Don't freak out, I'm not giving up on it.
I'm currently finishing up the next release. The reason I'm "scrapping" v1.6 is to make room for the brand new Direct Plugin Manager v2 Premium. That's right! Direct Plugin Manager has changed paths and is now a paid plugin!
You might ask how much the new v2 lineup is going to cost. Well, I'm currently going to ask for
$5.99 USD for the line of v2 products. Updates within major versions are
free (v2.2, v2.4, v2.6, etc); upgrades from v2 to v3 (and future lines) are currently priced at
$1.99 USD.
Please note these prices are not final. I do not want to charge too much or too little for this plugin. The reason I'm posting this is for feedback on the prices. If you have any suggestions for prices or any features you want to see in the new v2 lineup, please do not hesitate to contact me, either via PM here,
at Phreak Your Geek, or on MSN:
[email protected]
Criticism is welcomed.
you kinda scared me for a moment.. I was looking forward to the next version
I'm also adding settings in v2 - you can now toggle it on and off, toggle version checking (which sometimes takes a while to load, which halts the rest of the plugin page from loading), and an option to auto-delete uploaded ZIP archives (right now ZIP archives are saved to a folder being unzipped; by default they are left there).
Among other things
Didn't you just release 1.4 ...? And now you're "changing directions"? It seems very obviously planned to me. Not that I have a problem with charging -- though I do think that $6 for a single plugin, particularly this one, is simply way too steep. Charging for upgrades is almost laughable. I wouldn't expect to see much income from this.
(2009-06-11, 06:04 AM)Bey Brad Wrote: [ -> ]Didn't you just release 1.4 ...? And now you're "changing directions"? It seems very obviously planned to me. Not that I have a problem with charging -- though I do think that $6 for a single plugin, particularly this one, is simply way too steep. Charging for upgrades is almost laughable. I wouldn't expect to see much income from this.
Isn't free and premium two very separate paths? "Directions" is a misquote.
As for the prices, I've never sold anything like this online before so these prices are just a random picking from my head. That is exactly why I posted asking for criticism.
Well, keep in mind MyBB Central offers loads of useful plugins and is only $5 a year for all of them. I think you'd be better off selling the plugin to them or someone else interested in selling it, because otherwise I don't think you're going to see any income from this. It does not really add any functionality, just an alternative way to do something we've all been doing forever. I'm not sure there is a market there for this plugin, and I'm curious as to what leads you to believe there is.
And directions, paths ... that's semantics. The point was that this was very clearly planned, and not the spur of the moment change you're making it out as. Again though, that doesn't really matter.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm starting to see HarryWx's point about paid plugins and themes. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, and of course, we're seeing loads of these developers dropping projects left and right now because nobody wants to pay for this stuff unless it's of a very high quality.
(2009-06-11, 07:16 AM)Bey Brad Wrote: [ -> ][...]
we're seeing loads of these developers dropping projects left and right now because nobody wants to pay for this stuff unless it's of a very high quality.
"If it's crap, give it to them for free" is the expression, I believe.
I wouldn't want to pay for something if it's not high quality. Thankfully, most of the premium plugins are of a good standard. When it boils down to say, paying for MyCode, that is pointless.
I think Steven's plugin is more than capable of pulling in a few subscribers - if he was to make some more good plugins as part of his package then I would certainly consider signing up. Right now though, I don't want to pay for something that makes my life two clicks easier.
Remember, if you pay for something, you expect a certain level of service. For me, I've been working on MyTracker since February and even though I know people will happily pay for something like this, it will be free to everyone. MyNetwork has been in development longer, and yet I'll be asking for a subscription to download/support - in reality, it comes down to necessity. If people
really need a plugin, then they will pay for it.
(2009-06-11, 08:05 AM)Tomm M Wrote: [ -> ]I think Steven's plugin is more than capable of pulling in a few subscribers - if he was to make some more good plugins as part of his package then I would certainly consider signing up.
Which is why I suggested selling it to a site that already offers plugins. Of course, if he does this as well, that may not be necessary.
I'd consider it worth $6 if you implement at least the following features:
- packet manager abilities, i.e. keep track of which files were installed for each plugin and provide an uninstall option (not only based on file name, but also size and timestamp)
- ask for confirmation. i.e. display a list of files first, display if files would be overwritten, let the user tick off files he doesn't want to have installed.
- maybe keep a backup of overwritten files and provide an undo function.
- don't restrict yourself to plugins. If you are writing code that is able to upload and track ZIP files, going from plugins to language packs, or even to full MyBB updates, is a small step, as all of these essentially do the same thing: upload and replace files
- include an editor for php files (nothing fancy, just a textarea like the templates) so users can apply small changes on site
Although even if you do all that, I still won't buy it, because FTP is still the more powerful solution.
(2009-06-11, 10:50 AM)frostschutz Wrote: [ -> ]- include an editor for php files (nothing fancy, just a textarea like the templates) so users can apply small changes on site
There's a small tool available for that:
http://mods.mybboard.net/view/plugin-editor
I've tried it before, and it's quite nice. It only lets you edit deactivated plugins though.
And it's only the inc/plugins file.