“RE: Help with Macrobyte's Future”

I feel like I'm coming late to the party, but here's the text of a mail message I sent to Seth yesterday, before I was a member of TruerWords.Net. ;->

I think you're heading in the right direction. Yes the "apps" you guys have developed are worth a lot, but it looks like they are being used by developers as frameworks/platforms/enablers to allow them to develop custom solutions. That means that you are selling tools, and trying to build a community. I know of no better way to start building that community then by giving away the tools.

I think you should definitely look into charging something to be a "Conversant Developer", at least for those people not in Edu/non-profit. Maybe you could offer a "charter membership" rate for those developers that sign up early, and then a normal rate after some level has been reached. Or something like that.

-Brian