Monday 22 September 2008 16:15
You might not have realized it, but software is usually sold on the net in a different way to most other products. Sites like CNET's download.com, Tucows and indeed Tech-Pro.net are not software resellers. We are affiliates. When you purchase a product from one of our sites, we don't actually take your money. Instead, you are referred to the software developer's e-commerce partner, which processes the order, delivers the product or license key, and pays the referring site a commission for generating the sale. Unfortunately, many independent software vendors (ISVs) don't play fair by their affiliates. Read more...
Software no trackbacks § ¶
Thursday 04 September 2008 13:03
People often claim that one of the good things about GNU Linux is that it is free software. Free as in "free speech", not "free beer." But free software usually turns out to be free as in beer as well, because the fact is that if you make the source code freely available, you can't stop people from compiling free copies of your product so they can avoid paying for it. This means that it's hard to make a living from free software, which discourages professional developers from getting involved. In my opinion that is preventing Linux from becoming a viable alternative to Microsoft's Windows. Read more...
Software no trackbacks § ¶
Friday 29 August 2008 15:37
Why do so many professional software developers use InstallShield to create their application installers? This is not a rhetorical question. I'd really like to know. From my years answering the reader help pages in PC Advisor magazine - and some personal experience of my own - I know that InstallShield installs and uninstalls often go wrong, sometimes causing horrendous problems for the user. Yet I have never come across a single problem with installers created using the free setup builder Inno Setup. Read more...
Software no trackbacks § ¶
Thursday 21 August 2008 11:21
For years, independent software vendors (ISVs) have promoted their products by submitting details to hundreds of so-called "download sites" - searchable directories of software like our own Tech-Pro Downloads. To simplify this repetitive task, the Association of Shareware Professionals developed a file called the Portable Application Description, or PAD file, an XML file that many download sites know how to read. Product listings can be submitted to these sites just by entering the PAD file URL. Unfortunately, Google's efforts to eliminate Web spam, the "duplicate content filter", has made this approach ineffectual, as I accidentally proved to myself recently. Perhaps it's time to dump the PAD file? Read more...
Software no trackbacks § ¶
Tuesday 29 April 2008 09:45
As regular readers of this blog know, a few months ago we switched to using Linux on our office systems. We're happy with the relative immunity to viruses and malware, and with not having eventually to upgrade to the appalling Windows Vista, but almost daily I find examples of how the Linux environment is under-developed or plain amateurish compared to Windows. Geeks who trumpet that Linux is superior to Windows just don't live in the real world. It's all too easy to see how many people who are tempted into trying Linux on their desktop eventually give up in frustration and go back to Windows. Read more...
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Friday 25 April 2008 11:09
There are times when I wish I had never started Tech-Pro Downloads. It's based on a commercial script that came with a database from the RegNow software distributor and receives updates from it, as well as manual submissions. But removing the dross and the spam from Chinese software developers with their third rate clones of DVD rippers and video converters takes a lot of time and is extremely tedious and boring, and editing the descriptions of the products that remain takes even more time that sometimes seems not worth the effort. But every now and then it brings to my attention a product that is really worth promoting, such as Live File Backup. Read more...
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Thursday 27 March 2008 10:51
I recently had an exchange of emails with the developer of a Linux program, in which I happened to mention that I was using a Xandros Linux distribution. Instead of a solution, I received several paragraphs including quotes from Wikipedia informing me that because Xandros had signed a patent deal with Microsoft, it would not be allowed to distribute software released under the GPL v3, and that "this would be a real show stopper for anyone trying to use the eeePC and
Xandros for serious Linux applications." Read more...
Software no trackbacks § ¶
Wednesday 19 March 2008 13:08
Eric Johnson, developer of Chef Recipe Software, writes in his blog that he has dumped payment processor SWREG and switched to PayPal and Google Checkout to take payments for his software. He found that SWREG was trying to sell something unrelated while taking payment for his product. To a customer, it would look as if Eric was selling this other product, which he was understandably unhappy about. Read more...
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