All the bugs seem to be worked out. I figured out how to use Inno Setup, which is an amazing tool (for windows anyways). I still don’t know what free multi-platform installers I can use, or what commercial ones would be best for me.
So gee, now I am faced with *many* problems that I didn’t expect to run into so soon:
- I need an icon! What Icon will I use to represent my program?
- I need to start entering Chinese characters into the program’s dictionary
- Ditto for shortcuts.
- I still need to add more quiz & test types.
- I’m sure there are 100 miscellaneous user interface niceties i’ve forgotten. Like printing. Kongzi doesn’t print anything.
- How much to charge? Free trial or crippleware?
- Gee I guess I need a dedicated website now? (Can you run a business on WordPress? Unlikely that you would even want to, but..)
- Should I keep talking about Kongz’s features and code, or keep them as trade secrets?
I found a great blog about mISV (micro independant software vendors) just like myself, called Joel on Software. They have a great discussion forum called the Business of Software. I haven’t had time to read it but it has a lot of useful tips.
I’ll say one thing, I’m grateful for the company. Developing Kongzi has been far more of a lone wolf project than Netwhack – until I found Joel on Software I didn’t know there even was a community for people like me 
Then, suddenly, I found the Micro-ISV Journal (via a link on Joel’s). Things are looking up!
Filed under: Java, Java Programming, Kongzi, Misc, Software
