Once.  Long, long ago (aka "last year").  I tried to convert my long-standing (and fairly successful) business from a traditional "Closed Source Shareware" model to an Open Source model.

And I failed.  Tripped.  Wham.  Flat on my face.

But I'm not exactly the type of guy that lets a little something like that stop him.  No sir.  Learn from my mistakes, pick myself up -- and try again.

So, as of today (5 minutes ago, to be exact) my entire business is now, once again... Free.  Free as in beer (no cost) and "Free" as in freedom (source code available under the GPL).  Everything.  Linux Tycoon.  App-Make-inator.  The whole kit and caboodle.

Check the "Apps", "Games" and "Comics" buttons on the left for all the details on what is available.

I've learned some things over the last year -- both about the business of earning a living by making free software, and about myself (what I enjoy and what I am truly good at) -- that has left me confident that I can pull this off.  Here's some details on how I'm approaching this:

Playing To My Strengths

Sure.  I make some cool software and such.  But, well, that's really only part of what I "do".

As many of you may know... I like to stick my mug in front of the camera.  And, as it turns out, I'm not completely terrible at that.  So let's incorporate that in the form of a weekly video update over on my YouTube channel.

So what will this weekly video entail?

• Updates on what is happening that week.  What I'm working on. What releases went out.
• Updates on funding.  What sort of donations have come in during the week and how well we're doing against the goals that month.
• Discussion of other Open Source projects that need funding.  Not just my own.
• Anything else I feel like rambling about.

There's no set schedule (aka "Thursdays at 2:23PM") for this.  Just "once a week".  I will post the videos here, on Lunduke.com, as well as the YouTube channel.  And I'm sure I'll share it out to Twitter and G+ too.  Because that's what I do.

More Than Just Software

I also make Comic Books and such.  What about those?  Why not make those free too?

Done.  But let's go a step further.

I am going to be releasing the source artwork for Road-Sign Hank and the Aliens (as Inkscape files) and 2299 (as bitmaps) under the Creative Commons.  Keep an eye here for that over the coming days.

Donations

Donations are great.  I've said this before: If every Linux user donated 1 dollar to a project... that would go a long way towards taking care of funding for so many of the Open Source projects we love and use every day.

And, to that end, I am setting an initial donation goal of $5,000 for the month of June.  Some may say that seems like a lot of money.  So allow me to lay out my reasoning for this number:

• If this was a salary for a full time developer in North America... this would be a very low number.  We're talking entry level wages here.
• This is less than what I earn in sales when the software is closed source.
• If only a fraction of the total user base for my software donates a single dollar... this goal will be easy as pie to reach.

As time goes on it may become a good idea to lower or raise this monthly goal.  I'm going to stay flexible here and adjust as needed.

Other Revenue Streams

But what about other various sources of revenue for supporting Open Source software?  Let's do that too.

• Shirts, Hats, Posters, etc. - Yep.  I'm going to be selling it all.
• Bounties for features - Want to see a specific new feature faster?  You'll be able to fund it directly.
• Others? - There are lots of options out there.  From Ad revenue to App Store sales.  I will consider them all.

Leave no stone un-turned, as they say!

I Am Not An Island

There are a large number of, absolutely amazing, Open Source project out there.  And they need funding too.

But that funding tends to be quite elusive.  So let's work to change that.

With that in mind I am putting together a page that lists as many Open Source projects as possible (in alphabetical order so it's easy to find what you're looking for) with direct links to their individual donation pages.

If you have a project that you would like to have included, drop me an email (link at the top of this page).

I am also pondering the notion of having a "Fund Open Source" telethon.  One of those "We stay on camera for 24 hours until we are punch drunk and acting ridiculous" deals to encourage folks to pitch in to one of many Open Source projects out there.  [This is just an idea at this point... no specific plans at this point.]

The point here is to work together, as a community, to make great things.  "A rising tide lifts all boats", as they say.

So.  Here we go.

Holy moly, I am excited.  I've been wanting to do this for some time now... just been waiting until the moment was just right -- and everything was primed for optimum success.  And now is that moment.

There's plenty to do.  I need to some additional projects in source control still (that's a weekend project for sure).  But all of the basics are in place.  You can download everything and donate as you feel appropriate.

Want to get ahold of me?  There are a plethora of links up top for your preferred communication mechanism.

Filed under: 2299, App-Make-inator, Comics, DOS, Game-Make-inator, Games, GLL, I am awesome, Illumination, LEAIT, Linux | Comments Off

App-Make-inator 13.06 Beta 4 is now available for download for Linux, Windows and Mac.

What's new in 13.06 Beta 4:

• You can now scroll your project by clicking and dragging in any empty space.
• You can now maximize the Window Editor.
• The Window Editor working area is now wide enough to design just about any user interface you could dream up.
• The Custom Block Editor has been updated to remove unnecessary elements and generally clean up the interface a bit.

Downloads:

• Linux 32bit
• Windows
• MacOS X

Don't own a copy of App-Make-inator yet?  You can grab a copy over here.  Go on.  You know you want to.

