Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by lunaticman 406 days ago
As the author, I'd be happy to release this as open source, but there's one issue... I want to continue building DevTUI and PoshTUI, but right now, I'm only able to work on them in the evenings—after the kids and wife are asleep.

If this project generates some revenue, I could reduce time on my main gig and dedicate more hours to improve these tools.

What other way would you suggest me to do so? Besides DRM?
1 comments
josephcsible 406 days ago
Even if you don't want to go open-source, couldn't you still sell your software without DRM? It works for all the games on GOG.
link
lunaticman 406 days ago
Sorry, you lost me here on your game analogy. I haven't played games for a while. Or maybe our understanding of DRM term differs. I have never heard before use this term in the context of a software, more with books and music.

How does my solution differ from something that Postico and Sublime Text are doing?

My plan is to offer a fully featured application for free, but with slightly annoying pop-up that users can remove by paying a (reasonable) one-time fee. Is there a better way to go about this? I'm really curious.

link
josephcsible 406 days ago
So the only thing the whole licensing framework will do is get rid of the nag? That wasn't my understanding of your post at all. I thought the program wouldn't work at all if it weren't properly licensed.
link
lunaticman 406 days ago
Added this section: ---

Not all licensing features have been rolled out yet, so let me briefly explain the overall vision.

DevTUI will be available to everyone as a free product, with no limitations on functionality. However, it will include a nagging popup prompting users to support further development. Users can remove this nag screen by paying a (reasonable) one-time fee.

The inspiration for this payment model comes from Postico and Sublime Text — two products I personally support and admire.

Since DevTUI doesn’t incur any recurring costs, I’m okay with people using it for free. That said, I still want to encourage users to contribute financially to the project rather than relying on the usual “begging for open source funding” approach.

link
lunaticman 406 days ago
Interesting. I need to clarify it. Thanks for raising.
link