This is an update to the release of the programs I'm working on, and a fairly major change to one of them.
I have a new project that may be a go, and it will involve reviving the auction program, and creating a complete auction environment, using the parts I've outlined before, and much more. Search for "pugdog" and "auction" as well as "image" to find the threads and old information.
I realize I said I would be releasing all the programs as GPL-like license, but this is a commercial request of me, with a fairly short time limit, and as such is a paid job.
To that end, I need to protect them, and their investment for at least a period of 1 year. Programs exempt from this are the Postcards.cgi which is still a $45 item, the Calendar program which will be an integrated and stand alone item, and the image upload/SQL program as a standalone (it will integrate into the auction program as well). The last two will still be GPL-like releases, with the restriction of all modifications must be shared (that is my -like on the end of GPL <G>). Oh... the classifieds, is probably going to be delayed 6 months, as a half-way protection of the auction program, since there are an aweful lot of similarities and overlaps.
The point of this post is two fold.
1) I have not disappeared, or stopped developing, only got burried, and had to do a lot of rearranging, as well as a number of commercial-quality requests which had to be dealt with. I still hope to have the Calendar out soon, in a plugin format.
2) To give anyone who needs/wants an auction program a chance to input their ideas, and to contribute to the development. If you need an auction program, I need to know your wants, and your price range. The program will not go GPL-like until about 1 year after the 1st bug-fix release of the final 1.0 version (or 1.1 version).
The program will be fully GT/SQL engine compatible (databases, community, template parser, etc), and contain all the features I posted before, plus some extras for managing domains, images and such which is what the main 2 backers need.
If you want to join the development, as in be a part of the backing of the program, please contact me privately -- ONLY! If you want to input ideas, and suggestions, feel free to do that here. Check old threads first, please :) The betas and demos will be available on one of my sites, http://beadbid.com and http://identitydots.com (a live "real" site) as it goes along.
I have looked around, for the past few years, and done a lot of home work on auction programs and pricing. The value of the program, based on time to develop, and debug, and such is a good (fair) $2000-$3000 including the Links/SQL license. That is beyond the "hobbiest" budget, for sure, but that is not what this program is geared to. It's geared to serious sites trying to sell off their own inventories of items in tough times. (Hmmmm... that doesn't sound like an auction program.... but it is!) There will be a switch to allow posting of 3rd party auctions as well as "in house" auctions with different features for both (usually added features for in house auctions). There will be a "start auction with first bid" feature, so that you can allow bulk listings, and large databases, but low fees until auctions start to get bids. There will be many other features -- many possible only because of the fine work Alex and GT have done in developing the "engine" code for the SQL access, template parser and community features.
Payment will use GT's PayPal and Authorize.net modules, and any others they develop. I _cannot_ develop these sorts of items for this program (I have no interest in it first of all), such as supporting odd gateways. If YOU want to write the support code, I will be happy to integrate them. The calling conventions will be the same as any GT code, so plug-in comes quickly to mind.
If negotiations with these parties go ok, the program will be released in 1.1 form in the next 2-3 months. It will _not_ support sniping and such, and _may_ require the most current version of MySQL for some features. That can't be helped. There are also no provisions for automated auction watchers, and such, although you can create templates that will present data in a form that a requesting program can easily parse, if you are so inclined. This program is entirely web-based, and any client (windows) applications are up to you.
There might also be some paid work available for someone who can integrate GForum a bit more tightly into the environment. I don't have enough experience with that program (and it's templates) to modify it efficiently and in this shorter time frame.
If you remember, the reasons for the GPL-Like license, was I did not want to spend my life in software support. I do not have the resources for it, and our retail Rock & Bead shop is much more fun, actually <G>. Writing programs is fun, supporting them on different sites is work. ;) Given that, this commercial version requires support, the most I can reasonably and guaranteed to support is 5 or 6 sites. When the program is released GPL-Like, support is via the forums, and on an as-available basis, unless a support contract is purchased, and they are limited to what I can reasonably handle.
Sooooo if you are interested in an auction program, now is the time to let me know, or contact me. The program won't be released open source/GPL-Like for at least a year, and the number of installations I can support (and thus can offer the program to) is strictly limited. There are only so many hours in the day.
Anyway, this is an update, and a notice that one of my announced programs (Auction SQL) will be out of general circulation for the next 12-18 months.
PUGDOG� Enterprises, Inc.
The best way to contact me is to NOT use Email.
