Interview with the developers of Download Master
On computer piracy, you can find a lot of opinions - and from the leaders of large software corporations, and from ordinary users (both avid vareznikov and their people using only legal software). But the opinion of the developers themselves on this issue is a rarity :)
Therefore, I decided to interview the developers of one of the most well-known domestic programs - Download Master. I didn’t regret because I learned a lot of interesting things ...
Questions were answered by Ruslan Voloshin aka playclown .
How did the idea to create a Download Master? Why was it decided to create your download manager?
A long time ago we made games and developed different programs. In those days, almost the only way to connect to the Internet was dial-up. Uploading a large file was a big, often not solvable problem. Programs that existed were not convenient, buggy and complex. We decided to make an interesting and useful program. Development of the very first version of Download Master, or rather version 0.1, took 1.5 months.
Judging by the frequency of updates, developing DM takes up most of your time. Why is DM free? Is this somehow related to the level of piracy in our country (the logic “why pay for it if they won't buy”)?
At the time of the creation of the DM, legal software sales in Russia were very small, but this was not the decisive factor. From the very beginning, we wanted to make a free product for Russian-speaking users. It was interesting for us to create a popular product and get a response from the audience. After 5 years I want to say that it was worth it. 100 rubles sent in support of the DM by a pensioner from Krasnodar cost much more than a thousand earned program sales. There are dozens of such examples and it gives strength to make the program better.
')
Share DM and TopDownloads development plans. What interesting features will be added soon?
In the near future plans to add support for torrents in DM and make some interesting plugins. On TopDownloads we will make opportunities for convenient exchange of links and useful information between site visitors. We develop DM and TopDownloads based on the requirements of our users. Write to us and we will try to fulfill your wishes. We are always open to interesting offers and fresh ideas. In DM there is an open interface of plug-ins and if you want to try to expand the capabilities of the program, we will be happy to help.
In addition to free DM, you have shareware programs. Have you come across cases of their illegal use?
Break any program that is becoming quite popular, it is an axiom. A more unpleasant situation when fraudsters appear and try to sell your program under their own name. There are also funny situations when miracle hackers sell hacked copies of programs more expensive than a legal copy.
What measures do you take to protect your software? Do you try to somehow influence those who put cracks and serials to your programs?
We have a good system of protection of our own design, but we do not forget that it does not sell the program. The developer should spend the main forces on program improvement, on communication with users, on marketing, etc. This gives a significantly greater return than the endless war with the pirates. If we talk about the western market of programs for the end user, then an overactive fight against hackers will give a maximum of 10-15% increase in sales at the expense of buyers who have previously used cracks.
On the Internet, you can find arguments about the level of piracy in our country mainly from the leaders of large companies or from ordinary users. Share the developer’s view on this issue.
In recent years, the level of piracy is significantly reduced, primarily due to corporate users. The leaders of large sovereign companies understand this perfectly and direct their main efforts not to fight pirates, but to conquer the market.
What do you think, will the level of piracy decrease and what prospects does free software have? How many users will turn their attention to freeeware and open source programs?
The level of piracy is already falling. As it is not surprising, this development is beneficial to the developers of free software. Not rarely there is a situation when a programmer earns releasing paid programs and making free “for the soul”. Very often, free programs and open source programs are better than paid competitors or have no paid analogues. In many cases, the choice of open source software is more justified than the paid counterpart. For example, if you need a program to store passwords.
What free software do you use? Can you recommend something to readers?
Whenever possible I try to install exactly free programs. I use Maxthon, Avant Browser, Flock, Qip, Skype, Google Talk, Semagic, Winamp and Download Master every day. Look into the rating programs on TopDownloads.ru , there often come across interesting programs.
Source: freealt.net , Windows Free Software Blog
PS: In my opinion, it turned out very interesting. I first of all took the interview for my blog, but since I don’t have a lot of readers, I decided to post it on Habrahabr too. I would like to hear your comments :)
Therefore, I decided to interview the developers of one of the most well-known domestic programs - Download Master. I didn’t regret because I learned a lot of interesting things ...
Questions were answered by Ruslan Voloshin aka playclown .
How did the idea to create a Download Master? Why was it decided to create your download manager?
A long time ago we made games and developed different programs. In those days, almost the only way to connect to the Internet was dial-up. Uploading a large file was a big, often not solvable problem. Programs that existed were not convenient, buggy and complex. We decided to make an interesting and useful program. Development of the very first version of Download Master, or rather version 0.1, took 1.5 months.
Judging by the frequency of updates, developing DM takes up most of your time. Why is DM free? Is this somehow related to the level of piracy in our country (the logic “why pay for it if they won't buy”)?
At the time of the creation of the DM, legal software sales in Russia were very small, but this was not the decisive factor. From the very beginning, we wanted to make a free product for Russian-speaking users. It was interesting for us to create a popular product and get a response from the audience. After 5 years I want to say that it was worth it. 100 rubles sent in support of the DM by a pensioner from Krasnodar cost much more than a thousand earned program sales. There are dozens of such examples and it gives strength to make the program better.
')
Share DM and TopDownloads development plans. What interesting features will be added soon?
In the near future plans to add support for torrents in DM and make some interesting plugins. On TopDownloads we will make opportunities for convenient exchange of links and useful information between site visitors. We develop DM and TopDownloads based on the requirements of our users. Write to us and we will try to fulfill your wishes. We are always open to interesting offers and fresh ideas. In DM there is an open interface of plug-ins and if you want to try to expand the capabilities of the program, we will be happy to help.
In addition to free DM, you have shareware programs. Have you come across cases of their illegal use?
Break any program that is becoming quite popular, it is an axiom. A more unpleasant situation when fraudsters appear and try to sell your program under their own name. There are also funny situations when miracle hackers sell hacked copies of programs more expensive than a legal copy.
What measures do you take to protect your software? Do you try to somehow influence those who put cracks and serials to your programs?
We have a good system of protection of our own design, but we do not forget that it does not sell the program. The developer should spend the main forces on program improvement, on communication with users, on marketing, etc. This gives a significantly greater return than the endless war with the pirates. If we talk about the western market of programs for the end user, then an overactive fight against hackers will give a maximum of 10-15% increase in sales at the expense of buyers who have previously used cracks.
On the Internet, you can find arguments about the level of piracy in our country mainly from the leaders of large companies or from ordinary users. Share the developer’s view on this issue.
In recent years, the level of piracy is significantly reduced, primarily due to corporate users. The leaders of large sovereign companies understand this perfectly and direct their main efforts not to fight pirates, but to conquer the market.
What do you think, will the level of piracy decrease and what prospects does free software have? How many users will turn their attention to freeeware and open source programs?
The level of piracy is already falling. As it is not surprising, this development is beneficial to the developers of free software. Not rarely there is a situation when a programmer earns releasing paid programs and making free “for the soul”. Very often, free programs and open source programs are better than paid competitors or have no paid analogues. In many cases, the choice of open source software is more justified than the paid counterpart. For example, if you need a program to store passwords.
What free software do you use? Can you recommend something to readers?
Whenever possible I try to install exactly free programs. I use Maxthon, Avant Browser, Flock, Qip, Skype, Google Talk, Semagic, Winamp and Download Master every day. Look into the rating programs on TopDownloads.ru , there often come across interesting programs.
Source: freealt.net , Windows Free Software Blog
PS: In my opinion, it turned out very interesting. I first of all took the interview for my blog, but since I don’t have a lot of readers, I decided to post it on Habrahabr too. I would like to hear your comments :)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/15122/
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