Delivering Software, Electronically?

zpengo asks: "I'm trying to find the best way to implement a large-scale Electronic Software Delivery (ESD) service for my software company. I've been able to find very little information online (after weeks of research) so I must take it to America's best and brightest. Have you ever worked with ESD on a higher than plain-vanilla FTP level, and if so, what did you learn from it? When do you consider the product 'delivered'? Was it worth it? (I'm planning to put together a public domain whitepaper on the subject with the information I gather, to help fill in the gaps I found while researching online)."

Comments

.....tell...us...more...

[jukal]

I'm trying to find the best way to implement a large-scale Electronic Software Delivery (ESD) service for my software company.

What software, which audience, which principles? It makes a difference whether you are building ESD like tucows or for a special product for a special market - for example. It might be possible for you to get some real information out from here, but you will have to tell more. Don't be scared, if someone wants to look up your company, he is already well capable of doing it :)

I do!

[Superfreaker]

I developed (insert plug here-http://payloadz.com)

We do about 5,000 transactions per month.

Our method is this (note, this is after 5 iterations of delivery systems- all of which had issues):

- When a customer pays, we create a unique copy of the purchased product and place it in a queue directy for download. This unique file is prefixed with the customers transaction ID, so
"filename.zip" becomes "a1dys3ad4a-filename.zip"

We then provide a direct link to the file. We also send this direct link in an email to the person.

After 48 hours the file is deleted. after which time, the customer must request more downloads from the merchant.

We tried many other methods but there always arose a browser/platform issue. The ONLY reliable method has been to provide a direct link to the file for download.

It can create server load and file storage issues if you have a large scale site.

Hope that helps, feel free to contact me off list.

Too Vague.... No Doughnut :(

[TechnoGrl]

ESD is just another buzzword until you actually understand what it is that you want. What DO you want?

Do you want to deliver upgrades or patches?

Do you want to tie your system into a point of sale mechanism?

Are you worried about security? (you should be)

What security mechanisms are you able to implement?

How many people will download your software each day? Each hour? How many do you expect to do so next year?

What platforms will your target audience be running?

I could go on and on....but my point is that you cannot go to anyone, even "America's Best and Brightest" (whereever they are) and ask for a one-size-fits-all solution to a software delivery system - even if you do have a fancy buzzword like ESD to make it sound sort of sexy.

You first step here (AS ALWAYS) is to define your specifications. You can *start* with the questions above but if you haven't thought of 4 times that many yourself in your specs then you don't really know what you want... and hence can be offered no real solution.