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I wrote a data recovery POSIX compliant command line app in C in 2003 that runs under OS X, Windows, and linux. It's still selling well, and has been all these
by feelix 10y ago
I wrote a data recovery POSIX compliant command line app in C in 2003 that runs under OS X, Windows, and linux. It's still selling well, and has been all these years. Over time it's generated millions in revenue as it's been used by several different competing apps, and I have only recompiled it about twice in the last 15 years, each time only making a (very) minor change. It went a good decade without a recompile and continued selling well and being widely used.
The reason I'm happy to say this publicly is because
a) it took years to write, full time. Data recovery is a hell of a lot more complex then I'd ever imagined.
b) data recovery is no longer possible on SSD's (if they have TRIM enabled, as they do in all major OS's) so it's a declining market. Anyone would be nuts to be trying to enter it at this point.
- mistermann 10y agoThis is great, I hope you retained 100% rights and are the one raking in that $? Considering the rise of SSD's, what's your prediction of how quickly your revenue will decline?
- feelix 10y agoI did retain all the rights, but other companies published it under their branding. I ended up getting somewhere between 20-30% all up. I'm not rich, I still have to work for a living. They burnt through all the revenue. The main company that was publishing it moved to San Francisco, hired offices and staff, and burnt through all the capital almost instantly. I just banked mine and used it for travel (for a decade).
- feelix 10y agooh, and I dont really have any idea how quickly the revenue will decline. I'm surprised it's still making some money now actually. The market may take another decade to completely dry up though. The data recovery stuff does work on digital cameras / SD cards, external hard disks, USB sticks, etc. I'm not sure what people currently buy it for generally.
- blub 10y agoCool stuff. You are the same person that built a OS X file access filtering app but didn't publish it, right? I think you were considering open sourcing it, any news on that?
- feelix 10y agoI did publish it, but it didn't sell well, because our marketing sucked. I'd give you the source code if you asked for it I think. I don't think it's really worth open sourcing at this point, I doubt there's much interest in it.
- blub 10y agoThanks, that would be nice. I have my e-mail address in my profile.
- desiderantes 10y agoOpen source is always well received. Also, there are people out there running GNUStep/Darwin!
- feelix 10y agoI have tried open sourcing other stuff, and it's been completely overlooked. I guess you have to promote it somehow. But I've tried putting stuff on GitHub, and I don't think anyone ever looked at it. If it were to have an audience I'd do it.
- eru 10y agoPerhaps just put it on github, and just drop the link to it whenever you mention it in a comment here? (Or just put a link in your HN profile, people can click through that easily.)