On the ASP and Shareware

When I started out on my programming career, I collected software. Some of it was freeware, some shareware. Having heard of the ASP through word-of-mouth on BBSes, its reputation at the time was enough for me to prefer to get software which sported the ASP logo. This was its member’s greatest asset at the time. Being a member of the ASP told potential customers that the software was held to higher standards than the rest of the bunch; that it could be trusted. I knew then that when I got my shareware business going, I would aspire to ASP standards.

Fast forward fifteen or so years. I now have my shareware business. But the world has changed. The ASP logo on a piece of software still meant quality, but there was so much else available on the web which was of good quality from big companies with great reputations which had adopted the try-before-you-buy model that the presence of an ASP logo was no longer a deciding factor in the purchase of shareware. Not to mention that the high standards of ASP had been diluted to include feature-crippled software, software which timed-out and other practices which were frowned upon by the original ASP. But there was still enough shine on the old girl even if she was tarnished by age that I decided to join.

It was the memory of the old ASP that enticed me to join. It had been a dream of mine from the beginning and I still looked at ASP membership through a rose-tinted monitor. In truth, I could see no marketing advantage to being a member: I doubt that very many people even know that ASP stands for other than Active Server Pages. And then I discovered the newsgroups. The value of membership was no longer a message to potential customers that my software adhered to higher standards. It now provided valuable advice through its newsgroups and information on marketing and writing software through the newsletter and articles on the website. But I never would have known that had I not still seen the ASP as she was: a mark of sterling standards which proclaimed that here was software of a higher quality and trust.

I think that is the message the ASP must somehow shout to the world. We should write software which lives up to higher standards and be held accountable for it. The Safer Downloads program does this. And I think it should be a requirement of ASP membership that we adhere to its standards. It should not be an extra that we must pay for in addition to ASP membership. By requiring all member’s software adhere to the Safer Downloads standards, we will regain the reputation that flying the ASP banner once did.

This reputation alone would attract new members because it would give them an official method of saying to the world that here is shareware of a higher quality. The ASP logo should again be made to mean something to the world at large.

Davy Jones

Well. I have to say Davy Jones was terrific. A bit smarmy, but very entertaining nonetheless.

And, despite the title of this missive, enough about Davy Jones. On to more exciting news from StrayVison Software.

My first shareware product, cvSee is out. This is a delimited text file editor which can export delimited files as HTML, XML and many other formats. It examines the delimited file’s columns and determines the most likely type of information which each column stores. Types like numbers, dates, character strings, etc. Just go to http://www.strayvision.com and click the download button to try a fully functional trial. If you like it, it goes for only $25.95 and you can install it on as many computers as you are the primary user.

That’s the last blatent advert I’ll do on this blog. Oh, I’ll make mention of future products as they appear, but only in passing.

Up next: Investing for fun and profit.

First Shareware Product

I have been dreaming of this moment since I was a wee technician at a local computer store called Megabyte Computers. I was looking for a career change. Having been a chef for fifteen or so years, I was getting tired of smelling like grease all the time and working late hours. So I found this little PC clone shop and became friends with the owner. He taught me how to build and repair PCs and encouraged me to learn to program. So, I taught myself. And dreamed of selling shareware to throngs of adoring fans. And now my dream has come true.

I created and sold my first shareware program on 8/19/2008. Its called cvSee and it is a unique CSV file editor. You can get it at http://www.strayvision.com.

More on this subject later… I’m off with my wife to see Davey Jones (of Monkees fame).

Thank You Carbonite!

I just sat down to write another c# article. In preparing for the article I began gathering a few code files together in a separate folder for the article. As is my habit, Once the article is published, I don’t save the files I put in this temporary folder. That’s when something went terribly wrong.

Instead of deleting the temporary folder, I deleted the source folder. The Recycle Bin was of no help because I permanently removed them via shift-delete. Ah, but there sat Carbonite: silently backing up all my data for over a year now. Never a peep or complaint from her. I restored my lost files quickly and easily and the new post will be up shortly.

How to Get Wealthy in Two Simple Steps

So. How do you become wealthy? It is in theory actually very simple. There are only two rules that really matter:

• Spend less than you earn
• Maximize your earnings

Most people say that money is the root of all evil. Based on this inaccurate belief most folks seem to not care about money by spending it as if it was worth nothing. As soon as they get some cash, they trade it away on some worthless trinket – usually an upgrade of a trinket they already possess. TVs, bigger TVs (better get new glasses if you can’t see the one you have) and other similar consumer liabilities.

The Bible actually says that the love of money is the root of all evil. This changes the picture completely. If money is not the root of evil, then we can keep as much of it as we want. We don’t have to throw it away willy nilly. This leads us to the first rule: Spend less than you earn.

If you spend less than you accumulate, your cache of cash will invariably grow. For those large ticket items like 52″ plasma HDTVs, wait until you have accumulated 140% or more of the purchase price of the trinket. Then buy it. You will still be ahead in the cash department and you will only have had to wait a few months, maybe a year. By then the toy you wanted so badly will have become a better toy for the same or less money anyway. You only need a bit of self-discipline.

As for the second rule, this is where your imagination comes into play. What you want to do here is spend your money on things that will make more money. This means investment. Even if you only invest one dollar for a return of 3% that dollar will sit out there and make 3 cents for you all by itself. Over and over again. Or, better yet, don’t spend any money at all. Spend your talents and sweat. Start a small, home based business. Make custom cards. Type things up for people. I won’t go into everything you can do because the list is literally endless. Just use your God given talents to earn money.

These methods are foolproof. They work. All they require is committment from you and hard work. Yes: hard work. Unless you win the lottery or inherit from a wealthy relative, you will never get rich without hard work. This means burning the midnight oil, going to social events which are also business related (AKA networking), basically living your life as your business. No more 9 to 5. I guarantee 9 to 5ers will never become wealthy. Their heart is not in it.

It makes no difference how much money you have. Anyone can become rich. The difference between being rich and being wealthy is that, to be rich, all you need is a lot of money. To be wealthy, all you need is to manage well the money you do have.

Now that you don’t have to spend thousands on some seminar, go get wealthy!

A Man and a Boat

A Man built a boat. He told the people on the boat “Do not pull the plug in the bottom of the boat. If you do, the boat will sink and you will die.”

They pulled the plug. Up through the hole came the water. Folks started to drown.

So, the Man said to them, “I will jump in the water and let you walk on my drowning body to the safety of My other boat. All you have to do is believe that I will support you as you walk over.”

Some, overcome by fear, refused to believe that He could support them. Others, believing that they could fix the boat, refused to believe they needed the Man to save them. These people drowned while trying to fix the leak. Others, sat drinking at the bar in the stern of the boat, and thought, “I’m having too much fun. There’s no need to panic just yet: see, the bow is just starting to go under. It will take a long time for the stern to sink.”

But some of the people believed the Man and crossed over His body to the safe boat. Each of these groups made a decision of their own free will. What will your choice be?

My Collectable List

My wife once asked me to narrow down the list of cars I want.
So, honey… the following cars are on my “to get” list. Remember, Christmas is coming 😉

• 
  1958 Porsche Speedster
• 
  1967 Pontiac Firebird – Convertible
• 
  Mercedes SL55 AMG
• 
  Maserati GranSport Spyder
• 
  BMW Z3 (I don’t like the Z4)