Please leave a PM here.
I have a new project that may be a go, and it will involve reviving the auction program, and creating a complete auction environment, using the parts I've outlined before, and much more. Search for "pugdog" and "auction" as well as "image" to find the threads and old information.
I realize I said I would be releasing all the programs as GPL-like license, but this is a commercial request of me, with a fairly short time limit, and as such is a paid job.
To that end, I need to protect them, and their investment for at least a period of 1 year. Programs exempt from this are the Postcards.cgi which is still a $45 item, the Calendar program which will be an integrated and stand alone item, and the image upload/SQL program as a standalone (it will integrate into the auction program as well). The last two will still be GPL-like releases, with the restriction of all modifications must be shared (that is my -like on the end of GPL <G>). Oh... the classifieds, is probably going to be delayed 6 months, as a half-way protection of the auction program, since there are an aweful lot of similarities and overlaps.
The point of this post is two fold.
1) I have not disappeared, or stopped developing, only got burried, and had to do a lot of rearranging, as well as a number of commercial-quality requests which had to be dealt with. I still hope to have the Calendar out soon, in a plugin format.
2) To give anyone who needs/wants an auction program a chance to input their ideas, and to contribute to the development. If you need an auction program, I need to know your wants, and your price range. The program will not go GPL-like until about 1 year after the 1st bug-fix release of the final 1.0 version (or 1.1 version).
The program will be fully GT/SQL engine compatible (databases, community, template parser, etc), and contain all the features I posted before, plus some extras for managing domains, images and such which is what the main 2 backers need.
If you want to join the development, as in be a part of the backing of the program, please contact me privately -- ONLY! If you want to input ideas, and suggestions, feel free to do that here. Check old threads first, please :) The betas and demos will be available on one of my sites, http://beadbid.com and http://identitydots.com (a live "real" site) as it goes along.
I have looked around, for the past few years, and done a lot of home work on auction programs and pricing. The value of the program, based on time to develop, and debug, and such is a good (fair) $2000-$3000 including the Links/SQL license. That is beyond the "hobbiest" budget, for sure, but that is not what this program is geared to. It's geared to serious sites trying to sell off their own inventories of items in tough times. (Hmmmm... that doesn't sound like an auction program.... but it is!) There will be a switch to allow posting of 3rd party auctions as well as "in house" auctions with different features for both (usually added features for in house auctions). There will be a "start auction with first bid" feature, so that you can allow bulk listings, and large databases, but low fees until auctions start to get bids. There will be many other features -- many possible only because of the fine work Alex and GT have done in developing the "engine" code for the SQL access, template parser and community features.
Payment will use GT's PayPal and Authorize.net modules, and any others they develop. I _cannot_ develop these sorts of items for this program (I have no interest in it first of all), such as supporting odd gateways. If YOU want to write the support code, I will be happy to integrate them. The calling conventions will be the same as any GT code, so plug-in comes quickly to mind.
If negotiations with these parties go ok, the program will be released in 1.1 form in the next 2-3 months. It will _not_ support sniping and such, and _may_ require the most current version of MySQL for some features. That can't be helped. There are also no provisions for automated auction watchers, and such, although you can create templates that will present data in a form that a requesting program can easily parse, if you are so inclined. This program is entirely web-based, and any client (windows) applications are up to you.
There might also be some paid work available for someone who can integrate GForum a bit more tightly into the environment. I don't have enough experience with that program (and it's templates) to modify it efficiently and in this shorter time frame.
If you remember, the reasons for the GPL-Like license, was I did not want to spend my life in software support. I do not have the resources for it, and our retail Rock & Bead shop is much more fun, actually <G>. Writing programs is fun, supporting them on different sites is work. ;) Given that, this commercial version requires support, the most I can reasonably and guaranteed to support is 5 or 6 sites. When the program is released GPL-Like, support is via the forums, and on an as-available basis, unless a support contract is purchased, and they are limited to what I can reasonably handle.
Sooooo if you are interested in an auction program, now is the time to let me know, or contact me. The program won't be released open source/GPL-Like for at least a year, and the number of installations I can support (and thus can offer the program to) is strictly limited. There are only so many hours in the day.
Anyway, this is an update, and a notice that one of my announced programs (Auction SQL) will be out of general circulation for the next 12-18 months.
PUGDOG� Enterprises, Inc.
The best way to contact me is to NOT use Email.
Please leave a PM here.
Auction Program/Plugin round 2 (or 3?)