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Can I ask 2 questions? 1) Would you consider open sourcing the licensing server in Crystal? 2) What's your revenue with Lunar? :) Thanks!

alin23 5y ago
1. Yes, I’ve been working on generalizing the Lunar specific code for open sourcing it next month. Still WIP because I’m still getting busy with new monitor edge cases. Last month I’ve also found out about Keygen (https://keygen.sh/ https://keygen.sh/) which has a really nice offering, and I would have probably chosen it instead of building my own solution if I’d known about it. I’m concerned about uptime with my own solution, I don’t have the means to provide enough redundancy in case of a network or data center failure. 2. I’m earning about $3.5k per month on Lunar Pro licenses (on average, some months can be 5-6k, some 2k). Doing quality macOS apps is a nice market to be in. You get to do tools for your own usage and also share them with others for some side revenue. I’ve also created The low-tech guys (https://lowtechguys.com/ https://lowtechguys.com/) and each new app published there is also bringing about $200-$600 per month. Little by little, I’m hoping to get to a continuous revenue of $8k per month so I can build a home for my family and have more time to pursue my other hobbies (woodworking: https://reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/t1l4rk/_/hyhvjix/?context=1 https://reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/t1l4rk/_/hyhvjix/?context=...) and (instrumental music: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/Dv8AT2JgNWrzFtLa8 https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/Dv8AT2JgNWrzFtLa8)
- mathverse 5y ago
  You sir are a big inspiration to me! As someone also born in EE I can very much appreciate your courage and dedication doing a side gig like this. I would say 3500 a month is even a median salary for an IT position in WE. From your resume I take it you still work full time? I wonder if that's even worth it at this point unless you make a lot more from your FTE position. Anyway props!
  - alin23 5y ago
    Thank you for the kind words! I haven’t updated my resume for a while because I don’t have a job anymore and I’m serious about not having to get hired ever again. I’ve written about how I quit my job in March last year and started turning Lunar into a revenue generating project here: https://alinpanaitiu.com/blog/journey-to-ddc-on-m1-macs/ https://alinpanaitiu.com/blog/journey-to-ddc-on-m1-macs/ There’s a lot more info in the article that you might not be interested in though. For the 1 year anniversary of this decision I’m writing another article with everything I tried with Lunar and other apps in the last year. That might be more relevant because I’ll share user stats, real numbers on revenue, trial and error with paid advertising etc. Yes, $3.5k sounds pretty good for Eastern Europe, but the truth is that prices have also skyrocketed. I’ve been trying to get away from my current matchbox sized rented apartment and build a house with my wife. I’ve reached the conclusion that I need like $200k in savings to do it and I’m nowhere near that.
    - mathverse 5y ago
      I know it's an interesting problem and you probably learned a lot along your way but dont you feel like it was a hard problem to tackle and the ROI is rather low?
      - alin23 5y ago
        Oh no, not at all! Sure, dealing with the problems of less knowledgeable users is sometimes annoying, because 99% of the problems stem from non-compliant monitors/hubs/docks etc. But nowadays I get weeks at a time where I can do 0 work on Lunar and dive into my own curiosities (that's how I got to the idea of lowtechguys.com), or simply go on multi-city long trips with my bike without thinking that I have to ask for time off from a boss. I don't look forward to being forced into long video calls where my time is simply wasted so that higher-ups can hear me saying "we're working on it". The ROI is much higher than you think, time is far more valuable than money.
- ezekg 5y ago
  Founder of keygen.sh here. Thanks for the mention. Bummer you didn't know of it before, but I'm really working on improving SEO so hopefully that'll change for the next person. I actually checked out the source code for Lunar awhile back while digging around seeing how devs use Sparkle, since I've been working on an integration there for auto upgrades, along with a Swift SDK. Let me know if you ever hit a point with your licensing server where you want to check Keygen out. I'd be happy to chat. Also curious -- from your OP re: Crystal: > It’s been a joy to work with it! The standard library for working with strings, JSON, YAML and XML is top notch. Type safe and extremely fast, very important characteristics for a licensing server that is queried hundreds of times a second. You said you're doing ~$3.5k/mo in licenses for Lunar. Where's the licensing volume coming from here? Keygen handles licensing for hundreds of products and millions of devices and I very rarely hit 100 RPS even on a busy day, so kind of curious how your licensing is setup to produce that much volume. :)
  - alin23 5y ago
    Nice to meet you! I’m already looking into using Keygen for my next non-AppStore app. I’ll definitely reach out if I have any concern. Although from what I saw, your site explains everything well, and the dev tier will be helpful in testing. I’m not getting 100 RPS constantly. It happens rarely, mostly when releasing updates. When an update is detected, Lunar has to check if the period of free updates hasn’t ended. Then the server is contacted again when the new version is launched. With 3000 pro users (some received licenses for free because they donated when Lunar was free), 100 RPS can happen for short bursts and the server has to cope well with this even if it happens rarely.

