>Company will buy my product. This is the preferred option. To be able to >implement it, I add the activation key. No company will consider to buy any >product >when it is distribute as free product.
This is not entirely a valid assumption. Most recent example looking only in the mainframe space MXI was a free product without any activation codes and not only did Rocket Software purchase the software they hired the developer. If you widen the net to include all platforms other examples are available. The reasons companies pay for product typically have nothing to do with its availability in an "unlocked" version with or without source code. Many companies require that all software be supported. Some companies don't allow closed source free tools (in z/OS especially authorized ones) from a person or company they don't have a contractual relationship with. The free version of MXI was allowed to continue self-deprecate as time and OS updates made some options less useful. The most important difference was that they poured lots of energy into making the new commercial product an order of magnitude better than the old free one could have been by having full time devel! opment with more resources behind it. If you want to continue to develop your product on your own respect the time and energy that people using your current product are returning to you. All those bugs and everything you learned resolving them only was possible because you had users. Those folks took time to gather documentation and send it to you, work with you testing solutions. They have benefited but I would encourage you don't think of it as only a one way street unless you write perfect code even a free products "good customers" pay their own way. If you want folks to trust you then it is fair to set expectations clearly and a 3 month renewal with dicey talk about the free version being withdrawn doesn't encourage users to embrace you. At a minimum I would suggest you not be so tight with your existing users. If you did sell the intellectual property you have developed or decide to commercialize it yourself make sure they have a long, gentle road to walk away from the tool or choose to migrate to a ! commercial product. That is just my .02 on a rainy day. Best Regards, Sam Knutson, GEICO System z Team Leader mailto:[email protected] (office) 301.986.3574 (cell) 301.996.1318 "Think big, act bold, start simple, grow fast..." ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Shai Hess <[email protected]> Date: Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 8:14 AM Subject: MFNetDisk news To: [email protected] ** HI, Many try to download lately my product but it was disable for download because the need to think about the future of MFNetDisk. This step come after I stopped to work for IBM. MFNetDisk have many users. Some of them from big nad known SW companies. Some of them IBM, EMC workers and many more. They ask me to stay confidentially. All MFNetDisk users love the product shortly after try it. I know that I can not throw my product and I need to continue to keep it alive but I can not pay alone my cost for this product. As I mention before I was in vacation far away form Israel and now I am back. So, I need to update you about the direction of MFNetDisk. The product for now will continue to be free. The new MFNetDIsk will distribute with activation key. The activation will be for 3 months. MF emulation does not need activation key and it will be free. All above can be changed if other company will buy my product. The download of MFNetDisk is disable for now because I add some code to my product. I hope shortly downloading of my product will be available to all users. My expected options are: > Company will buy my product. This is the preferred option. To be able to implement it, I add the activation key. No company will consider to buy any product when it is distribute as free product. > I will create company by myself to handle MFNetDisk as not a free product. If this is the case, I will use some users of MFNetDIsk which were involve in debugging and use of my product and prove expertly in IO MF, disks and tapes and in MFNetDisk product itself. > I will let other company to resell my product for part of the price. To all resellers be aware, no has monopoly of resell my product in any country or place. > Enable good and well known company to help me to continue my support and manage and sell of my product for part of the expected revenue of MFNetDisk. This will enable me to add big companies (banks and more) to MFNetDisk users list. All this options will be considered and one of them will be selected. So, please continue to use MFNetDisk currently as free product, but it can be changed to costly product any time. . Thanks, God bless you. Shai Hess, MFNetDisk product. -- Thank. God bless you, Shai ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ==================== This email/fax message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution of this email/fax is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all paper and electronic copies of the original message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
