Advice for starting a new project?

[Kareem Shehata]

________________________________________
> From: owner-tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org [mailto:owner-tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of Alex
Beamish
> Sent: Monday 17 September 2007 10:17
> To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
> Subject: Re: [TLUG]: Advice for starting a new project?

> It sounds like you have two questions, 1) How do I start my project, and
> 2) How do I make money from it?

Yea, in a nutshell that would be two pivotal questions.  I'd phrase them
more:

1)  How do I make this idea fly?
2)  How do I not go broke in the process?

> As far as 1) goes, pare the original idea down to the least amount of
> functionality that makes sense, and build that. There's no point in
> starting to build a Cadillac when a pickup truck will do the job -- for
> now. Once you have something out there, you add all of the extra stuff
> that you imagined when you started doing the design. Keep it modular; use
> version control; and develop using tests. 

Yup, many good ideas here.  Just a matter of putting them to practice!  But
the first one is absolutely key: I plan on having a base set of features to
start and then a roadmap from there.

> For 2), you can either make your code proprietary and sell just the
> binary, or you can make it open source, and sell configuration,
> development and support services. Keep in mind that even if you release
> something as FOSS, you can also retain the copyright. 
> 
> And the advantage of going open source is that other developers might be
> interested in developing and supporting your code. That spreads the load,
> and means a higher profile and more market coverage for your package. 

This is part of the reason I'm thinking of FOSS.  It's going to be a
networked application, and so interop is key - what better way then giving
the people who want to play along the sources?  I'm also hoping that going
open-source will also generate a certain amount of trust, but that's a fuzzy
one.  You and I and I'd imagine most people on this list trust FOSS apps far
more than proprietary stuff, but does the general public?

> Good luck!

Thanks, I'll need it!

-kms

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