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[jukofyork]

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Anything one guy whips out in 2 days is not worth $50.

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It was not whiped in 2 days, it took more time to get the initial version out. It does require an advanced level of tech skill to program such a thing, probably that is why there is no competitor at the moment. It is the same reason why I did put that price on it. If anyone thinks he can do better and at a lower price - I welcome all fair competition.

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Ok, so I keep quite in this thread for along time, but I think I just can't anymore... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I am in two minds on whether I should 'disprove' the claims made in the above paragraph, but in the process I will 'shoot myself in the foot' if I do...

I believe strongly in 100% free software, and you will notice their is never any intention on my behalf to try to make $ from any software. I do this for three reasons:

(1) I only tend to write stuff which helps me also, so might as well share what I have. If it only took me a couple of days "to whip it up" and I was gonna write it anyway for my own use, is it really fair I try to charge for it?
(2) More importantly, I just can't be bothered with all the hastle of supporting, marketing, etc. Plus anything that runs and is popular will be cracked sooner or later, so whats the point?
(3) If I give away the source, then somebody else can take what I wrote and possibly improve it. The improvement may also benefit me, therefore I have gained not lost by sharing it.

The claim that this requires some kind of 'advanced level of tech skill' is just plain wrong, and two man days is most definitely what it would take somebody with equivalent 'advanced level of tech skill' to do.

Can I ask if the method you use is blocked soon, have you any 'backup plan' for all the people who have paid you for this?

At least be honest to your customers or you might find the ultimate competition soon: 100% free & open-source.

What is the feeling on this type of application? I don't want to start a flame here, but do feel that the comments made were justifying of my reply, and I will stand up for my beliefs in the benefits of free software [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Juk [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[PokerAce]

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Anything one guy whips out in 2 days is not worth $50.

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It was not whiped in 2 days, it took more time to get the initial version out. It does require an advanced level of tech skill to program such a thing, probably that is why there is no competitor at the moment. It is the same reason why I did put that price on it. If anyone thinks he can do better and at a lower price - I welcome all fair competition.

Since I started selling it I worked constantly on fixing minor problems and adding various features. At the moment Party Tracker is at version 1.3 and Stars Tracker at version 1.1 and I am proud of what I achieved with them both. Upgrades were free of charge until now and I intend to keep them that way. I do offer support to the best of my abilities to any customer that has a problem with my products.

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Be careful welcoming competitors like that... [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

I'll tell you for sure that the "technical difficulty" of this task is not why you have no competition.

[jukofyork]

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I'll tell you for sure that the "technical difficulty" of this task is not why you have no competition.

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Very well put (alot better than my ramblings!) [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Juk [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[awr000]

fwiw I think it's worth the time I would've had to spend doing it myself. I think one of your reasons, the one about support headaches is a reason why $50 isn't that outrageous.

[jukofyork]

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fwiw I think it's worth the time I would've had to spend doing it myself. I think one of your reasons, the one about support headaches is a reason why $50 isn't that outrageous.

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Its not so much 'support' in the normal sense, as how am I gona feel if this method ceases to work, and I have charged for it?

I'm gona have an awful lot of angry customers who will expect me to find an alternative solution, where no alternative may exist.

I am still thinking about this carefully, but think I may very well take up the challenge offered by Mr 'PartyHandTracker'. Ok so I shoot myself in the foot, but at least I stick by what I believe in.

Whats the feelings on this, and if I do stick my neck out here am I breaking any rules? He decided to sell this, I decided I would like it to be free.

If others don't want to stick their neck out and post a follow up, please answer in the poll... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Juk [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[rvg72]

It is great that you belive in free software. I myself have released a few apps to the 2+2 community for free however there is absolutely nothing wrong with someone who takes to the time to build an application that has real value, support this application, take on the costs associated with it and expect something back in return.

Whether this application took 5 minutes to write or 5 months it is at the sole discretion of the author to attach a price that he sees fit and the market will decide if that is acceptable or not.

If you are able to write the same application and release it for free then good on you (and I do mean that) but at the same time you should respect that he has done this and there is nothing wrong with him trying to get paid a small sum for his time. Inevitably the time he spends supporting it will be much longer than the time he spent building it.

Just my 2 cents as a fellow software developer,

rvg

[jukofyork]

I not sure how many people see this or know about this thread, and so far the votes have been 5:1 for (plus I just discussed this with a few people and they agree this is a good idea, so decision made).

Therefore I have decided to release what I have, and it is now in a much more prominent place with a thread of its own (see here).

And before somebody asks, no I didn't just write this in 3 hours (I have had this for some time...), but FYI it did take alot less than two man days! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

If possible can questions about FreePHG be aimed at the main thread rather than here, as this will make it easier for everybody to follow.... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Juk [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[jukofyork]

I agree that people should be able to make $ from their software if they so wish, and that the efficient market hypothesis should be the deciding factor on pricing: I have seen poker software selling for 1/2 of this which have obviously had many 100's of man hours going into them, and these are the projects I would like to see succeed, and would happily buy myself. These would be a major bit of software engineering for anybody to undertake.

But the main point (which finally made me decide to enter the discussion in this thread) is that if somebody else can do this very easily, their is no real reason to charge so much for it and the author can now decide if this was the best pricing policy.

I agree the support will be a hastle, but I am prepared to support the stuff I do as best as I can; simply because it is in my nature to be helpful. It does eat into my time that I could be playing poker or doing other stuff, but the fact I charge nothing means that nobody can say I don't do what is expected, and where possible I always give away the source for the hope that somebody else may improve and re-share back with me, thus saving me the effort and leaving me to do other stuff. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

But for this particular application, the main reason I think nobody else would take this project on is simply for fear of repercussions (as this is clearly a 'grey' area to work on), but if nobody ever stands up then the current pricing situation would continue unchecked... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Juk [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[rvg72]

For the people using this, what is your success with it? I have been checking out the trial which logs to a text box window and just 1-tabling it seems to stop recording info for about 25% of the games at some point after the flop. Next hand it is fine again but this seems odd.

The author says that when 10 tabling, 97% are recorded properly for him.

Could someone using this let me know their experience with it. For $50 I want to make sure that it works at least 95% of the time.

Thanks,

rvg