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I once devoted 2 years of my life to developing a file manager called fman [1]. In total, it generated probably 35,000$ in profits, so my income from the projec

I once devoted 2 years of my life to developing a file manager called fman [1]. In total, it generated probably 35,000$ in profits, so my income from the project is somewhere around 10 $/h. As software developers, our opportunity costs are high. I use my file manager to this day and love it. But I regret spending so much time on it. Congratulations on your launch. I wish you more success than I've had. Failing that, I wish you that you will see earlier than I did when it is time to move on. I once recorded a video about my experiences developing a file manager [2]. Maybe you'll also find some interesting bits and pieces on fman's blog [3]. Incidentally, an article there is what sparked my current venture, which is much more profitable: consulting services around automatic updates. If you'd like to have a chat, feel free to reach out. My contact info is on my website. :-) Good luck! [1]: https://fman.io https://fman.io [2]: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I1K3IkOlaVw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I1K3IkOlaVw [3]: https://fman.io/blog/ https://fman.io/blog/

zerr 2y ago
Good to know, thanks for the insight. I was playing with the idea of creating a similar app, with more features and faster (in C++). I guess there is no much demand for modern NC clones, orthodox file managers. Btw, are the sales still going on?
- mherrmann 2y ago
  I put it down to desktop utility apps being a very tough market because 1. they are time-consuming to develop and 2. people hate paying for desktop software. You already have several comments in this very thread from people complaining about the price: * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43102477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43102477 * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43099230 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43099230 * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43097749 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43097749 Ah and yes, I'm still getting a handful of fman sales per month. But nowhere near enough to justify any time investment.
  - zerr 2y ago
    Did you experiment with different pricing? I wonder if slashing the price significantly would boost sales so much that it becomes viable a product.
vjekoslav 2y ago
Hey, thanks! Yes, I know about Fman. I’ve tried pretty much all file explorers on Windows, a fair number on Linux, and fewer on macOS. I watched that video a couple of years ago, it had some nice insights. Thanks for sharing that. I've been talking about File Pilot since the early days of the project, so I managed to build a following on Twitter and Discord, along with a decent number of email subscribers. I'm hoping that'll be enough to spread the word. I'm sorry Fman didn't work out for you as a business. But truth be told, you need to deliver something exceptional to compete with established players. While I don't see other file explorer alternatives as direct competition, I do think File Pilot will bring a breath of fresh air. We'll see how it goes!
- mherrmann 2y ago
  Hm, are you hinting that fman was not exceptional at its time? If yes, then I disagree.
  - 123sereusername 2y ago
    fman is still exceptional.
    - tuttelidoo 2y ago
      [dead]
  - truetraveller 2y ago
    That's not exceptional IMHO. It's a good effort, but not exceptional. Exceptional apps scream "wow" and are feature rich, with great UI/UX. Example of exceptional apps are Obsidian, TablePlus, Transmit (by panic), Sublime Text, VSCode. File Pilot has that "wow" factor and the features.
deramboss 2y ago
Without your OpenSource Promise Scam you wouldn't have earned nearly as much with fman.
nop_slide 2y ago
> But I regret spending so much time on it Just curious, what aspects do you regret?
torginus 2y ago
Holy heck! I remember fman, and it was amazing! Literally the only file manager I used that could hold a candle to Total Commander. I remember everyone hating on it on linux forums, because it wasn't open source, despite nothing in the linux world coming close.

zerr 2y ago

Good to know, thanks for the insight. I was playing with the idea of creating a similar app, with more features and faster (in C++). I guess there is no much demand for modern NC clones, orthodox file managers. Btw, are the sales still going on?

mherrmann 2y ago
I put it down to desktop utility apps being a very tough market because 1. they are time-consuming to develop and 2. people hate paying for desktop software. You already have several comments in this very thread from people complaining about the price: * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43102477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43102477 * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43099230 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43099230 * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43097749 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43097749 Ah and yes, I'm still getting a handful of fman sales per month. But nowhere near enough to justify any time investment.
- zerr 2y ago
  Did you experiment with different pricing? I wonder if slashing the price significantly would boost sales so much that it becomes viable a product.

vjekoslav 2y ago

Hey, thanks! Yes, I know about Fman. I’ve tried pretty much all file explorers on Windows, a fair number on Linux, and fewer on macOS. I watched that video a couple of years ago, it had some nice insights. Thanks for sharing that. I've been talking about File Pilot since the early days of the project, so I managed to build a following on Twitter and Discord, along with a decent number of email subscribers. I'm hoping that'll be enough to spread the word. I'm sorry Fman didn't work out for you as a business. But truth be told, you need to deliver something exceptional to compete with established players. While I don't see other file explorer alternatives as direct competition, I do think File Pilot will bring a breath of fresh air. We'll see how it goes!

mherrmann 2y ago
Hm, are you hinting that fman was not exceptional at its time? If yes, then I disagree.
- 123sereusername 2y ago
  fman is still exceptional.
  - tuttelidoo 2y ago
    [dead]
- truetraveller 2y ago
  That's not exceptional IMHO. It's a good effort, but not exceptional. Exceptional apps scream "wow" and are feature rich, with great UI/UX. Example of exceptional apps are Obsidian, TablePlus, Transmit (by panic), Sublime Text, VSCode. File Pilot has that "wow" factor and the features.

deramboss 2y ago

Without your OpenSource Promise Scam you wouldn't have earned nearly as much with fman.

nop_slide 2y ago

> But I regret spending so much time on it Just curious, what aspects do you regret?

torginus 2y ago

Holy heck! I remember fman, and it was amazing! Literally the only file manager I used that could hold a candle to Total Commander. I remember everyone hating on it on linux forums, because it wasn't open source, despite nothing in the linux world coming close.