Selling Code

[boytiger]

Hello - I am currently setting up a market place to for programmers to buy and sell their code. Looking at the range of products under the VB umbrella I would be interested in some feedback on which VB products should be used.

I have been a bit vague about the site I mention above as this is a fact finding post not a bit of self promotion.

Thanks,

BT

[Hack]

Moved

What do you mean by "which VB products should be used."?

[RobDog888]

With all due respect, why would anyone want to buy code when there is so much of it on the internet for free, like here at this site?

Maybe it would be better to sell user controls or programs you have written?

[boytiger]

Hi Hack,

What I mean by that is that within the site there will obvioulsy different categories, so as experienced VB programmers would you advise to have a VB.net category only or seperate category for each of the VB versions?

Thanks,

[boytiger]

With all due respect, why would anyone want to buy code when there is so much of it on the internet for free, like here at this site?

Maybe it would be better to sell user controls or programs you have written?

Trading full programmes and user controls is definetley something I would like to do, as a programmer though would you prefer to buy a bare bones bit of source code that you can go and mod or something which does the job but you can not mod?

[RobDog888]

Probably the control if it also comes with the source would be very beneficial as would the user be licensed to make tweaks and code changes?

[boytiger]

Probably the control if it also comes with the cource would be very beneficial as would the user be licensed to make tweaks and code changes?

Yes, once the code has been bought the user would then be licensed to make any changes to suit there requirements.

[RobDog888]

For ease of use I would like to have the control precompiled but to validate it does what its supossed to having the source is great. Then if I can customize it to fit whatever situation I have and still be in accordance with the licensing is even better.

The user may like to quickly test out the control in a test app instead of loading all the code etc. Think of it as selling usercontrols with a bonus of getting the source for free type deal.

[boytiger]

For ease of use I would like to have the control precompiled but to validate it does what its supossed to having the source is great. Then if I can customize it to fit whatever situation I have and still be in accordance with the licensing is even better.

The user may like to quickly test out the control in a test app instead of loading all the code etc. Think of it as selling usercontrols with a bonus of getting the source for free type deal.

You sound like you have some you'd like to sell there, why not pm me?

[Hack]

Yes, once the code has been bought the user would then be licensed to make any changes to suit there requirements.

Once the code has been bought it would be owned by the user. What would they need a license for?

[boytiger]

Once the code has been bought it would be owned by the user. What would they need a license for?

They would need a licence to ensure that the original author does not decide that they can no longer use the code.

[RobDog888]

Maybe use an opensource GNU license. Require them to submit their changes so in case you want to update the source with any fixes or improvements.

[Hack]

They would need a licence to ensure that the original author does not decide that they can no longer use the code.

If they are not buying it from the original author, who are they buying it from?

[Hack]

Wouldn't this imply the code is being sold by the author?

Hello - I am currently setting up a market place to for programmers to buy and sell their code.

[Slaine]

... as a programmer though would you prefer to buy a bare bones bit of source code that you can go and mod or something which does the job but you can not mod?

As a commercial developer I can tell you that I would much rather pay for and use a precompiled control/module that I didn't have the source to.

Why? Because I have enough problems changing and fixing my own code base. If I have bought in a solution then it is up to the original author to fix any problems with it - not me.

The biggest market for 'source' products is the hobbiest - who usually is reluctant to pay for anything.

I wish you the best of luck though.

[boytiger]

As a commercial developer I can tell you that I would much rather pay for and use a precompiled control/module that I didn't have the source to.

Why? Because I have enough problems changing and fixing my own code base. If I have bought in a solution then it is up to the original author to fix any problems with it - not me.

The biggest market for 'source' products is the hobbiest - who usually is reluctant to pay for anything.

I wish you the best of luck though.

Hi - Thanks for your comments, I think I will definetely explore the idea of selling precompiled with source code, so maybe something for everyone.

Thanks again.

[Hack]

User controls that go beyond what native VB does are always handy.

You could have one price for the control itself, and another if you wanted the control and its source.

[RobDog888]

Yes, the source would have to go along as a secondary optional purchase feature since they could always just compile the user control if they had the source.

[boytiger]

Yes, the source would have to go along as a secondary optional purchase feature since they could always just compile the user control if they had the source.

That's a good option for me too look at, what as programmers are the type of components you would look for if you were in the situation of needing/wanting to buy components?

[Hack]

Controls that are more intutitive to use and less buggy, such as:

A Treeview
A ListView
A more sophisticated tabbed dialog control

[RobDog888]

You could create a section for "Requests" on your site.

[litlewiki]

Maybe use an opensource GNU license. Require them to submit their changes so in case you want to update the source with any fixes or improvements.

Such a license wherein the developer is asked to submit their code back to the owner will not be accepted by the OSI as it is too restrictive(any open source GPL license has to go through a screening process) because you(the creator) will get strong resistance against anything that requires the copyright in the changes to be assigned to you unless your free software credentials are impeccable (like the FSF or GNU) or say you have a very strong position (Mozilla/Canonical). This becomes obvious if there is any reason to believe that you will commercially exploit the contributed changes.

Once the code has been bought it would be owned by the user. What would they need a license for?

It depends upon the vendor who is selling this , as they won't be selling the source code and only the source code. They will be either selling it on some condition,
medium or selling a licence to download it.
For Open Source, they would also have to be selling the right to copy and redistribute it without further payment to them, and without restrictions on the recipient.You will generally only get the copyright, and therefore unrestricted use if the software was developed specifically for you.

[Hack]

Another possibility for controls:

A good, easy to use, Charting control