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Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

pimosa.app

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Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#121
Please offer a non-microsoft-store installer for Windows. I hate using the windows store. I can back up an exe or msi installer, for example. Windows store? Nope. You need an internet connection and need to be signed in. So if the app gets removed from the store later... welp. You're out of luck. No more lifetime license.

Shipping an MSI or EXE will help with people who want to use it on WINE as well.

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#122
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One time purchase + annual maintenance fee is a pretty common pricing model.

If the product stops working if you don’t pay the maintenance fee then it’s a subscription model with an initial down-payment. Car maintenance doesn’t fall into the annual fee model, as much as manufacturers and dealers would like, you don’t have to use them for periodic repairs or servicing. Car features that require yearly renewals (navigation and the like) would be subscriptions with a one-time free trial. One tim…

I think you're misunderstanding the above comment. Buying a perpetual license for a particular version (or set of versions), then in the future optionally paying a fee for a new major version not covered by that license is extremely common and imo the most fair model for both creator and customer. If you never buy an upgrade or newer version, the version you own continues to work the same way it always has. You just don't get the newest updates for free.

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#124
The website doesn't even mention FFmpeg which is the open source tool that does all the heavy work. Building a user-friendly GUI is a valuable work in itself (congrats on that, sincerely), but it's not okay to hide the open source tool that does all the work in the background.

It should at least be visible in the FAQ that the open source FFmpeg tool is used by the app, with an appropriate link to FFmpeg's website. The tool could be described from the start as a "User-friendly FFmpeg front-end" (but I would understand that this may not speak to its target audience, hence the idea of putting the information way down the page in the FAQ or even the footer, but at least don't hide it).

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#126
post #124

The website doesn't even mention FFmpeg which is the open source tool that does all the heavy work. Building a user-friendly GUI is a valuable work in itself (congrats on that, sincerely), but it's not okay to hide the open source tool that does all the work in the background. It should at least be visible in the FAQ that the open source FFmpeg tool is used by the app, with an appropriate link to FFmpeg's website. Th…

In general I agree, it gives me a sense of wholesomeness when companies open up about this and give credit to the authors of the libraries that their product contains. Credits.md somewhere is sufficient for that to me.

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#127
While you are not too far into selling - a word of advice.

Switch to offering a year of free updates and charge a small fee after that.

Trust me. You will coverge to this scheme sooner or later, so do it now.

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Standalone Windows installer is a must.

Windows Store is still a deserted wasteland and is not a default choice for the vast majority of Windows users. You are losing a ton of users over this.

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ffmpeg and other dependencies need to be acknowledged for both ethical and technical reasons. The technical reason is that your app doesn't depend on OS-supplied codecs and doesn't require installing them separately. And ethical reasons I hope are obvious.

Re: Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

#129
post #50

May I suggest not offering lifetime updates? All software that does this ends up getting around it in the end because they realize they need to get more money from existing customers to actually stay afloat. Normally by releasing the product under a slightly different name or some other sleight of hand. The model like jetbrains does with IntelliJ I think is decent. Or look at smaller software like sublime text or Arq…

Maybe I'm old school, but I won't "buy" (rent?) subscriptions for software. I expect to own it outright, at to receive at least security updates for a reasonable time period.

Well, yeah, that's what the GP is suggesting.
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