[GRLUG] Mass Market Software

[Michael Mol]

On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 9:23 AM, <peyeps at iserv.net> 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"  but 2D
>> Boy is just two people, and they've been incredibly successful selling
>> copies of their "World of Goo" game (which runs on Windows, Mac, and
>> Linux, and contains absolutely no DRM)
>>
>> http://2dboy.com/about.php
>>
>> 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)
>>
>
> Apparently Apple's App store for the iPhone is a model to be considered.
>
> Took a look at 2D Boys World of Goo, and they want $20.00.  They have for
> competition things like Ravenhurst at Big Fish Games to compete with,
> where the price per download is seven to ten dollars a download.  Know
> from personal experience, (my beloved has purchased a number of games)
> that this is a viable model.  I would have to assume that it is a very
> viable model, even though the game pattern is very similar for a number of
> games, because the number of titles are added to on a almost weekly basis.
>  Haven't a clue as to who is writing the stuff, but it is getting better.
> Trouble is it is for Windows primarily, and Mac as they appear to get
> around to it.  There seems to be several months delay between some windows
> titles coming out and the Mac version.  (The windows version seems to want
> more control of how it is installed, so I've not installed any on windows.
>  On Mac, it is simply download, copy to apps folder and you are good to
> go.  After the trial period it asks for the key.)
>
> www.bigfishgames.com
>
> Perhaps it is time to establish an App store for stuff that runs on all
> three platforms.  There is a market for ten dollar items.  I would bet
> that even Linux users, who prefer the FOSS concept would not mind popping
> for ten bucks for a purchased game.  I know this goes against the grain of
> FOSS, so maybe it wouldn't fly.  But if we are going to assume that Linux
> is desktop ready, then we need to be able to purchase for it the same way
> we purchase for Windows or Mac.  Linux needs to develop a purchase
> software friendliness.
>
> (Running and ducking for cover.)

I've been advocating an AppStore/Apt Repo style content provision
network for Windows, at least, for months.  I can't seem to convince
anyone it's a good idea, or even that it's feasible.

Valve is in the best position to do it, right now, but they're focused
on games.  The moment someone starts making serious coin selling
miscellaneous apps, though, you can bet they'll start using Steam for
the purpose.  And PunkBuster will consider Steam competitors hacking
software...



-- 
:wq