Anyone have success in the Blackberry market?
We've all heard of successes by small-time software developers on the iPhone App store. Has anyone actually had success selling applications in the Blackberry ...
business
Open source: Why or why not?
We are currently considering licensing options and releasing our app as open source is one of the options on the table, but we have some concerns about forks and a few other issues as well. If you've been involved with the licensing of a software your company has produced, what were the considerations that ultimately made you accept or r...
Must have resources for startups?
What do you consider the most valuable information sources(news, blogs, and books) for fresh (and wannabe) startup founders? ...
Tax on iPhone developer payments
Anybody know how Apple deals with taxes when they pay developers their 70%? Do they take out taxes before paying you your share or is it simply up to the developer to state the amount on their taxes? ...
What books or other resources do you suggest for bootstrapping a small software company?
I'm looking for books or other resources that would help me bootstrap a small software company. If you have any recommendations, please post it. If someone else has posted it already, please upvote your favorites. ...
Finding a partner for a for-profit software project
It's great when you have friends that have the skills necessary to do a project with you. But what if all the ones with skills are too busy, and the ones that have free time and want to work with you don't have the skills? Where would you start looking for partners? ...
What's the best way of productizing a Rails application for multiple installations?
UPDATE: It looks like DHH and the Rails Core team finally have a productization itch to scratch as it were. I'll keep this question up-to-date as and when I get to grips with the new options. It's all in a state of flux at the moment. I'd like to install a Rails app, My$uperWeb$olutionTM, on multiple servers for multiple clients. At th...
When is it good (if ever) to scrap production code and start over?
I was asked to do a code review and report on the feasibility of adding a new feature to one of our new products, one that I haven't personally worked on until now. I know it's easy to nitpick someone else's code, but I'd say it's in bad shape (while trying to be as objective as possible). Some highlights from my code review: Abuse of ...
How to become a programmer for hire?
Anyone know how to successfully start your own business as a programmer for hire. Consultant or contractor or whatever you want to call it. ...
What percentage of software developers write custom/bespoke software?
What percentage of software developers are involved in the creation of custom/bespoke software? This should include both employees of companies with in-house development shops and freelance web developers, consultants, etc. (Basically everything excluding the folks who write the "shrink-wrapped" stuff.) NOTE: This is for research purp...
Advice on starting a business: getting clients
I'm currently working as a developer at a web development agency, but I've long aspired to run my own business. I disagree with present management, and feel I could do infinitely better. I've done many business-like things before - organized events, run a very large and successful website, some publishing. I've been saving up, and have ...
What To Charge Clients For Work In Older Technologies?
There are clients of mine who are content with their VB6 and SQL 2000 applications that I have written them many moons ago. The applications run fine, require some maintenance, some bug fixes from time to time but really run OK for the client. There is no reason in their mind to upgrade (or have my rewrite these in the current version...
What language would you choose for a greenfield project?
What is the greenfield language of business choice today, assuming: no legacy applications to integrate with time to market is high priority reusability is high priority Size and maturity of developer pool is very relevant Would outsourcing be relevant in the choice? Is hardware platform (and associated cost) relevant? ...
Should I create a business for the side work / consultancy work I am getting?
I'm getting some rather serious consulting work on the side of my main job. Serious in that I'm filling out NDAs and service agreements for the small-ish company I'm being contracted by. The guy I'm getting the work from wanted to know if I had a business to associate the work/payments/contract with, and when I said no he somewhat recom...
Real-world examples of Scala applications?
Has anyone out there worked on, or know of any real-world Scala applications? There has been a lot of talk lately, and I have even gone so far as to start learning it. I'd like to know if there are any real-world indicators out there as to whether my benefit from learning scala will be purely academic, or whether this skill will be wor...
Making money with Open Source as a developer?
I'm currently a student (Applied Information Technology) and we do most of our programming in C# and Java. I was wondering how can I as a developer, make money with open source. I know there is the story of give support, or provide services, but I'm not a sysadmin and I don't like sysadmin work. Actually I would love to get my hands on s...
Programmers employing business people
Some guy with an MBA can hire a programmer or network manager to do all that incomprehensible technical stuff. Why can't I hire an MBA or two to do all that incomprehensible "people" stuff? Update : someone just posted me this. http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/DevelopmentAbstraction.html which might be another way of phrasing my ...
Moving from Employee to Business Owner smoothly
I currently work for a company, a big company. I have a contract that states that I need to ask for permission to have another job. Very standard I suppose. I'd like to start trying out some ideas for start ups. Some of them work without moving money (write a program, release it as shareware or something like that and see if people is i...
Multiple business layers
Hi Some Background : Many moons ago, i wrote a Library (SDK) which makes it possible to integrate with some 3rd party accouting software. One public class exposed by the SDK was the Customer class, which in turn collaborated with a CustomerContacts collection. These classes supports n-level undo + validation rules ect. In order to user...
Is there an easy-to-use, free or inexpensive, web-based business rules app with a GUI?
I am looking for a web-based business rules app that I can use with clients. After I get them started, the client would be able to enter new rules. Assume that the client has good Excel skills (as an example of level of tech sophistication) but has little patience for formal languages or programming. Cost: $0-$500 The resulting model...