Menu Maestro???

[Fairlight]

In the relative spacial/temporal region of
Wed, Dec 21, 2005 at 02:06:35PM -0600, Mike Schwartz (PC Support & Services, Appleton, WI) achieved the spontaneous
generation of the following:
> 
>      Unfortunately, I wouldn't say that there was a market for it.  I
> spoke to Keith Hanson, who claims to have written both Menu Master
> and Menu Maestro, and he mentioned that he never sold enough copies
> to recoup the amount of time it took him to write those programs,
> although I understand that it was vital to do so in order to make the
> original Softa accounting code fly.

I can say that about FairPay--something I thought for sure would fly a lot
harder and faster than OneGate, and has made a LOT less.  I've actually
made my time back on OneGate--and then some--though it took a few years to
take off and do it.  FairPay...I sold -one-, and I also use it myself on
my site.  The fact that I get to use it myself is the only saving grace to
that project.

Then there's FairView, which I wrote -specifically- to address a problem
brought up here, on the list.  I sank something like 79 hours into figuring
the whole thing out and getting it the way I wanted it, and it took me
over half a year to sell the -one- copy I've sold.  It wasn't the person
who wanted it originally that bought it, but a referral, and while they
love it, that's still $49.95 for 79hrs of work, much of which was spent
adding features for people that never bought it, and probably never will.
Not that I'm not grateful for enhancement ideas (and they were valuable
ideas, all of which made it a better product), but when it comes to making
$0.63/hour, I'd be better off flipping burgers somewhere than doing
something on spec to fill a supposed "need" that (now) obviously wasn't.
I keep it on my web site "just in case" someone wants it, though I've long
since given up hope for it.

These fine examples are why I refuse to write anything on spec for the fP
community at-large.  I'll do it for specific clients, if they're willing
to subsidize it up-front, sure.  But it's a simple case of, "Show me the
money."  No cash, no code.  I finally wised up and realised that it's not
worth it any other way.  

Sure, I still have code I can sit on for years until the technology is
entirely obsolete, and make money here and there.  But it's almost a given
that unless you -know- it's a "must-have!" app, you may as well forget it
and just go game or something.  PAYING to play an online game is a wiser
investment in terms of stress-relief than coding worthwhile applications on
spec for business in many cases.  I find that particularly sad.  Especially
when I -like- to code, and I'm not in it entirely for the money.  It's
still a better investment to -pay- someone to game than to work on a
project that you know is useful--but that next to nobody will bother to buy
even if you -give- it away.

All of which may sound like sour grapes, but it's not.  Some projects
were total write-offs, others I cannibalized for other paying projects,
and others made the investment back.  In the end, I still nowhere near
broke even in terms of what I could have done if I'd put in the time doing
something for someone in the immediate term.  So it's really a loss on
the whole.  It's not sour grapes though, so much as anecdotal backing of
your assertion of what he said.  I fully believe him when he says he never
recouped his time/cost.  No doubts in my mind.

mark->