Status report, 14 Jan 2008
I’m here! I’m alive!
I’ve been doing a lot of client work lately, more because people want work done rather than because I want money.
Since the last update, I’ve made great progress on SyncDroid. After thinking about this thread on the Business of Software forum, I’ve decided to split SyncDroid into several different, smaller products - one for USB drives, one for network sync, one for SaaS Internet backup, and so on. It also helps me to focus - I’m working on a smaller product with a more clearly defined feature set rather than this great big ‘do everything’ product. And it helps me to focus the marketing message and differentiate (people like specific things that fit them well rather than generic things that happen to fit them). So I’m very happy with my decision to split into a whole product line.
UI work continues. I’ve got the scope of the project worked out and can finally say that I understand the project rather that just focusing on little bits of it. I can also confidently say this is where my product fits in the world and this is why you should pay money for SyncDroid instead of Unison. It’s a nice feeling. Very confidence-inspiring.
I’m amazed at how far off my original effort estimation was. I wrote most of the sync engine and figured I was about halfway. Now I can say that the sync engine was maybe 2% of the total effort required. UI’s are hard. Marketing is time-consuming. I haven’t started doing any serious cross-platform work yet, either - I’m doing a Linux release first.
I’ve been thinking about the different platforms a bit, too. My feelings are that:
- Linux is easy and fun to develop for and you’ll get good feedback, but nobody will actually buy your stuff
- Windows has a huge user base, but they’re relatively clueless
- OSX has a fairly intelligent user base and they’re trained to expect to pay for good software, but there’s just not that many of them
OSX has the additional problem that in order to develop for it, you have to buy a Mac. This becomes a simple economic problem: if I spend AUD$850 on a Mac Mini and $2000 worth of labour on an OSX version, will I sell enough Mac licenses to make the money back?
After spending years looking at everything through purely economic terms, I now believe that a decision based on such terms is an oversimplification. If I was going for (legal) profit maximization, my strategy would be:
- Go to my contract clients, start billing a lot of hours, and use my position as sole developer/provider to leverage a large $/hour rate increase
- Move back into my parent’s place
- Stop spending money on things like petrol and coffee
The economic decision-making model ignores the fact that my life would suck if I followed it through to its logical conclusion. I would be miserable. Starting this MicroISV has been one of my best decisions in recent memory just because of the quality-of-life improvements that it’s made. I’m not making anywhere near as much money, but I’m a lot happier. And so, I can confidently say things like I will keep doing this even if I’m just breaking even. I can happily forfeit a large income and go for a riskier, cheaper existence, because my life is that much more enjoyable.
And so, Buying A Mac. I’m going to wait. I’m going to get a Linux and a Windows release out there, gather some feedback, measure the size of the response. If nobody is interested in SyncDroid, I’m better off cutting my losses immediately.
I was going to end the post there, but it’s such a down note. Running a MicroISV rocks. Hard. Down with The Man!