Killing a Project is Never Easy
About 1-2 years ago, I decided to stop development work on OpenVoter. It's still there, you can still download and use it, but it just hasn't been updated. Kind of sad too, because some updates were actually pretty far along for the next version. That said, if I ever end up going back to work on it, it might very well take a fair amount of time to figure out where exactly I left off. But going back to the time that I decided to move on from OpenVoter, I remember debating what I wanted to do somewhat heavily. I really liked what I was able to accomplish with it, but at the same time, it wasn't really used by anyone that I knew of and didn't really see it moving anywhere else. In the end, I begrudgingly decided to shelve it and find something else to work on. I've come up with a few ideas since then, the latest of which I've been on the fence about. I've been contemplating building an RSS reader to replace Google Reader, but I'm worried that the market has already been rather saturated and is too crowded for a little guy to get in. I have some cool ideas for it, some of them might even give it the differentiation it would need to work if I'm able to pull it off. It would definitely be a huge undertaking for me and probably more ambitious than OpenVoter. At the end of the day though, I'm not sure I want to pour my heart and soul into a project that may indeed have no real chance of succeeding. If I can get it to work, I'd definitely use it though so maybe it still would be worth pursuing. 2 years later, I'm now faced with the same decision I had with OpenVoter, only now with a different project. Do I continue on, or do I move onto something else? Even though I'm not all that far along, it's still hard to just abandon something.
I've been contemplating with getting into game development. I have an idea for a pretty cool game that I think I could probably pull off so maybe I'll just move onto that. The future is unknown, and I love these challenges…just need to make the time for them and stay focused!