That moment you realize it is going to work
So I have been working on a spec project since early February, averaging about seven hours a day, seven days a week. At some point in the last two weeks I realized two things, one, I done screwed up and didn't think through the back end of this project and had to do almost a complete re-write of the back end with about 70% of the code done. I also had two presentations to a perspective client while in the middle of the re-write but actually remembered to make a copy of the old working code in a different location so I could show something that was working. While most of the presentation was a "show & tell" there was some good feedback for changes that could/should/would be made to the final product.
The best part, about half way through the first presentation (the VP of the company!) can be summed up in a meme.
The second presentation was supposed to be about a half hour and wound up being almost two and a half hours. It had very much the same feel to it but also had a ton of important feedback that I needed as this person was going to be a large part of using the software.
While I had a price in mind, my client offered up a solution that while I hate on the consumer side I am thinking of embracing as a business owner who needs income more than once, yes, that word is "subscription". While I have subscriptions for many things like internet, web hosting, phone, and TV, I personally have managed to avoid any software subscriptions. At the same time I am also personally torn with the IP aspects of the software I am creating. If I were to release it as FOSS, how do I make money from it? I'm no Redhat or Canonical where I can just sell the support. I have to eat. On the other hand, most of the software involved is PHP so they do have access to the source, assuming they have someone who can read it. This software is also kind of a niche fit with a smaller potential base of clients as the target is small/mid size bushiness in the medical device industry and needs to be compliant with FDA guidance on several things.
Anyway, I will be pushing on while I ponder these conundrums, I am guessing I can get back to a "normal" type of writing sometime next month as I am hoping to have this project wrapped up (at least this part of it, there seem to be other things that are also wanted) and can actually have a little "free" time.