I have created a VB6 application and want to sell it to the world

[batman321]

Hi there,

I have created a VB6 program called "Client Master". Basically the user enters their customer's names, address, ph, email etc and this gets saved into a Access database file. The user can retrieve this information later by using the 'search database' feature. All data saved can be updated by the user. The user can add jpegs and my database links to MS word mail merge.

My question is: What's the best way to sell my software online? I have read heaps of articles with software tips etc. Just wondered if anyone had any ideas on this.

[FredKrugar]

would be IMPOSSIBLE for you to sell it. Server will be easily exploited,etc

[dee-u]

Have a look at this.

[batman321]

I could charge the consumer $20 for unlimited use and then they are issued with an activation code. Perhaps a 30- day trial but then they will copy/hack it and won't buy it. Need safe guard.

[Goaty]

so you have it so complex that they will have to register online so the same generated code cant be used twice? Sounds interesting

[Jim Davis]

Well, i'm not sure your app will be cracked soon. The thing is, doing the crack may takes longer, than writing the whole app in vb6 (for such a well experienced programmer). Also, a few percent of users have any kind of access to cracked applications, but most of them are ready to pay for your software. Because your app will costs for $20, that is the price of 10 pcs of hamburger, that doesn't costs that much.

[batman321]

I'm happy if I sell 50% of my software and the other half is pirated and I don't make any money. I want to sell my software because it will be of use to some people. I'm open minded too, so everyone's ideas/comments are appreciated.

[Jim Davis]

http://www.bitsum.com/pecompact.php

PeCompact will protect your executable, against reverese engineering. Well, as long as it loaded into memory, it is vurnable again, but it may cause some headaches to wannabe crackers.

The antidebug plugin for pecompact is quite expensive

[batman321]

What about dissatisfied customers? Say someone uses my program and they think I'm liable or my program caused some error to their system etc. The best I can offer is advice. VB6 applications seem stable and safe so I hope there are no problems down the line.

[dee-u]

You could make it donation-based if you want.

[Jim Davis]

The licence agreement is for handling such problems. As long as the customer bought your software, he/she is agreed the licence text. Theres no more problems.
However, software support is for handling the malfunctions of your app.

You can also offer a guarantee to your software, or a ? day money-back (that is also a known type of guarantee)

[batman321]

Donation based sounds like a great idea but will my software be profitable? Is it proven that there will be many donations? what if i get none?

[Jim Davis]

Theres no guarantee that you get any donations, of course

[batman321]

The global economy has hit a recession, may make donations more scarce.

[FredKrugar]

Wait can you explain this more? So basically it is a program that adds files to a storage folder that can be accessed from anywhere? I don't understand....

[batman321]

Hi there,

My software program is called 'Client Master". It was designed for the real estate industry but can also be used for any industry. It doesn't work with the internet and the database file (access .mdb file)is stored on the customer's pc, not a server or anything like that.

Client Master stores customer names, addresses, ph numbers, emails etc in a database which can be edited/viewed later on (i.e. later you can search for a contact's name and retrieve their ph number or address). You can add an additional record (i.e. partner, details) and up to 6 images per record. It is designed to be 'utility' software.

Client Master divides the customer database into 3 different groups:
1. 'Serious' buyers
2. 'Currently looking' buyers
3. 'Buy in the future' buyers

The customers in the 'serious buyer' list are my user's priority clients. They need to be displayed in a simple and informative way because they are more likely to purchase soon than the other groups of customers.

Client Master has a "letter creation/mail merge" feature. Basically you click this button, and all customer and partner names and address are loaded into a MS Word letter template (i.e. customer and partner's names and address appear at the top of every letter). This is ideal for sending letters, publications to customer's. Saves time writing out letters and the letter template can be edited in any way (i.e. tone, letter layout, content etc)

Client Master has a lot of 'save' features. If you forget to save your record, Client Master reminds you.

Client Master has a help section. Basically it's 'textual' help, no fancy graphics.

Client Master has a login/password screen.

[FredKrugar]

ok thank you.

[Hack]

Moved To General Developer

[KiwiDexter]

A few problems

- vb is outdated.

- there's any number of free apps that do the exact same thing.

