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You're a developer who devoted time to develop a piece of software. You discover that you are not generating any income from it: few people can even find it in

by II2II 1y ago

You're a developer who devoted time to develop a piece of software. You discover that you are not generating any income from it: few people can even find it in the sea of similar apps, few of those are willing to pay for it, and those who are willing to pay for it are not willing to pay much. To make matters worse, you're going to lose a cut of what is paid to the middlemen who facilitate the transaction. Is that greed? I can find many reasons to be critical of that developer, things like creating a product for a market segment that is saturated, and likely doing so because it is low hanging fruit (both conceptually and in terms of complexity). I can be critical of their moral judgement for how they decided to generate income from their poor business judgment. But I don't thinks it's right to automatically label them as greedy. They may be greedy, but they may also be trying to generate income from their work.

andelink 1y ago
> Is that greed? Umm, yes? You are not owed anything in this life, certainly not income for your choice to spend your time on building a software product no one asked for. Not making money on it is a perfectly fine outcome. If you desperately need guaranteed money, don't build an app expecting it to sell; get a job.
- klabb3 1y ago
  > If you desperately need guaranteed money, don't build an app expecting it to sell; get a job. Technically true but a bit of perspective might help. The consumer market is distorted by free (as in beer) apps that does a bunch of shitty things that should in many cases be illegal or require much more informed consent than today, like tracking everything they can. Then you have VC funded ”free” as well, where the end game is to raise prices slowly to boil the frog. Then you have loss leaders from megacorps, and a general anti-competitive business culture. Plus, this is not just in the Wild West shady places, like the old piratebay ads. The top result for ”timer” on the App Store (for me) is indeed a timer app, but with IAP of $800/y subscription… facilitated by Apple Inc, who gets 15-30% of the bounty. Look, the point is it’s almost impossible to break into consumer markets because everyone else is a predator. It’s a race to the bottom, ripping off clueless customers. Everyone would benefit from a fairer market. Especially honest developers.
  - what 1y ago
    >$800/year IAP That’s got to be money laundering or something else illicit? No one is actually paying that for a timer app?
    - klabb3 1y ago
      No I think it’s designed to catch misclicks and children operating the phone and such, sold as $17/week possibly masquerading as one-time payment. They pay for App Store ads for it too.
- econ 1y ago
  I prefer to focus on the technical shortcomings. We could have people ask for software in a more convenient way. Not making money could be an indication the software isn't useful, but what if it is? What can the collective do in that zone? I imagine one could ask and pay for unwritten software then get a refund if it doesn't materialize before your deadline. Why is discovery (of many creation) willingly handed over to a hand full of mega corps?? They seem to think I want to watch and read about Trump and Elon every day. Promoting something because it is good is a great example of a good thing that shouldn't pay.

by II2II 1y ago

andelink 1y ago

> Is that greed? Umm, yes? You are not owed anything in this life, certainly not income for your choice to spend your time on building a software product no one asked for. Not making money on it is a perfectly fine outcome. If you desperately need guaranteed money, don't build an app expecting it to sell; get a job.

klabb3 1y ago
> If you desperately need guaranteed money, don't build an app expecting it to sell; get a job. Technically true but a bit of perspective might help. The consumer market is distorted by free (as in beer) apps that does a bunch of shitty things that should in many cases be illegal or require much more informed consent than today, like tracking everything they can. Then you have VC funded ”free” as well, where the end game is to raise prices slowly to boil the frog. Then you have loss leaders from megacorps, and a general anti-competitive business culture. Plus, this is not just in the Wild West shady places, like the old piratebay ads. The top result for ”timer” on the App Store (for me) is indeed a timer app, but with IAP of $800/y subscription… facilitated by Apple Inc, who gets 15-30% of the bounty. Look, the point is it’s almost impossible to break into consumer markets because everyone else is a predator. It’s a race to the bottom, ripping off clueless customers. Everyone would benefit from a fairer market. Especially honest developers.
- what 1y ago
  >$800/year IAP That’s got to be money laundering or something else illicit? No one is actually paying that for a timer app?
  - klabb3 1y ago
    No I think it’s designed to catch misclicks and children operating the phone and such, sold as $17/week possibly masquerading as one-time payment. They pay for App Store ads for it too.
econ 1y ago
I prefer to focus on the technical shortcomings. We could have people ask for software in a more convenient way. Not making money could be an indication the software isn't useful, but what if it is? What can the collective do in that zone? I imagine one could ask and pay for unwritten software then get a refund if it doesn't materialize before your deadline. Why is discovery (of many creation) willingly handed over to a hand full of mega corps?? They seem to think I want to watch and read about Trump and Elon every day. Promoting something because it is good is a great example of a good thing that shouldn't pay.