alin23 5y ago

1. Yes, I’ve been working on generalizing the Lunar specific code for open sourcing it next month. Still WIP because I’m still getting busy with new monitor edge cases. Last month I’ve also found out about Keygen (https://keygen.sh/ https://keygen.sh/) which has a really nice offering, and I would have probably chosen it instead of building my own solution if I’d known about it. I’m concerned about uptime with my own solution, I don’t have the means to provide enough redundancy in case of a network or data center failure. 2. I’m earning about $3.5k per month on Lunar Pro licenses (on average, some months can be 5-6k, some 2k). Doing quality macOS apps is a nice market to be in. You get to do tools for your own usage and also share them with others for some side revenue. I’ve also created The low-tech guys (https://lowtechguys.com/ https://lowtechguys.com/) and each new app published there is also bringing about $200-$600 per month. Little by little, I’m hoping to get to a continuous revenue of $8k per month so I can build a home for my family and have more time to pursue my other hobbies (woodworking: https://reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/t1l4rk/_/hyhvjix/?context=1 https://reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/t1l4rk/_/hyhvjix/?context=...) and (instrumental music: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/Dv8AT2JgNWrzFtLa8 https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/Dv8AT2JgNWrzFtLa8)

mathverse 5y ago
You sir are a big inspiration to me! As someone also born in EE I can very much appreciate your courage and dedication doing a side gig like this. I would say 3500 a month is even a median salary for an IT position in WE. From your resume I take it you still work full time? I wonder if that's even worth it at this point unless you make a lot more from your FTE position. Anyway props!
- alin23 5y ago
  Thank you for the kind words! I haven’t updated my resume for a while because I don’t have a job anymore and I’m serious about not having to get hired ever again. I’ve written about how I quit my job in March last year and started turning Lunar into a revenue generating project here: https://alinpanaitiu.com/blog/journey-to-ddc-on-m1-macs/ https://alinpanaitiu.com/blog/journey-to-ddc-on-m1-macs/ There’s a lot more info in the article that you might not be interested in though. For the 1 year anniversary of this decision I’m writing another article with everything I tried with Lunar and other apps in the last year. That might be more relevant because I’ll share user stats, real numbers on revenue, trial and error with paid advertising etc. Yes, $3.5k sounds pretty good for Eastern Europe, but the truth is that prices have also skyrocketed. I’ve been trying to get away from my current matchbox sized rented apartment and build a house with my wife. I’ve reached the conclusion that I need like $200k in savings to do it and I’m nowhere near that.
  - mathverse 5y ago
    I know it's an interesting problem and you probably learned a lot along your way but dont you feel like it was a hard problem to tackle and the ROI is rather low?
    - alin23 5y ago
      Oh no, not at all! Sure, dealing with the problems of less knowledgeable users is sometimes annoying, because 99% of the problems stem from non-compliant monitors/hubs/docks etc. But nowadays I get weeks at a time where I can do 0 work on Lunar and dive into my own curiosities (that's how I got to the idea of lowtechguys.com), or simply go on multi-city long trips with my bike without thinking that I have to ask for time off from a boss. I don't look forward to being forced into long video calls where my time is simply wasted so that higher-ups can hear me saying "we're working on it". The ROI is much higher than you think, time is far more valuable than money.
ezekg 5y ago
Founder of keygen.sh here. Thanks for the mention. Bummer you didn't know of it before, but I'm really working on improving SEO so hopefully that'll change for the next person. I actually checked out the source code for Lunar awhile back while digging around seeing how devs use Sparkle, since I've been working on an integration there for auto upgrades, along with a Swift SDK. Let me know if you ever hit a point with your licensing server where you want to check Keygen out. I'd be happy to chat. Also curious -- from your OP re: Crystal: > It’s been a joy to work with it! The standard library for working with strings, JSON, YAML and XML is top notch. Type safe and extremely fast, very important characteristics for a licensing server that is queried hundreds of times a second. You said you're doing ~$3.5k/mo in licenses for Lunar. Where's the licensing volume coming from here? Keygen handles licensing for hundreds of products and millions of devices and I very rarely hit 100 RPS even on a busy day, so kind of curious how your licensing is setup to produce that much volume. :)
- alin23 5y ago
  Nice to meet you! I’m already looking into using Keygen for my next non-AppStore app. I’ll definitely reach out if I have any concern. Although from what I saw, your site explains everything well, and the dev tier will be helpful in testing. I’m not getting 100 RPS constantly. It happens rarely, mostly when releasing updates. When an update is detected, Lunar has to check if the period of free updates hasn’t ended. Then the server is contacted again when the new version is launched. With 3000 pro users (some received licenses for free because they donated when Lunar was free), 100 RPS can happen for short bursts and the server has to cope well with this even if it happens rarely.