- clients want a sales solution targeted to their industry not a general one that doesn't match the way they do business.

Still good luck.

[Jim Davis]

@KiwiDexter: I have never used such an app, moreover i'm doing things for myself. But if ever anyone ask me for a contact management app, i would recommend his stuff, because i have heard about it, right here.

This is the problem most of the applications. They cant sell their stuff, because of lack of promotions. But this time, this project got a small but working pr. At least, on me.

Most of these free apps you are talking about, have no product support, theres no any help included, and doing things in an absolutely poor and common, limited way.

- clients want a sales solution targeted to their industry not a general one that doesn't match the way they do business.

Yes thats true. But, in case they ever try/use this application, they will start to contacting its developer, to make a customized application, that will fit their needs. So, this application could be work as a bone for a bigger project, and promotes the developer.

[KiwiDexter]

@KiwiDexter: I have never used such an app, moreover i'm doing things for myself. But if ever anyone ask me for a contact management app, i would recommend his stuff, because i have heard about it, right here.

This is the problem most of the applications. They cant sell their stuff, because of lack of promotions. But this time, this project got a small but working pr. At least, on me.

Most of these free apps you are talking about, have no product support, theres no any help included, and doing things in an absolutely poor and common, limited way.



Yes thats true. But, in case they ever try/use this application, they will start to contacting its developer, to make a customized application, that will fit their needs. So, this application could be work as a bone for a bigger project, and promotes the developer.

Jim have you ever worked in software solution sales? A client, no matter the size of the organisation, will get a number of solutions on the table and will generally go with the one that meets the majority of their requirements, taking into account TCO and requirements.

For any single software product there are literally dozens of differing versions ranging from free open source to high scale commercial. A client contact system is pretty much standard for any commercial package, we added one to our Sales System (written for the Tile & Paving Industry) which took two of us about a day to knock up. Requirement there was address etc details for Tradies.

Three golden rules to new software ventures

1. Target a market that is perhaps not overly catered for, most markets will already have options.

2. Value end for your potential clients, why should they buy your package over the three or four others they are no doubt evaluating.

3. Use a current technology, in this case .net, as your potential clients will certainly give preference to a package written on a current platform not one that is no longer supported.

And if wondering yes we are currently writing an application for a specific market in asp.net and hope to be to market sometime in 2010.

[Nightwalker83]

I could charge the consumer $20 for unlimited use and then they are issued with an activation code. Perhaps a 30- day trial but then they will copy/hack it and won't buy it. Need safe guard.

What? You are going to charge the consumer $20 for the 30 day trial? If that's the case I doubt people will buy your software.

[batman321]

Trial period will be free of course. Trial copy with have limitations, to use software without limitations, must pay $20.

[jmsrickland]

Don't like it!

If I have some interest in a software product I want to try it out before I buy it. I want my trial version to be full-featured without any limitations whatsoever otherwise I will not consider the product at all. Give me a 30-day trial, a 20-day trial, a 10-day-trial but make it total and complete so I can give it a full and complete evaluation. Anything less than that I won't even bother with it.

[batman321]

That's what I want to hear! What the customer wants! That's what I will do. Everyone's happy

[Nightwalker83]

Don't like it!

If I have some interest in a software product I want to try it out before I buy it. I want my trial version to be full-featured without any limitations whatsoever otherwise I will not consider the product at all. Give me a 30-day trial, a 20-day trial, a 10-day-trial but make it total and complete so I can give it a full and complete evaluation. Anything less than that I won't even bother with it.

Same here! The consumer is being conned big time if they get trial software that only has certain features available in the full version.

[FredKrugar]

That is what the customer wants but for you it would be a better idea if you gave all the features but limit them so they can't just keep on reinstalling after the period is up or be able to hack it to remove the time limit. You know how you can rent videos from itunes? Well they already figured out how to remove the time limit. Think on that... But this is only my opinion

[Nightwalker83]

That is what the customer wants but for you it would be a better idea if you gave all the features but limit them so they can't just keep on reinstalling after the period is up or be able to hack it to remove the time limit. You know how you can rent videos from itunes? Well they already figured out how to remove the time limit. Think on that... But this is only my opinion

However, the registry keeps a record of how many days are left on the trial, this even works if you uninstall then reinstall some software. I have tried this before and that is what happened fore me.

