Indie Software Dev

[Bruno Girin]

On Fri, 2010-03-05 at 15:06 -0700, Charlie Kravetz wrote:
> On Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:43:40 -0600
> Jon Buys <jonbuys at me.com> wrote:
> 
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I posted this on the Ubuntu Forums, and didn't get a whole lot of feedback, so I thought I'd try this mailing list.  
> > 
> > I'm launching a commercial software business. I'm targeting the Mac right now, but I am curious to find out how this would be received by the Linux community. I have an ongoing conversation with a friend of mine about this, and I think that the free and open culture surrounding Linux would mean that there is no market for an indie dev to go after. He thinks that the market is here, am I wrong?
> > 
> > Would anyone buy a $20 app on Linux?
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > 
> > Jon
> > 
> > 
> 
> That depends on the application and perceived value. People will buy
> applications that are better than what is in the free stack.

As Charlie says, it completely depends on the application and if it's
better than the free equivalents or fills a need that is not covered by
free software, why not? One area where this can and has worked is with
games, as demonstrated by 2D Boy and their World of Goo game [1]. One
major advantage of games is that they don't have to integrate flawlessly
into the user's desktop experience as they tend to be full screen and
have their own UI.

On the other hand, if your software is desktop software, it may be more
difficult to make a Linux version profitable because you will spend a
lot of time making it play well with different desktop environments. And
if integration is less than perfect, users may not want to pay for it.
What will also be very important is how you price it: it needs to be low
enough that it can be an impulse buy but high enough that you make a
profit. $20 is a price that most people would be ready to pay on a whim
for an app that actually solves a problem they have but would it be
enough for you to break even? How many copies would you need to sell? If
the answer is "not a lot" then is the app good enough to get people to
buy it, even at a low price?

So to answer your question, people would definitely buy a $20 app on
Linux if they felt it's good enough. However, Linux users are a lot more
savvy than Windows or Mac users about open source and free alternatives
so the competition may be harder. On the other hand, if the app is
really good, news will go round and people will buy it. Also, I'm sure
Linux users will appreciate an indie software outfit that provides Linux
versions of their software.

[1] http://2dboy.com/

My $0.02

Bruno