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It sometimes seems it's difficult to make money from making tools, because developers expect them for free, and with source (like Firebug). But of course it is
by 6ren 16y ago
It sometimes seems it's difficult to make money from making tools, because developers expect them for free, and with source (like Firebug). But of course it is possible, with products like Joel's FogBugz, like Jira and some IDE's.
Even serious money: Microsoft's Developer Tools (Visual Studio) business made over $1B revenue last year:
http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/07/microsofts_11_billion-dollar_businesses_and_what_they_say_about_the_company.html http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/07/microsofts_11_billi...
- teaspoon 16y agoSome other good "indie" examples: TextMate, Charles, GitHub, Opacity, and Acorn.
- akadien 16y agoBalsamiq
- cookiecaper 16y agoMicrosoft makes money on its development tools because a huge percentage of the world's biggest organizations are its clients. If you try a startup development tool, especially a non-canonical (VS might as well be required for .NET development) tool, good luck making anything close to that number within 5-10 years.