Where is ReceiptWallet going?

The other day I was chatting with someone that I work with and he mentioned that he and his brother would like to develop a software product. As part of the conversation, he asked if I'd sell ReceiptWallet? That's a good question. I started ReceiptWallet out of my own frustration really with no idea how well it would do. Now, it is a decent portion of my business and I still feel very passionately about it. That still doesn't answer the question, would I sell? If there are enough zeros on the check and the terms are right (I'd want ReceiptWallet to continue on and be developed), I'd say yes! Some "indie" developers would never sell out and just like going at it alone. For me, unless I grow my company to have other people handle support and sales, ReceiptWallet will continue to consume me. Someday I'd like to not have to worry about ReceiptWallet. Is that day coming any time soon? No. Am I giving up on ReceiptWallet? Absolutely not. I work on ReceiptWallet almost everyday.

Having my own software product is nice in some ways, but it also eats up a lot of time due to my desire to create a product that I love.

Don't worry about ReceiptWallet going away; I have some cool ideas for the future. Of course, I can't guarantee what or when will be in there (until a product ships, no one can know what a product will contain despite reassurance from developers).

Where has time gone?

Last Saturday, we celebrated our son's first birthday. It seems like just yesterday that we brought Aiden home from the hospital. We have learned so much over the last year, have had many sleep deprived nights, but most of all, we love being parents and seeing Aiden smile and be happy (most of the time).

Congratulations to my competitor!

I'd like to congratulate my competitor, NeatReceipts, for finally shipping a Mac version! I know that this has been a long time coming. Way back before I started ReceiptWallet, I contacted them about a Mac version. They said it was coming next year. That was more than 1.5 years ago. ReceiptWallet was first released in November 2006 and that has given me lots of time to make a product that I use everyday and have thousands of customers that also use the product.

One of the things I find interesting about their Mac product is they keep stating what it doesn't do more than what it does do. They also promise features for the version that will be out early 2009. Well, what about the people that want a product now? I've decided to offer those users that want ReceiptWallet a competitive upgrade. Information about this offer can be found over at the ReceiptWallet site.

While the NeatReceipts Mac scanner won't work directly with ReceiptWallet (they chose to use Apple's Image Capture Architecture), users can scan into Image Capture and then import the scans into ReceiptWallet. I'm looking at supporting ICA, but there are far too many issues with it to make it usable. I am working with an engineer at a major scanner vendor in an effort to help Apple fix the issues with ICA and make it usable. I have ICA support in ReceiptWallet, but it is disabled. I'm not a huge fan of the TWAIN drivers most vendors ship with their scanners, but those drivers work better than ICA at this point in time.

Anyway, I'm hoping that competition in the receipt management space brings me more publicity. I know that I'm the small fry in this space, but my heart is completely into ReceiptWallet. I listen to every piece of feedback that comes in and try very hard to get new features added as quickly as possible and to address any issues that arise. I'm currently releasing new versions at least once a month (sometimes more often) so that I can quickly address issues and provide the most stable product as possible. As a small developer, I have that luxury and users don't have to sit around waiting 6 months to a year for a bug to get fixed.

If you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't say it

Everyone has heard that if you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't say it. Well, I guess politicians haven't heard this saying. In your local city council race, a former local news personality is going up against an unknown CPA. The new personality (Marti Emerald) has sent campaign mailers touting what she has done and what she will do. Her opponent (there are a few other candidates, but these are the top 2), April Boling has only sent us campaign flyers that sling mud at her opponent. What kind of campaigning is that? We know nothing about her and she just wants to say what Marti Emerald isn't. If the signs around the neighborhood are indicative of the outcome of the race, Marti will win by a landslide.