There have been some excellent questions and comments from the last two posts (Commercial Software Experiment: The Results and Radical Breeze Software Now Free), so I want to take a few moments and address a few of them that jumped out at me.

“I am really keen to see the whole software development discussion on proprietary apps/code/development as opposed to that done in the open and open source code/apps/developement cycle.” – Michael

As am I!  It’s a rather large topic that I’d like to hear from as many people on as possible.  I’ll be talking a bit further about what my next set of goals are over the coming week or so.

“I imagine that by doing this, you will be able to find out what percentage of people download the software when it’s free. This will give an idea as to how many people who would actually use this kind of software would also pay for it v. those who wouldn’t.” – Shawn J. Goff

You hit it right on the nose there, Shawn.  After a few months of making the software free (with some gentle encouragement towards donations) we will then have numbers contrasting commercial software on multiple platforms, and the same software made free… on multiple platforms.

“None of these applications was really that commercial anyway, so it won’t leave a big impact or can hardly be used in any study related to “Can software on Linux be non-open source”.

I Bryan had decided to create a accounting-software (for US only that is, since we have different rules for accounting around the world), or a bookkeeping-program or for an invoices-program (which would be ideal for developers!) the story might have been different.” – Trond

We don’t really need to be selling software that would appeal to a business setting.  All that has to be done is to take an application type (or niche) that is known to be able to perform to a given level (in terms of downloads and sales) on various other platforms… and apply that to the new platform.

Most of my previous experience in marketing and selling software was fairly Mac-centric.  So I have a good idea of how small utilities and niche applications (media organization, etc.) perform there.

The goal, then, is to be able to show that applications in a given market segment can be (hopefully) equally as successful, in terms of both sales and downloads, to their counterparts on other platforms.

Many, many developers (myself included) have earned a comfortable (but not necessarily extravagent) living for many years from the kinds of software at Radical Breeze.  They don’t need to be blockbuster big.  Nor do they need to appeal to all users on a platform.  Just… enough to fund continued development.

“You need something big for users to focus around and look at, like an app store, but in Linux’s own unique way (an app repository with a trustable payment method?).” – Ken

Yes.  Absolutely.  Click N Run was an attempt at that.  However it really hasn’t grabbed the attention of, and footing with, the average linux desktop user.  I think it has the potential to serve the need here… but that really requires Ubuntu, etc. to include a store like this… by default.

“I would like to support commercial software on Linux, but to be honest I don’t believe there’s much chance anyone will get anywhere on this endeavour. I am ready to jump the ship, as soon as something more viable than Linux comes along. Can someone please make a MacOS that is not evil as heck? I would run it.

I love Linux, but I sort of hate it too, you know?” – Johan

You’re not alone.  I was a bit surprised how much of this very sentiment I’ve encountered over the last few months.

Emails and messages along the lines of “I hope you succeed with commercial software on linux.  We need it.  But it won’t work.” were incredibly common.  Which is kinda funny if you think about it.

“Do you think if you had maybe 20 apps already done that you simply maintain would have enough revenue flowing in to continue?” – Shawn J. Goff

Yes.  For sure.

And, realistically, I could go that route.  If my goal were simply to make a living writing software for linux… I would.

And, while that is kinda my goal (in the long run), right now my focus is to figure out the state of things and have them as well documented as possible.  What business models work the best within the greater Linux ecosystem?  How can existing business models be modified to fit within that?  Those are questions that should really be answered (and answered in a difinitive way… not just a guy somewhere musing about it… but actual experience and facts) before I settle in long term on a path.

“Bryan, in your opinion, do you think a “Steam/Impulse/Click-and-run”-like centralized service for commercial applications would have any success at reaching a mass consumer market on Linux, given the current user culture?” – Johan

Yes.  Without a doubt.  But one of the big boys (*cough* Canonical *cough*) needs to step up and make it happen in a default way.

“Just thinking out loud, but if somebody were to run a Linux app store with some kind of profit sharing program, it should be somebody who has:

1. Street cred among practically-minded Linux users

2. Street cred among Linux or cross-platform developers

3. Reach to a broad audience, to promote new store when it launches (to get a critical mass)

Just saying.” – Jason Smith

I know.  Message received.

There’s just three real hurdles:

1. There just aren’t that many commercial Linux apps right now (which we need in order to make such a store… worth while).
2. We would need the support of a few major distros to make it viable in terms of numbers.
3. It’s a lot of work to do the payment processing, revenue splitting, taxes, etc.  And a guy like me just isn’t setup to handle that.

“Just a thought that for most Linux users, using Linux is about freedom of speech, so buying closed source commercial software kinda defeats the purpose.” – Shaun Majere

Ya know.  That’s a key thing for many people (free as in speech).  But, from my experience so far, that is a (very vocal) minority.  Most people using (or wanting to use) Linux do so because of a few sets of reasons:

1. It’s different (and they want to play with something new and not-mainstream).
2. It’s cool and can be made to look cool.
3. It’s free (as in cost).
4. It’s better (for their needs, it runs faster, works better, runs on their hardware, etc.).

Those seem to be the overarching reasons.  That’s not to say there aren’t others.  Those just seem the most common.

“I think the distribution issue is the biggest issue here.” – arbulus

It really is.  And there are many ways to attack it.  An “App Store” would do the trick.  As would the main distros encouraging users to frequent various download sites (like gnomefiles, etc).

Until that hurdle is jumped, it will be incredibly hard for any new developer to get the word out about their commercial software.

Heck.  I had a built-in audience I could talk to on an almost constant basis and look how hard it was for me to get the word out?  What does that mean for a kid just out of school and without the benefit of the largest Linux-podcast in the world to piggy-back on?