Making money from programming language design(plsadventures.com)
plsadventures.com
Making money from programming language design
http://www.plsadventures.com/2009/08/making-money-from-programming-language.html
2 comments
MS's compilers have always been free(As far back as I can remember which would be VC6 where only the non optimizing compiler was free.) They charged for the IDE, and the optimizer. With the switch to .Net the optimizing compiler became free, and then a release or two latter a basic version of the IDE was released for free as well.
Thanks for that. So there is a commercial version of the IDE that basically has more features?
The free edition is just the base IDE(code editor, debugger, gui designer). Come on this is MS, there are 5 versions of the pay IDE.
Things you need to pay for:
using more than one language(you can download multiple free versions but that means having multiple installs of VS laying around),
3rd party plugins,
profiler,
code test coverage tool,
static analysis tool,
Database tools,
Integration with their team foundation server(source control, bug tracker, project management stuff )
using more than one language(you can download multiple free versions but that means having multiple installs of VS laying around),
3rd party plugins,
profiler,
code test coverage tool,
static analysis tool,
Database tools,
Integration with their team foundation server(source control, bug tracker, project management stuff )
I've never seen it as a route to income in itself - but it can do so indirectly. My project, ARGON (http://www.argon.org.uk/) is all about reinventing the platform we build software on - OS, programming language, libraries, file system, network protocol - purely because the current technologies we use are hampered by backward compatibility and poorly integrated; I think it'd be a good thing for the world to start again from scratch (and deal with compatibility at a higher level).
So I've thought more about how I might possibly make my hobby pay for itself. I think that an entire platform might well be successful as an embedded platform, as there's much less motivation for compatibility and a familiar programming environment in that market. In the workstation and server worlds, however, I think such a platform pretty much has to be open source, or it'll never be adopted by hackers who want something to play with. Then the usual open-source tricks will apply: selling boxed sets with manuals and 'enterprise tools' in, support contracts, commercial redistribution licenses, etc.
Getting rich by writing a book and general fame/glory leading to speaking engagements, however, is right out ;-)