Support Indie Software

August 2nd, 2007

Two of my independent software developer friends (on non-Mac platforms they’d probably be called competitors) have released substantially new versions of their products today! It’s probably hard for non-developers to appreciate just how much work goes into even a modest set of improvements.

Software is hard work. And the hard work isn’t all in the functionality, but in the fine-tuning. Woodworkers will appreciate that the amount of time spent sanding, shellacing, etc. often far outpaces the time spent crudely cutting out the shape of an object.

LicenseKeeper 1.2 is an unbelievable streamlined way of keeping track of all the software licenses you’ve purchased. For most of us I expect our current solution is a dedicated email folder, at best. License Keeper takes all the work, and stress, out of managing your software assets.

Hazel 2 is a full-time housekeeper for the files on your Mac. What if you could be a slob about files and just drop them wherever you please, cluttering up your desktop and clogging your home directory with hundreds of downloads, notes, and temporary files? Well, most of us already are slobs in this way, but Hazel makes it incredibly easy to let your computer keep itself tidy!

Let’s give Jon and Paul a big hand by downloading and trying out their latest masterpieces!

7 Responses to “Support Indie Software”

  1. Kevin Walzer Says:

    Fine-tuning. You aren’t kidding, Daniel. A huge amount of work. It can take weeks or months to get the little details right. Hats off to those who do a good job with it.

  2. Bob Peterson Says:

    They will be called competitors when they release software that does the same things your software does. Windows developers have loads of competitors because that O/S has more more developers than product ideas.

  3. Daniel Jalkut Says:

    Bob: Yeah – OK, fair point. But I think even when lines of competition are blurry, Mac developers tend to remain pretty convivial.

  4. Aaron Says:

    You probably get this a lot, but how did you learn to program on the mac, is there any book(s) you recommend?
    Sorry for posting this here but I couldn’t find an email address anywhere.

  5. Daniel Jalkut Says:

    Aaron – it’s been such a long time – the way I learned to program the Mac is out of date (let’s just say it had to do with using a product called “Think C”).

    These days questions like yours get asked a lot on the various boards and mailing lists. Try searching google for “cocoa books faq”. There are some great books out there, and even a cocoa learning camp, if you can afford it!

    Apple also has a getting started page you should check out.

  6. Aaron Says:

    Thanks for the reply!

  7. The Plaid Cow Says:

    Aaron – You said that “For most of us I expect our current solution is a dedicated email folder, at best.” which I resemble. After trying a number of “streamlined” solutions, I came back to this. What advantages does this offer over that solution?

    This is not a knock against any one person or application, but there seem to be so many single purpose application that purport to make things easier, but in the end just make a more complicated work flow. I also have an email folder that houses all of the website memberships that I have where I archive the welcome email that I got. Both of these seem (to me) to be mch easier to add to a workflow that separate applications.

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