Here's the release notes from the previous Beta's for your convenience:

What's new in 13.06 Beta 3:

• New visual style for Windows, Buttons, Labels and ListBoxes.
• New "Opacity" option that can be set in the Window Editor at design time.  (Takes a value from 0 to 1... 0 being invisible, 1 being completely visible, 0.5 being half way faded out, etc.)
• Fixed some app sizing and scaling issues for mobile devices (Android and iOS).

What's new in 13.06 Beta 2:

• New Block: "Draw Picture".  Draws a picture to a canvas at any X/Y coordinate you pass.  [This is similar to the "Set Canvas" block, only more powerful.]
• Fix: Animation controls now show all controls.
• "Shake", "Move" or "Opacity" animation blocks now work with Windows themselves (not just controls).  Select the Window and then select "The Window" from the control list.

What's new in 13.06 Beta 1:

• A new "Animation" block category.
• New Block : "Move" - smoothly moves any control wherever you like, either in absolute pixels, or relative to its current location.
• New Block : "Resize"  - re-sizes any control in an animated way.
• New Block : "Opacity" - change the opacity of any control over a given duration.
• New Block : "Shake" - shakes any control to draw attention to it.

 

Filed under: App-Make-inator | Comments Off

Here's a quick example that showcases some of App-Make-inator's newest features:

A Motivational Poster Generator!

Here's what it allows you to do:

1. Choose both the top (big) and bottom (little) text - formatted just like you'd expect on a Motivational Poster.
2. You can choose between 4 different pictures of 4 different Operating Systems (Windows 3.1, Windows 95, MacOS X 10.0 and Ubuntu 13.04).
3. Clicking on the "Share" button creates a share-able URL that will let you share your creation with others.

Take it for a test drive.  You can download the complete project file as well that you can modify as you please!

Note: You'll want to grab App-Make-inator 13.06 Beta 3 or newer.  This project makes use of Animation (the Editor window fades in when opened) as well as new graphics blocks.

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App-Make-inator 13.06 Beta 3 is now available for download for Linux, Windows and Mac.

Making apps faster and easier than anything else on the planet is nice.  Sure.  But wouldn't it also be cool to be able to make the classiest, most gorgeous apps also?

With that in mind: The big change to Beta 3 is a brand new look and feel for all apps.  Here is the simple animation test re-built with 13.06 Beta 3 to give you an idea of the new visual style.

What's new in 13.06 Beta 3:

• New visual style for Windows, Buttons, Labels and ListBoxes.
• New "Opacity" option that can be set in the Window Editor at design time.  (Takes a value from 0 to 1... 0 being invisible, 1 being completely visible, 0.5 being half way faded out, etc.)
• Fixed some app sizing and scaling issues for mobile devices (Android and iOS).

Downloads:

• Linux 32bit
• Windows
• MacOS X

Don't own a copy of App-Make-inator yet?  You can grab a copy over here.  Go on.  You know you want to.

Here's the release notes from the previous Beta's for your convenience:

What's new in 13.06 Beta 2:

• New Block: "Draw Picture".  Draws a picture to a canvas at any X/Y coordinate you pass.  [This is similar to the "Set Canvas" block, only more powerful.]
• Fix: Animation controls now show all controls.
• "Shake", "Move" or "Opacity" animation blocks now work with Windows themselves (not just controls).  Select the Window and then select "The Window" from the control list.

What's new in 13.06 Beta 1:

• A new "Animation" block category.
• New Block : "Move" - smoothly moves any control wherever you like, either in absolute pixels, or relative to its current location.
• New Block : "Resize"  - re-sizes any control in an animated way.
• New Block : "Opacity" - change the opacity of any control over a given duration.
• New Block : "Shake" - shakes any control to draw attention to it.

 

Filed under: App-Make-inator | Comments Off

App-Make-inator 13.06 Beta 2 is now available for download for Linux, Windows and Mac.

One of the big new changes in 13.06 is animations.  Really adds a nice bit of pizzazz to your app.  Here's an example (with the entire sample project):

What's new in 13.06 Beta 2:

• New Block: "Draw Picture".  Draws a picture to a canvas at any X/Y coordinate you pass.  [This is similar to the "Set Canvas" block, only more powerful.]
• Fix: Animation controls now show all controls.
• "Shake", "Move" or "Opacity" animation blocks now work with Windows themselves (not just controls).  Select the Window and then select "The Window" from the control list.

What's new in 13.06 Beta 1:

• A new "Animation" block category.
• New Block : "Move" - smoothly moves any control wherever you like, either in absolute pixels, or relative to its current location.
• New Block : "Resize"  - re-sizes any control in an animated way.
• New Block : "Opacity" - change the opacity of any control over a given duration.
• New Block : "Shake" - shakes any control to draw attention to it.

Downloads:

• Linux 32bit
• Windows
• MacOS X

Don't own a copy of App-Make-inator yet?  You can grab a copy over here.  Go on.  You know you want to.

Filed under: App-Make-inator | Comments Off