The Art of Software

A lot goes into a software, much more than a few lines of code. Behind most software projects is a plan, some are loose collections of thoughts, some are made of reams of paper, created by committee. To go from a rough idea to a product takes a lot of work; sure there is some code, perhaps a database or two, and a lot of thought (hopefully) But what if you want someone to use it? Well there is marketing, be it viral or traditional. Perhaps a business plan. Don’t forget support, so probably some documentation here and there with a support plan: community does it for you, you do it via email, you hire “Support Engineers”, etc. Of course if you want someone to use your software and make some money that brings up yet even more to think about: do you get a merchant account, go with PayPal, perhaps ad supported. What about free trials, shareware, and crippleware. What if your users hate it! How will you handle feedback? Perhaps a blog? Some call it an art form.