[sdiy] Secrets [Was: Discrete OTA]

[Paul Maddox]

Richard,

I totally agree, hardware does require much more money upfront and to 
maintain.
I was disagreeing to people saying "software development costs nothing" :)

Paul

On 12/04/2014 21:43, Richard Wentk wrote:
> Compiler - depends on the platform. You can build (say) VSTs with free tools. It's a huge pain in the ass, but it is possible.
>
> Xcode on the Mac is free. Mingw on Windows is free. There are various free toolchains on Linux.
>
> Development platform - if you're a one-man band, you probably have a PC or Mac already. If you're doing something hardware specific - then yes, that will cost money. But hardware-specific DSP is a specialised semi-industrial niche, and not typical of general software development.
>
> Developers - likewise, you won't count your time as a one-man band. But if you're hiring outsiders, good DSP or embedded coders are going to cost a lot more than £10/hr. So it depends...
>
> The hidden costs if you're selling software are website design, transaction processing, and - for some projects - copy protection.
>
> The obvious downsides are piracy and the fact that niche hardware can carry much higher margins.
>
> The upside is the low spare-time development cost, the fact that you don't have to buy or manage stock or inventory (or pay anyone to do it for you - or manage a complete assembly solution), and the reassuring absence of shipping and customs charges.
>
> Basically making a living from hardware requires much more capital up front. But for the right projects it can pay better than niche software.
>
> If you want to make a crap load of money, don't build synth hardware - build high-end hifi, spend money on making a design that looks esoteric and expensive, include some marketing nonsense about exotic components, and sell it for a ridiculous mark-up.
>
> Richard
>
> On 12 Apr 2014, at 18:58, Paul Maddox <yo at vacoloco.net> wrote:
>
>>
>>> On 11 April 2014 01:36, Neil Johnson <neil.johnson71 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Even if, as I have done above, we assume that human time is free,
>>>> hardware development costs real money out of your pocket.  Software
>>>> development doesn't.
>>> It doesn't _now_.
>> sorry, I disagree with both of you.
>> Software development *does* cost money
>> lets look at the cost of a compiler, a good one can be £2000 per seat.
>> So say you have two developers, there's £4K.
>> Next you'll need a couple of development platforms, say £1K a piece.
>> Now it's going to take time for the software developers to get up to speed on your platform and the task at hand, good programmers say two weeks.
>> based on £10 an hour, two developers, 40 hours a week, there's another £1600.
>>
>> Say the work takes 3 months, including integration and test, that's £9600.
>>
>> so, cost of your software development - £17200.
>>
>> remind me of how this is "zero cost" for software development.
>>
>> Software isn't zero cost, but it has a much lower "direct" cost.
>> Where software does score is that to reproduce it requires almost zero cost.
>>
>> Paul
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Synth-diy mailing list
>> Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>> http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy