How to deal with the cracking/pirating of software and choosing target audience

[Pretty Girl]

How to deal with the cracking/pirating of software? I'm making an engineering software which will be both useful in windows and macOS operating systems. And the target audience mostly will have like 70% windows and 30% macOS.

But I'm not developing it for the windows first, even 70% market is there because I believe most of the people who won't buy or will pirate the software are on windows.

Is it wise to first develop it for macOS with only 30% audience (and it's easy and relatively fast for me to develop in macOS as well) or try to target the 70% windows audience? (it'll take much more time to learn and develop for windows as well)

Your valuable suggestions are most welcome.

 

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[Johnny boy]

100% of $0 is $0

Thats like saying “I saved a bunch in taxes this year by making no money”.

In life we call these things “good problems”. You should hope that tons of people hack your software because it’s so popular.

 

[Pretty Girl]

100% of $0 is $0

Thats like saying “I saved a bunch in taxes this year by making no money”.

In life we call these things “good problems”. You should hope that tons of people hack your software because it’s so popular.

Thank you for your reply.
What are your suggestions on developing the software fast, better and with less troubles on macOs than taking much time to develop the software in windows, considering the fact that macOS has only target audience of 30%.

 

[alexkuzmov]

Thank you for your reply.
What are your suggestions on developing the software fast, better and with less troubles on macOs than taking much time to develop the software in windows, considering the fact that macOS has only target audience of 30%.

Can your software be used through a browser or an app?

 

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[StrikingViper69]

If 30% of the market is a good enough size, and you have the skills, start with macOS so you can get something out there and see if people will open their wallets.

If they do, you can think about going after the windows market.

If they don’t, you haven’t wasted loads of time learning to develop software for windows.

 

[Bence Ur]

Can your software be used through a browser or an app?

Yes consider developing a web-based software which works on all platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, Android.

It is technically not possible to pirate / crack a web-based software (unless a hacker gets your source code, but that is a security problem).

And the downloadable software architecture is outdated. Nowadays the trend is the web-based apps. It is much easier for the customers as well. And think about it, you only need to support the latest version of Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Firefox. These browsers are now pretty good at following the web standards. You can just tell your customers to upgrade to the latest browser version. You don't need to support the 100 different versions and 1000 different configurations of Windows and Mac.

A lot of users just never use any downloadable software. They open their web browsers and perform tasks only in their web browsers.

I wouldn't even buy a downloadable software. When I find a downloadable software, I immediately search for a web-based alternative.

 

[StrikingViper69]

Yes consider developing a web-based software which works on all platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, Android.

It is technically not possible to pirate / crack a web-based software (unless a hacker gets your source code, but that is a security problem).

And the downloadable software architecture is outdated. Nowadays the trend is the web-based apps. It is much easier for the customers as well. And think about it, you only need to support the latest version of Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Firefox. These browsers are now pretty good at following the web standards. You can just tell your customers to upgrade to the latest browser version. You don't need to support the 100 different versions and 1000 different configurations of Windows and Mac.

A lot of users just never use any downloadable software. They open their web browsers and perform tasks only in their web browsers.

I wouldn't even buy a downloadable software. When I find a downloadable software, I immediately search for a web-based alternative.

I’m the opposite, web based stuff is a PITA unless necessary. It forces me to keep updating my OS, forces me to use a browser, means I have to be online etc.

Ideally I want something that just works that can sit on my computer.

 

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[circleme]

Is it wise to first develop it for macOS with only 30% audience (and it's easy and relatively fast for me to develop in macOS as well) or try to target the 70% windows audience? (it'll take much more time to learn and develop for windows as well)

If you don't need any access to OS-interfaces, you may look into Electron.JS. That way, you can develop everything in JS and you only need ONE software, which is basically a web app that can be rendered into a desktop app. If that isn't a possibility, than I would go with the bigger TAM.

It is technically not possible to pirate / crack a web-based software (unless a hacker gets your source code, but that is a security problem).

You can literally copy/paste everything that is available on the frontend. If there are no really complex algorithms behind the scenes (backend), like simple CRUD statements, you can rebuild that logic in no time as well. I would argue that "pirating/cracking" a software in terms of rebuilding it is one of the easiest things today, especially because they are all public and not OS-dependent.

 

[alexkuzmov]

I’m the opposite, web based stuff is a PITA unless necessary. It forces me to keep updating my OS, forces me to use a browser, means I have to be online etc.

Ideally I want something that just works that can sit on my computer.

Like winrar and a calculator or?

 

[Pretty Girl]

Can your software be used through a browser or an app?

Thank you for your reply.
It can, as a web app, and If I make it as a webapp I will have more control over who are allowed to use etc. But as I see desktop software provides users with more versatility and reliable interfaces than the web versions. It involves critical calculations done within the software, so I feel users will be hesitant to use web versions. Even I don't use web versions for serious work.

 

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[Pretty Girl]

If 30% of the market is a good enough size, and you have the skills, start with macOS so you can get something out there and see if people will open their wallets.

If they do, you can think about going after the windows market.

If they don’t, you haven’t wasted loads of time learning to develop software for windows.

Thank you for the reply.
Yes, I will make it available for the macOS first and then go for the windows market.

 

[Pretty Girl]

Yes consider developing a web-based software which works on all platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, Android.

It is technically not possible to pirate / crack a web-based software (unless a hacker gets your source code, but that is a security problem).

And the downloadable software architecture is outdated. Nowadays the trend is the web-based apps. It is much easier for the customers as well. And think about it, you only need to support the latest version of Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Firefox. These browsers are now pretty good at following the web standards. You can just tell your customers to upgrade to the latest browser version. You don't need to support the 100 different versions and 1000 different configurations of Windows and Mac.

A lot of users just never use any downloadable software. They open their web browsers and perform tasks only in their web browsers.

I wouldn't even buy a downloadable software. When I find a downloadable software, I immediately search for a web-based alternative.

Thank you for the reply,
I will look more into the web-based software as well. My concern is the versatality, realiability and performance of web apps. It involves large repetitive calculations and I might need to provide them with dedicated servers as well if I go for the web apps etc.

 

[alexkuzmov]

Thank you for your reply.
It can, as a web app, and If I make it as a webapp I will have more control over who are allowed to use etc. But as I see desktop software provides users with more versatility and reliable interfaces than the web versions. It involves critical calculations done within the software, so I feel users will be hesitant to use web versions. Even I don't use web versions for serious work.

Ignore what you use, the market will tell you.

These serious calculations, what are they?
Why cant a server do them?

 

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