You get the point. It depends on who is paying the bill. I'm not targeting banks and big spenders. My niche market does not require complex nor web-based solutions at the moment.
Another fear is that I have over 2000 affiliates (mostly from Regnow and Avangate) all over the place marketing my products, and if I go web-based I may lose most of them.

The issue here is not having enough skills to architect a proper web application. In fact, I've found web-apps far easier to develop than desktop versions. Skills can be acquired when the goal has been set and determination to succeed prevails. After all nobody was born a programmer. If you've read my previous post attentively, I stated that things may change in nearest future, meaning I'm open to new developments and don't claim to know everything. I'm still learning and will continue to do so.

And by the way, even if you go web-based and, by some miracles, you succeeded in developing applications that supercede Microsoft SharePoint and the rest, how do you plan to market your products? What are the resources at your disposal? Where do you get the million-dollar marketing budget from? At best, you will sell to local banks in your state. That is not my vision of a successful software business.

Lastly, if you're interested you can team-up with me to combine resources. But you must first provide me with some sample project of yours so I can assess you by result and not only by empty words. Upload some of your work somewhere online and PM me with download link.
Who knows, this may be the beginning of a fruitful partnership.

Have a nice day.

Joseph Ogunbiyi,
author and publisher,
http://www.josytal.com - Affordable Software for Small and Medium Businesses.


P.S.
The web-based version you see on my website is half-complete project and I’m still contemplating on whether to continue or discard the whole thing. Opinions and criticism always welcome.

kodewrita, you get the point. It depends on who is paying the bill. I'm not targeting banks and big spenders. My niche market does not require complex nor web-based solutions at the moment.
Another fear is that I have over 2000 affiliates (mostly from Regnow and Avangate) all over the place marketing my products, and if I go web-based I may lose most of them.

The issue here is not having enough skills to architect a proper web application. In fact, I've found web-app far easier to develop than desktop versions. Skills can be acquired when the goal has been set and determination to succeed prevails. After all nobody was born a programmer. If you've read my previous post attentively, I stated that things may change in nearest future, meaning I'm open to new developments and don't claim to know everything. I'm still learning and will continue to do so.

And by the way, even if you go web-based and, by some miracles, you succeeded in developing applications that supercede Microsoft SharePoint and the rest, how do you plan to market your products? What are the resources at your disposal? Where do you get the million-dollar marketing budget from? At best, you will sell to local banks in your state. That is not my vision of a successful software business.

Lastly, if you're interested you can team-up with me to combine resources. But you must first provide me with some sample project of yours so I can assess you by result and not only by empty words. Upload some of your work somewhere online and PM me with download link.
Who knows, this may be the beginning of a fruitful partnership.

Have a nice day.

Joseph Ogunbiyi,
author and publisher,
http://www.josytal.com - Affordable Software for Small and Medium Businesses.


P.S.
The web-based version you see on my website is half-complete project and I’m still contemplating on whether to continue or discard the whole thing. Opinions and criticism always welcome. Always.

If this project ever takes off, then I'll be interested to contribute. You may contact me using the contact form on my website.

Thanks.

Joseph Ogunbiyi,
author and publisher,
http://www.josytal.com - Affordable Software for Small and Medium businesses.

Web-based application is definitely not a choice in most developing countries, where rampant electricity and exorbitant bandwidth cost is a rule rather than the exception.

Web-based or stand-alone software, each has its pros and cons and it all depends on personal preferences.
Personally, if web-based means internet (and not intranet), then I will not trust web-based application for storing sensitive data, even if the process goes through SSL. Too many security holes that can be easily exploited. And you don't even need to be a programming guru to do this. That is why standalone applications still sell far more than their web-based versions, even in the developed countries.

Recently, following the trend, I decided to develop web-based version of one of my popular software. Half-way, I abandoned the project due to extremely poor signup figures.
Contrary to expectation, the presence of web-based version, hosted as a service, has only fueled increase in sales of standalone version of the software!
I was astounded, since my software sells mostly in US, Canada and EU - in the so-called developed world.

Of course, the software market is ever changing and the situation may be different in the nearest future. Meanwhile I believe in figures, not emotions.

Joseph Ogunbiyi,
author and publisher,
http://www.josytal.com - Productivity Software for Small and Medium Businesses

The answer is No easy way. Of course, programming is not a rocket science, but you must be ready to put in your best in order to become a good programmer. Above all, you must enjoy programming.

Hope this helps.

Joseph Ogunbiyi,
author and publisher,
http://www.josytal.com - Software for small and medium businesses.