An idea.....

I just thought of an idea for a shareware program i could make.

it is a text editor kind of program, that views and makes *.NFO files,
it is fully cutomizeable, you can have the forecolor/backcolor of the text box any color. and the interface is user friendly.. and I will soon add more features...
and also for making the NFO files, there will be a big chart of all the characters you can use.

how much do you think people will pay for this?
obviously under $30, probably under $10, but I need some opinions..
as soon as i finish the UI I will post a screen shot.


Thanks,
Dennis Wrenn

What's a NFO file for?

*Feels like he's gonna look kinda dumb*

NFO files usually come with warez and stuff,
they are made using the Terminal font, notepad doesnt support that, so it looks crappy in notepad, and I am just making something that views those files so you can see how they were meant to be seen,

also there is a form on my program that has all of the characters of the Terminal font, so you can easily make your own cool NFO design :)

HELLO!!!

I need some opinions before I spend alot of time getting this thing to work good and look good.......


Thanks,

Dennis Wrenn

1. Notepad supports the Terminal font

2. I woudn't pay anything for such a program

And btw: I coded the same thing some months ago, a better Notepad which also supports formatted text in RTF format ;)

I didnt mean it that way,
I meant that normally a person is not going to change the font on Notepad to Terminal, even if they were willing to change the font, they probably wouldnt know which font to change it to(it took me a while to figure out it was terminal).


alright,
let me refrase the question,


if you _WERE NOT_ a programmer, and _DID NOT_ know how to make this yourself, would you pay for it??

I don't think so... People don't care that much about nfo files, I mean you get the idea if you open it in notepad (You can read the text, that is what counts).

Also I think this program's too small to pay for, ie. there are tools to compress MP3s out there, or good paint programs, all for free..


(But you can always give it a try ;))

We have a series of utilities written in vb, which we developed for various projects, and then thought gee we should package and sell them.

Ok things like Data Export from Universe to Excel, including full formatting etc. Word Document build etc etc etc.

We charge from $120 to $500 for a utility, but these also include Universe and/or Progress routines, and are focused on a specialised market.

If you are going to have your "Notepad" on your site for download, and are going to run as freeware, then go do it, charge $25 which we have paid in the past for different things downloaded from the net. Probably allow download of a version with a number of options dimmed which can only be un-dimmed with a registration key and payment.

Fox

Linux is free, and that's an entire operating system. Does it matter that there are more complex and useful programs out there for free. If Dennis's program resolves an issue some one is facing they will pay for it. We have sold products that take a few weeks to develop for thousands, because that was what it was worth to the end user.

Dennis

Go for it big fella. Help Mama buy a bigger oven for that road kill boy:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D Seriously, good effort, if you can sell some copies do it!

Well, as I said People don't care that much about nfo files (or at least I think so), so they won't pay for such a program. Sure Dennis should try to sell his program, but he asked for my opinion and that's what I told him.

I thought about it, and I think it is too small to sell as a single app(I am gonna sell this off of Ebay BTW), I am gonna bundle in an HTML editor I am making, a few other text editors... maybe an image editor(if I can figure out how to make one :p), and maybe a few small crappy Vb games.


and Fox, I do know a few people who were quite pissed that they couldnt see what was intended to be seen on the NFO file.


Thanks for all your opinions, and more are welcome :D

Jethro,

that does sound mighty tempting, but I think I am gonna buy some stuff for my computer, like maybe C++ builder, or Delphi, or something :D... or maybe a sony mavica digital camera :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Have never heard of them before myself, so as l stated don't know what the market is.

Whether people will pay for a Notepad that reads *.nfo format would depend on the requirement for reading it.

Dennis needs to ask himself, will some one think that having a utility to read *.nfo is worth $20 or so. That is called perceived value We all know that once you cover development costs, software runs at about 98.5% profit per unit less fixed and variable business costs. But to some one who has a crushing need to read *.nfo files the $20 dollars will be money well spent.

Used to write some Apple freeware apps in my student days and made a few dollars from it, and for each app there was a simple question; Will some one pay me money for what my app does. From there, in terms of free ware, you have to set a price that people will pay, too high a price and no one's going to pay it.

Check out

http://www.stephenking.com to see a real extreme version of this in action.

If Dennis believes people require his app's functionality then he should develop and market it. Personally l have never heard of *.nfo files so l wouldn't purchase it Yet l paid a guy $30 for a gif editor that resolved an issue l was having. Horses for courses.

[Edited by Jethro on 07-30-2000 at 11:27 PM]

I think Dennis should remember that most NFO files come with warez, and people who download Warez might not be the most likely to pay for a program.

well, like I said, it is going to be bundled with a bunch of other apps, so whether they like it or not they are getting the NFO viewer :D

well if they dont like it they can just not buy the package, but... ummm.... damnit.. forgot what I was gonna say....


are NFO files ONLY with warez?
I have never seen them any place else, has anybody here seen them with something besides warez??

I still don't wuite get what NFO files are for. Why don't they just use plain text? And how do they write them if there isn't another free NFO editor available, unless they wrote one themselves?

I don't really do warez, I'm more of a hardcopy piracy person :D Maybe that's why I've never come across them.

Code:

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there, that was pasted directly from an NFO file,
open up notepad, and use the Terminal Font, and you will see a cool design

oh, to answer your question, people use NFO files to look

|< 3 \/\/ 1 d0oD (cool dude)

Yeah I've seen plenty of that way of talking before. I played Ultima Online for over a year and the amount of 'dewds' is amazing.

I |2oX3d uR 4zZ nU|3iE !! If you can read that then you have played too much UO.

I rock you are _____ newbie