How to advertise (free) software?
- by nebukadnezzar
I'm not sure if this fits on SO, but other SE sites don't seem to fit either, so I understand when this question gets moved, Although I'd like to avoid getting it closed due to being offtopics, since I think that this question might fit, considering this part of the FAQ:
Stack Overflow is for professional and enthusiast programmers, ... covers …
a specific programming problem
...
matters that are unique to the programming profession
Sorry for the lengthy Introduction, though.
When Software is advertised, it is usually Software for one (or more) specific purpose, such as:
Mozilla Firefox - A Web Browser
Ubuntu - An Operating System
Python - A Programming Language
Visual Studio - A Development Studio
... And so on. But when writing Libraries, that is, Software that doesn't necessarily serve one specific purpose, but instead multiple purposes, which are usually supposed to be used inside an application, such as:
Irrlicht - A 3D Engine
Qt - An Application Framework
... The process of advertisement gets a little more difficult.
I'm a developer of the latter kind of Software, and I naturally want to advertise my Software. It's not commercial Software; It's not GPL either. It's completely free (Licensed under the MIT License :-)).
I naturally host my stuff at github, which technically makes it very easy to access the software, and I thought that these might be possible options, although I have no experience with them:
Submit the Software to Freshmeat, and hope for the best
Submit the Software to Sourceforge, and hope someone accidently stumbles over it
Write spammails, and get death threats via Mail
... But something tells me that these methods are probably not the best Methods.
So, my final question would be, How does the Average Joe Hobby Programmer advertise his/her Software Library?