[FredKrugar]

i am sure you can delete keys in the registry. Problem is finding them (hint regedit.exe)

[Jim Davis]

@KiwiDexter you got the point, thats what i'm talking about. The product will promote the developer. Because theres no any product on the market that will 100% fit all the needs of all the customers, but contacting to the developer can give them a 100% solution, by customizing the application. Ok, it is for special fee, because of the customization will gives the solution only to one company. Some company will try to use 2 or more applications to get the same results, but the bigger companies that have no private developer team, will hire the developer(s) to customize their own application.

-----

Storing values in registry will not protect you, since all the resources can be modified anytime. There was also a thread in VB6 we are talking about how to protect an application against attack, and for the final lines we figured out theres still no good solution. An USB Dogle can be a solution for $200+ applications, but its a small application you got there. Not to mention, there are solutions to emulate dongles, but for an average price application, nobody will develope such an attack, or will do it for private usage (that will never share on internet)

[batman321]

Client Master images removed.

[batman321]

Client Master images removed.

[KiwiDexter]

@KiwiDexter you got the point, thats what i'm talking about. The product will promote the developer. Because theres no any product on the market that will 100% fit all the needs of all the customers, but contacting to the developer can give them a 100% solution, by customizing the application. Ok, it is for special fee, because of the customization will gives the solution only to one company. Some company will try to use 2 or more applications to get the same results, but the bigger companies that have no private developer team, will hire the developer(s) to customize their own application.

Jim you are missing my point. If a commercial application only does 80% of what I require then I'm going to keep looking for a solution rather than pay the developer to change it to meet my requirements. Generally someone will be willing to change their baseline application if the changes can be seen to have value to the actual product. In short I'm not going to pay for someone to develop their product, to possibly benefit my competitors.

As stated previously there are a ton of Client Management/Client Retention/and Client Analysis packages already at market from various vendors ranging from IBM to your corner shop two person outfits. Why should I look at a new product, written in no longer supported vb6, when there are tried products out there with substantial support resources? In simply terms, what's the catch that would make me buy this product?

[Jim Davis]

Jim you are missing my point. If a commercial application only does 80% of what I require then I'm going to keep looking for a solution rather than pay the developer to change it to meet my requirements. Generally someone will be willing to change their baseline application if the changes can be seen to have value to the actual product. In short I'm not going to pay for someone to develop their product, to possibly benefit my competitors.

Yes you dont (i also dont ask developers for private builds of their software), but companies does. So i'm not talking about private persons. What i'm talking about, web-application development, for example. But there are also offline (or secure/private networking) apps, that companies releasing for their product, you can find out "hmm i know this frame", because they are licencing an application that is modified for their needs. Thats what i'm talking about.

[andresph]

I also want to sell my VB6/Access App on the Internet but I am worry on the technical details on how would it run from Win98 to Win7 machines because it could not run on some earlier Windows versions if it doesnt have the mdactype component installed needed by the Jet OLEDB 4.0, mainly if the machine doesnt have any MS Office version installed. Lately I am compiling my VBasic Apps using Visual Studio Installer 1.1 and it runs on all Windows version from Win98 up to Win7 (32/64x), and my developing machine now has Win7/64x(but have also compiled on WinVista and Win7/32x). For installing my App the buyer would have to download the MSI installer, the Access mdb file, the ICO and RPT files, and if necessary the mdactype2.0 installer for older Windows, so is there any Tool/App that could make it automatically ? I suppouse that I would have the same problems if I migrate my VBasic 6 App to the free C#/SQL/Express/2005 solution or to Java/MySQL. I am evaluating both. Thanks.

[baja_yu]

andresph, welcome to the forum!

A tip for the future, it is a general policy here to not bump old threads like this one which has been dead for almost two years. Or hijack (post your own questions) in threads started by other members.

Generally, if you want to comment or thank someone for a useful post, you should use the rating system to show your approval. On the left side, for every post there is a Rate this post link.
If you have a question that is similar to another thread, create a new topic/thread for it, and post a link to the other thread.