Selling a program, yes or no

[DigitAlex]

Selling or not

Hi all

I wanna know what do you think about the following :

During the school year I wrote a prog and some people told me I could sell it for a few bucks but I have a little problem. I used the compiler at school and don't have and don't have any licence cause the school has it. Do you think I could have problems if i sell it ? can I have problems if I distribute it freely ? I think the fact i will have probz or not doesn't really depend on selling or not, but finally the real question is : distribute or not ?

That prog displays some data contained in 3DS DXF and other 3D models, so i wonder if i can have licence problems with AutoDesk (DXF) or Discreet (3Ds Max). I donnu if I have to buy a lincence to be able to distribute a prog that opens their file types.

What do you think about all this ?

I'm asking this cause some game developers told me py prog would be very useful ...

Thanx

 

[Didou]

Selling it anonymously would be a good idea ( if you do wish to sell it ). You could start out by simply making it available for download.

If it gets really good & people really like it, there's nothing wrong to ask a little compensation for your labour.

 

[Rick]

I've always been a bit of an entreprenuer myself.. I say sell.

Just stick a huge disclaimer on the install or some sort of "Terms of Usage" area where the user understands that you are indemnifiable for all problems associated with the program.

I can't say how much that holds up in court, but it is a start.

If people like your program, they will be willing to buy it. Depending on what it does, charge accordingly.

You may even want to setup a website.. You could get money through hosting ads on your pages. If people are interested in the program, you could generate some cash like that... If enough people visit, you might even want to make it free.

 

[DigitAlex]

I always can distribute a free evaluation version which displays only 5 files of each type

i also have a website but wanna keep it ads-free

the real prob is to find how to make ppl send me money anonymously ...

 

[StormBringer]

Well, you could use a service like PayPal, there are others but I can't remember any names. With these services, they pay you indirectly through the service. I'm unsure what the cost of these services are though.

 

[Vehementi]

Hey, it's just shareware, man!

Another idea is allow the users to download it for free, try it for like a week or a few days, and then disallow usage of the program without paying, and then give them a unique password to start using it again.

Also, in addition to a website of your own, distribute it to sites like download.com and list it as shareware.