

Ask HN: Distribute visualizations of code to increase sales? - amichail

Would it make sense to distribute various visualizations of the code in commercial software to give people some impression of how much work went into it?<p>You could even use interactive sorts of visualizations to make it more fun for people to browse through.<p>Of course, you would use visualizations that don't give away any of the source.<p>Even if you don't think this would work long term, what about the publicity that you would get from having say the first iPhone app that does this?
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chaosmachine
It might make an interesting blog post, but don't expect it to have much
impact on sales, unless your app audience is other coders.

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amichail
When people who know little about how cars work look at an engine, aren't they
impressed anyway? Don't they feel like they are getting their money's worth
when they see a complicated looking engine?

Currently, people look at things like graphics and sound in software. But what
about also being impressed by the complexity of the implementation? You don't
need to be a geek to appreciate an impressive looking software visualization
-- especially an interactive and/or animated one.

