C#, .NET and Shareware?

[cbmeeks]

Sorry for the cross-post but I didn't know which group would be
better.....anyway:

I have a small app that I would like to release soon. It was written
in C# and .NET 2 (using things
like DataSets, etc).

I've literally got less than a month into development and I'm almost
done. I don't expect to retire based on this app but it would be nice
to make a little money.

Anyway, my question is was my choice in programming platform a mistake?

For my day job, I code in C#/.NET all day long so it was just a natural
instinct to use that platform.

If I don't make any money off this project then it wouldn't be a huge
deal but I plan on starting a bigger project soon (to try and make some
real money).

Any suggestions? I do have a background in C++ but not with GUI apps.
Mostly gaming apps.

I know this is a pro-C# group (and I am pro C#) but I want to target
the largest audience. Do people even care about Win9X/ME any more?
Should I dig out my old Visual C++ 6.0 and start Win32 development?
BTW, this new project should be done in less than a year.

Thanks!

cbmeeks
http://www.codershangout.com

 

[Michael Nemtsev]

Hello cbmeeks,

It doestn matter what language do u use - the idea is the key.

If you find the idea that is not occupied (what is extremely hard) or take
other idea and realize it more better and usable then others then u can succeed
and can win.

I don't think that nowadays the desktop apps is the only area u need concentrate
(albeit it can be the easiest way)
I'd suggest to look at the inet services, where users all over the world
use you services and u got the profit from the commercial on your site.
smth like eBay or similiar when u provide the services to people

c> Sorry for the cross-post but I didn't know which group would be
c> better.....anyway:
c>
c> I have a small app that I would like to release soon. It was
c> written
c> in C# and .NET 2 (using things
c> like DataSets, etc).
c> I've literally got less than a month into development and I'm almost
c> done. I don't expect to retire based on this app but it would be
c> nice to make a little money.
c>
c> Anyway, my question is was my choice in programming platform a
c> mistake?
c>
c> For my day job, I code in C#/.NET all day long so it was just a
c> natural instinct to use that platform.
c>
c> If I don't make any money off this project then it wouldn't be a huge
c> deal but I plan on starting a bigger project soon (to try and make
c> some real money).
c>
c> Any suggestions? I do have a background in C++ but not with GUI
c> apps. Mostly gaming apps.
c>
c> I know this is a pro-C# group (and I am pro C#) but I want to target
c> the largest audience. Do people even care about Win9X/ME any more?
c> Should I dig out my old Visual C++ 6.0 and start Win32 development?
c> BTW, this new project should be done in less than a year.
c>
c> Thanks!
c>
c> cbmeeks
c> http://www.codershangout.com
---
WBR,
Michael Nemtsev [C# MVP] :: blog: http://spaces.live.com/laflour

"At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not
cease to be insipid." (c) Friedrich Nietzsch

 

[ssamuel]

The percentage of the general market running 95/ME is miniscule. That's
not necessarily true for *your* market, though. This where knowing your
market comes into play. For the most part, home users are on Windows
XP: a substantial portion of home users have had to reinstall their OS
because a virus ate their hard drive within the last couple years, and
most of them can't find their Windows 98 install disks. Dell hasn't
been selling anything but Windows XP to casual users for a long time
now.

Win32 development is going to give you much more speed than anything
running on .NET. I've had a Microsoft consultant yell at me for making
that statement, but no one has ever been able to justify writing a
real-time app to run on a garbage-collected runtime. But you already
know that if you're a game programmer.

There's also the issue of writing good code vs. bad code. With most
applications, if the UI is intuitive and things that need to be off the
UI thread are off the UI thread, users don't mind a tiny bit of wait.
Processors get faster, people buy more memory and bigger hard drives,
so today's wait will be shorter on tomorrow's PC. There is software
that doesn't fall into this category, e.g.: day trading, gaming, system
monitoring; once again, it's up to you to know your market and what
they're willing to bear.


HTH!

Stephan

 

[cbmeeks]

Thanks. That was helpful. My target audience will be home users. An
application that helps people with basic finances, tracking data,
events, etc.

C# and .NET 2 takes MONTHS off my development. Maybe it's because I'm
more familiar. Built in DataSets alone really help. You don't need
access, etc.

Oh, and to the other poster. I hate web development. Granted, there
are advantages to developing for inet but not for my application.
Plus, I don't want server/bandwidth issues. I want to go old-school.
Develop a useful app and hopefully sell it.

Thanks guys.

 

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

Win32 development is going to give you much more speed than anything
running on .NET.

"Much more speed"? Hmm - when it comes to processor intensive
applications, *some* things are significantly slower in .NET, and many
others aren't.

It would probably be fairly easy for you to find a small example of
something much faster in native code than in .NET. I could then find a
small example of something which *isn't* faster in native code than in
..NET, and neither example would prove anything, really.

Unfortunately there's no such thing as an "average" app, but I can
certainly say that I've never been writing Java or C# and found myself
thinking, "Gee, having profiled this app, the performance problems
would have been solved if I'd just been using native code."

I've had a Microsoft consultant yell at me for making
that statement, but no one has ever been able to justify writing a
real-time app to run on a garbage-collected runtime.

One shouldn't be writing real-time applications on Windows to start
with - it's not a real-time operating system.

There's also the issue of writing good code vs. bad code.

That much is certainly true - and a good reason to use C#, IMO. With a
good framework behind you, and a clear language such as C#, it's easier
to write good code. That's not to say one can't write good code in
native Win32, of course, just that it's harder.

<snip>

 

[Lucian Wischik]

but no one has ever been able to justify writing a
real-time app to run on a garbage-collected runtime. But you already
know that if you're a game programmer.

Unless you're a game programmer of Abuse, or Civ4, or any of the other
games that use high-level garbage-collected scripting languages...

 

[Dave Sexton]

Hi,

That's certainly not old school

Especially given that ClickOnce deployment and XAML are starting to blur the
lines anyway between rich-client and web. Eventually, in the not-so-near
future, it's all going to be rich client anyway, IMO.

GL with your project.

 

[Jon Harrop]

Win32 development is going to give you much more speed than anything
running on .NET.

That depends entirely upon what you're doing but, mostly, that isn't true.

I've had a Microsoft consultant yell at me for making
that statement, but no one has ever been able to justify writing a
real-time app to run on a garbage-collected runtime.

That definitely isn't true. Lots of soft-real time apps are written in GC'd
languages. In my experience, incremental GC makes it easier to write
soft-real time code than scope-based destruction (e.g. C++) because the
latter is prone to avalanches.

To the OP, I would be forward looking and use more recent technologies
like .NET 2.

 

[cbmeeks]

To the OP, I would be forward looking and use more recent technologies
like .NET 2.

Thanks. I believe that is what I will do. If I fail, at least I would
have spent a lot less time in the process.

cbmeeks
http://www.codershangout.com