> every 10 or so entries down.
>
> Does anyone have any thoughts on how to profit from your applications?

Hi,

Unless you have your own sellingforce, or your application is excactly what
everybody wants, I'd say your best chances are releasing it under GPL or
something simmilar.
The benefits are that you potentially reach a huge audience because your
application is open and free to use.
As Pythagras wrote: You are the worlds leading expert on your own software,
so if anybody wants something extra or special, make sure they will find
you. Then you can hire yourself to them for a nice fee.

If you would like to try to attract additional coders, consider releasing it
at sourceforge.

Good luck!

Regards,
Erwin Moller

Thanks for all of your replies.

I want to release my application for free, so that it can become
popular. Then, once its popular, I would like to possible set it up so
that you need to pay for certain features. I can see releasing both an
Open Source version, and Protected to reach the best of both worlds.
Personally, I'm not even desiring other people to extend the program,
if I open a public forum, then I will extend it as needed. The only way
in which I would want the application extended is themes, images, etc.
Its crucial that the application is easy to manipulate on a looks
bases, so I would never want to completely guard the source.

I believe I will get some of the most important functions and bundle
them into a .php file, use Zend Guard on it and put it on my own
server. Then, the application on their end can call the file using
require(), possibly the file on the free version can show say a Google
Ad every 10 or 20 products. Since the file contains very important
and/or complicated functions it could neither be discarded nor imitated
with ease. :)

Erwin Moller wrote:
> stryfedll wrote:
>
> > I've been working on an E-Commerce application like OSCommerce, except
> > mine is object-oriented, with a much better architecture, and a lot of
> > AJAX. I originally intended to release it as Open Source, and I still
> > may, but, recently I've been wondering how I could profit off the
> > script.
> >
> > Selling the script doesn't seem to be a viable option, since if I sell
> > the application in full it can easily be duped. My best idea has been
> > to release the script, but make an off-site file old all of the primary
> > functions of the application. In those functions would be a script for
> > displaying the results of a product search, where I could place ads
> > every 10 or so entries down.
> >
> > Does anyone have any thoughts on how to profit from your applications?
>
> Hi,
>
> Unless you have your own sellingforce, or your application is excactly what
> everybody wants, I'd say your best chances are releasing it under GPL or
> something simmilar.
> The benefits are that you potentially reach a huge audience because your
> application is open and free to use.
> As Pythagras wrote: You are the worlds leading expert on your own software,
> so if anybody wants something extra or special, make sure they will find
> you. Then you can hire yourself to them for a nice fee.
>
> If you would like to try to attract additional coders, consider releasing it
> at sourceforge.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Regards,
> Erwin Moller

stryfedll wrote:
> I want to release my application for free, so that it can become
> popular. Then, once its popular, I would like to possible set it up so
> that you need to pay for certain features.

I don't like this idea. I have always resented products that are
offered for free and then suddenly switch to pay-ware. The author can
tell any sob story he wants about how development time takes too long
and he can't do it for free anymore, but the fact remains that it will
cause a big exodus from the userbase of the product onto something
else.

If you have it in your head that one day you will charge for features,
then you owe it to your users to be up front with them and charge for
those features from day 1. Suddenly springing costs on the users will
bring you nothing but complaints.

In article <1161635253.794040.7980@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.c om>,
Moot <mootmail-googlegroups@yahoo.com> wrote:
>If you have it in your head that one day you will charge for features,
>then you owe it to your users to be up front with them and charge for
>those features from day 1. Suddenly springing costs on the users will
>bring you nothing but complaints.

Agreed. However, it is still sensible to charge for expanded features.
That is, offer a basic free version (not crippleware) but charge a fee
for extensions. And of course any customizations would involve a fee.

-A

I work in this particular field and the one thing that is always
missing from E-commerce applications is a good back office function.

Stock control, despatch management and returns processing are all much
more time consuming than the creation of the shop and the processing of
the received orders. If you want to steal a march on OScommerce,
E-shop, Get Trolleyed etc. then concentrate on the back end.

If you want to get paid, I would suggest some sort of token system
where people buy say 1000 orders from you and get an encripted password
which they have to enter into their system. You can then keep count of
the number of orders processed and when they have reached their 1000
orders they need to order another encrypted key.

If people are paying for your software and are running their business
on it then you will need to provide some pretty comprehensive support
facilities which don't come cheap.

Obiron


axlq wrote:
> In article <1161635253.794040.7980@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.c om>,
> Moot <mootmail-googlegroups@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >If you have it in your head that one day you will charge for features,
> >then you owe it to your users to be up front with them and charge for
> >those features from day 1. Suddenly springing costs on the users will
> >bring you nothing but complaints.
>
> Agreed. However, it is still sensible to charge for expanded features.
> That is, offer a basic free version (not crippleware) but charge a fee
> for extensions. And of course any customizations would involve a fee.
>
> -A

I work in this particular field and the one thing that is always
missing from E-commerce applications is a good back office function.

Stock control, despatch management and returns processing are all much
more time consuming than the creation of the shop and the processing of
the received orders. If you want to steal a march on OScommerce,
E-shop, Get Trolleyed etc. then concentrate on the back end.

If you want to get paid, I would suggest some sort of token system
where people buy say 1000 orders from you and get an encripted password
which they have to enter into their system. You can then keep count of
the number of orders processed and when they have reached their 1000
orders they need to order another encrypted key.

If people are paying for your software and are running their business
on it then you will need to provide some pretty comprehensive support
facilities which don't come cheap.

Obiron


axlq wrote:
> In article <1161635253.794040.7980@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.c om>,
> Moot <mootmail-googlegroups@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >If you have it in your head that one day you will charge for features,
> >then you owe it to your users to be up front with them and charge for
> >those features from day 1. Suddenly springing costs on the users will
> >bring you nothing but complaints.
>
> Agreed. However, it is still sensible to charge for expanded features.
> That is, offer a basic free version (not crippleware) but charge a fee
> for extensions. And of course any customizations would involve a fee.
>
> -A