Idea validation: Compression Software
Hello All,
As per title, I'm working on compression software, specifically for files that don't get compressed well with typical known compression apps (files like excel files, PDF files and power point files, etc..).
It's still an idea, I didn't work on anything yet, but I have many big files (especially in excel) that don't get compressed well at all using all current software I know. And I believe I have a good algorithm in mind that can do well in compressing such files.
So:
Is it worth to start working on this?
Do you think it's practical and achievable idea? By one coder as a side project? (because I already have a demanding job)
Do you think it can be profitable in the future?
Thanks in advance for your comments.
To be brutally honest, I wouldn't use such software unless it was orders of magnitude better. The reason? Better compression is a benefit, yes, but having to use a proprietary program to compress/decompress my files is a very big downside. I would be very reluctant to trust my files to a single relatively unknown entity.
For the benefit to be worth the cost/downside, it'd have to be like 5 times better or something.
Thanks for the input, I appreciate it, and I do understand your points, but it doesn't need to be useful for everyone, the question is: do you think it will be a successful solution (in general), so I will tell you why I'm thinking about this, check out https://www.neuxpower.com/products , they're offering the same concept (but optimization instead of compression), I tried their product and it's horrible, it didn't do anything to most of the files that I'm targeting (that don't get compressed well with typical compression tools like winrar, Peazip and 7zip).
The weird thing is, this product looks very profitable to this company, they even have a website offering the same solution.
That's an intranet/enterprise setting so the context is different. If you put it that way ... I think that, in theory, it could work. In practice, I dunno. I'm not part of the market targeted by them so I'm not qualified to say.
Thanks for the input, appreciated
Hi Moe.
A few questions I'd ask myself before embarking on this:
Is anyone else doing it? How? What makes yours different?
Who is this for? By its nature, it sounds quite enterprise-level - how would you convince them of the benefits?
Is it a problem worth solving? A decade or two ago I'd have given this the thumbs-up, but in an age of Slack/Dropbox/Google Drive and dedicated large web file uploaders, does this tool still have a place? Do people care that a file is large in size now?
It's definitely doable as a project if you give yourself to it, but if you have that time and talent to spend, do you want to spend it on this idea?
It sounds like an interesting project. I don't readily see how it might be profitable. Maybe if you come up with an insanely good compression algorithm (Pied Piper, anyone?), one of the big players might buy it from you.
Hope that's of some use.
Jay
Also, let me tell you why I'm thinking about this, check out https://www.neuxpower.com/products , they're offering the same concept (but optimization instead of compression), I tried their product and it's horrible, it didn't do anything to most of the files that I'm targeting (that don't get compressed well with typical compression tools like winrar, Peazip and 7zip).
The weird thing is, this product looks very profitable to this company, they even have a website offering the same solution.
After checking this, do you think this idea has a potential and worth the time and efforts investment?
Firstly, be wary of confusing a long-standing company (since 2011) with a profitable one. This might not be the only company its directors own, and also it may be a lifestyle business for them, so if it makes enough to pay for their holidays, that might be enough for them. What are your intentions for profitability?
When viewing a competitor who has a number of products, it's tough to evaluate how profitable the product is which competes with your idea. Think of this another way - if you do spend the time to develop a better product, how will you get the message out? This company likely has mailing lists for its existing products, so up-sell opportunities are relatively straightforward for them. Having a better product is a good start, but the marketing messaging and opportunities seized determine winners. It's a cliché now but look at VHS vs Betamax - the better format lost.
Once you have a working version, how will you get that in front of the people who make the purchasing decisions?
Deciding to do this might be the best decision you ever make - or it might be a time-suck of a valuable 1-2 years of evenings and weekends. Unfortunately, none of us here can tell you which one it is - you have to weigh-up the risks and decide for yourself.
Thanks for the great input, appreciated
Pied Piper :) :) Exactly! :)
Thank you very much for the useful advice, appreciated.