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WPIDalamar writes "Last year I created a new project scheduling application that's since gotten some great reviews and even won a fairly large contest. I'm currently selling between 1 and 10 copies of it every week, all with very minimal advertising or PR. Unfortunately, I don't know what to do next.

One of my options is trying to build a larger business around it. Currently, the program has a list of features on the drawing board and it has some bugs in it (both known and probably some unknown). Right now, I'm developing software alone in my spare time and it is starting to get to the point where that just doesn't cut it anymore. It could really use a full time developer/QA team working on it (QA is sorely lacking right now). It could also really use someone to put in more time and effort into advertising, customer service, sales, website design, etc. But unfortunately at it's current sales it wouldn't be able to support me, never mind a staff I'd want to hire.

Another option is trying to get the application acquired by an organization large enough to bring it to it's full potential. That's awfully appealing since it could mean a single large payoff, but I'd hate to see my creation completely leave my control. Unfortunately, I don't know how to start looking for such an opportunity.

A big problem with both of those solutions is I'm a software developer, not a business guy. Either way I'd have to find a smart person interested in the success of the product that could bring it from where it is now, to that next level. How do you attract someone to help you figure out the business model when you only have an idea?

In the past, Slashdot has helped me with a question about how much copy protection was appropriate for such an application. The input from that was most valuable so I'm hoping you guys can help me out again. So, answer me this....

1. Build a software application people want.
2. ????
3. Profit

What is step #2?"
http://www.agileagenda.com/

WPIDalamar writes "I have a common story that I'm sure a lot of people out there have. I had an idea for a software application, I wrote that application, and a lot of people ended up liking it. After asking you guys what types of copy protection make a good balance between customer and owner rights, I started selling copies. So now it brings in a meager income, nothing I could quit my day job and live on yet. But I've come to the realization that writing software is fun, but running a business isn't. What's next?

I guess there's a few options. I could find a business partner willing to deal with the "business" issues of selling, advertising, etc. Or I could try and find a company willing to acquire the application. Or I could go all-out and try to find some investors so I could work on this full time, hire employees to do the stuff I don't want to do and get some real advertising. But I just have no idea on how to go about any of those options. I know some of you will say to just open source it, but those dollars are just too tempting, how might an open source plan end up creating revenue? If you found yourself in this type of position, what would you do to figure out the next step (besides asking slashdot!)?"

Dionysius, God of Wine and Leaf, writes "Yahoo could begin carrying Google ads within a week, as it waits for Microsoft to give up its acquisition bid or attempt a hostile takeover, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20080502/tc_pcworld/145411

(Microsoft is hell-bent on purchasing them to block this?)"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20080502/tc_pcworld/145411

The NYTimes has a feature about software development systems that move the Web offline and desktop applications online, with a focus on Adobe Air, which will be released tomorrow. The article has quotes from the developer behind Microsoft's Silverlight (he was a colleague at Macromedia of Adobe's Air guy), and from the head of the Mozilla Foundation about their online/offline offering, Prism.

An anonymous reader writes "Barack Obama, in a speech at Google (youtube link), said that he would "take a back seat to no one" in his support of network neutrality, and said he intends to double Federal funding for science and to make the R&D tax credit permanent. Could Obama be the first mainstream candidate to start understanding geek issues?"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m4yVlPqeZwo

WPIDalamar writes "Marc Hughes (Me!), the author of AgileAgenda has won Adobe's AIR Derby best in show award. He has won a $100,000 travel voucher and an amazing assortment of prizes. You can read more about it at Adobe's site. Marc's an avid reader of Slashdot and will be sure to follow the story answering any questions. AgileAgenda is a project management software suite for people who think like developers instead of managers. It was started because of the author's hate of that other project application."

I'm currently working on a piece of commercial software that will be available through a download and will use a license key to activate it. The software is aimed at helping people schedule projects and will be targeted mostly to corporate users. With the recent Windows Vista black screen of death, it got me thinking about what sort of measures I should go through to prevent unauthorized users from using the software. While I don't wish to burden legitimate users, I do want to prevent most piracy. How much copy protection is appropriate? Is it acceptable for the software to phone home? If so, what data is appropriate to report on? The license key? Software version? What about a unique installation ID? Should I disable license keys for small amounts of piracy, like when there's 3 active installations of the software? What about widespread piracy where we detect dozens or hundreds of uses of the same license key? Would a simple message stating the software may be pirated with instructions on how to purchase a valid license be sufficient?

binarymaster writes "Four years ago, as we recently moved to a new area, I decided to use ADSL technology for high-speed internet, being more than frustrated by our cable provider. The performance was actually good for the time back then. A year later, I switched to cable, for financial reasons. Now this is over, I wanted to have ADSL back. It is no more available. Bell, the owner of the phone lines cannot deliver the service, while it is fully working next door, based on their own checks on the line. I am told that because of the wiring, and for other reasons, such as residential area expansion, the ADSL service does not reach my house anymore. It was working four years ago, but no more. I'm asking: Did anyone else had such experience, in Canada or other country ? Is this acceptable, given the monopoly and exclusive control of the phone network ? The main page is at http://www.bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpInt_Landing.page "

After ironing out some bugs, the U.S. Army deploys three robots to Iraq armed with M249 machine guns. What can possibly go wrong?

http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/topheadlines/~3/140060744/httpwwwnational.html

There's a very nice profile of the Child's Play charity up on the New York Times site. It goes into some detail on the history of the gamer's charity, and paints the participants in a positive light. Good press all around. From the article: "... Common purpose drew Bernie Burns to get involved. Mr. Burns is a member of Rooster Teeth, a troupe that produces 'Red vs. Blue,' an online comedy series based on the game Halo. Rooster Teeth attended the Child's Play dinner auction this year and successfully bid $9,000 to record dialogue for the coming video game Halo 3, a prize comparable to being given a cameo appearance in a movie. The game's developer, Bungie Studios, would probably have allowed the troupe to record the dialogue anyway, but 'it's for charity,' Mr. Burns said of the $9,000 bid." The article states that the charity has raised $2 Million over its lifespan, and the official site is currently this year's contribution to that number is around $885,000.

An anonymous reader writes "Wonder how this affects politicians? The research by UK pollsters 72 Point found that "techno-treachery" was widespread with nearly 75 percent of people saying gadgets like Blackberrys made it easier to fib. Just over half of respondents said using gadgets made them feel less guilty when telling a lie than doing it face to face, the study on behalf of financial services group Friends Provident found. The workplace was a favorite location for fibbing with 67 percent of the 1,487 respondents admitting they had lied at work. The top lie was pretending to be ill (43 percent) followed by saying work had been completed when it hadn't (23 percent). Worryingly for bosses 18 percent said they lied to hide a big mistake. But, employers were not the only ones on the receiving end of disingenuous statements. Just over 40 percent said they had lied to their family or partner. Key topics to lie about were; buying new clothes or the cost of them (37 percent), how good someone looked in something (35 percent) how much they had eaten (35 percent) and drunk (31 percent) and how much they weighed (32 percent). The survey found that while people were dishonest, most told lies with the best intentions and to spare others' feelings."

simoniker writes "A team at Intel have built a game prototype that works entirely within Google Earth, in which: 'Martian robotic spacecraft are invading... Your mission is to decipher the messages, and blast these Martians before they can suck people off the planet.' The engineers explain: 'Existing games we found all require switching back and forth between a web browser window and Google Earth. Our goal was to develop a game with all the action inside a single window, similar to a traditional video game, leading to a more immersive and responsive experience.' The gameplay is fairly simple as of yet — but could this be the start of a host of fully integrated Google Earth games?"