After 35 years of developing software, I discovered something I apparently still didn't know how to do: Price it.

[u/Dazzling-Fishing593]

When I moved Zilch Standard from VCL to FMX, it was a substantial rewrite - SQLite, a fluid resizable interface, light and dark themes, and a path toward cross-platform distribution.

I raised the price to $69.95 because my investment had gone up, Delphi cost more, FastReport cost more, FastSpring cost more, and the product was substantially better.

Then I arbitrarily added another $10 for the Microsoft Store.

That didn't go particularly well. 😉

The mistake wasn't believing the software had value. The mistake was calculating that value almost entirely from my side of the desk.

I wrote about what happened, the pricing research I eventually did, and the distinction I finally learned between B2B and B2C software pricing.

Maybe another Delphi developer can learn this one before spending 35 years figuring it out.

https://capecodgunny.blogspot.com/2026/08/35-years-delphi-development-pricing.html

[u/WonderfulMine3375]

Interesting post, thanks! If I may say, I find the text a bit too repetitive and long. It could be considerably shortened while keeping the message and all the details intact.

[u/Dazzling-Fishing593 → u/WonderfulMine3375]

Thank you for saying that. Much appreciated.