[GRLUG] Impact of subscription model on software development and use

[Adam Tauno Williams]

On Mon, 2009-07-13 at 17:36 -0400, Matthew Seeley wrote:
> >> Is it there even a future a small company (I'm talking under ten
> >> employees) to make money writing mass-market software to be
> >> distributed any more?
> >mass-market?  No, but I don't think there has been for a long time
> >already.
> I don't know if a video game counts as "Mass Market Software" 

Games are certainly mass market - just look at the numbers.  But I think
that "Applications" and "Games" are really never distinct markets.
Developing Games and Apps seem pretty different skill sets for the
developer.

> I certainly think it's possible to do, as long as the software is
> priced realistically. The software I see most pirated is the software
> that's way overpriced, (Microsoft Windows / Microsoft Office / Adobe
> Creative Suite not worth X-hundred-dollars per copy), or on the low
> end (SmartFTP costing $40 dollars a seat)

Maybe, but even at $40 a seat you'd need to sell well over 1,000 copies
in order to *gross* even a $50,000 salary.  And over 1,500 to come close
to getting that as a net salary.  I suppose that is doable,  the hardest
part is getting your app to rise above the noise and attract user's
attention.