The end is nigh! (well sort of...)

[Les Newell]

I am planning on retiring in the next 2-3 years so I need to start thinking about what will happen to SheetCam in the future. I have had an unsolicited offer for the business from one software company but to be honest I don't like their business practices. If I do find a buyer it will have to be to someone that commits to continuing development. I don't want to see it ending up like Mach3.

Another option would be to make SheetCam open source. SheetCam uses a number of open source libraries so this would be a way of giving back to the community. It would obviously be a significant financial hit to me compared to selling but if I can't find someone I trust to continue the work I will seriously consider this option.

In the more near term I will be reducing the cadence of work on SheetCam. I will still be releasing updates but they may not be as often.

[robertspark]

that's a shame Les, good to see you retiring but sad for those of us who really like sheetcam.

I wish I had the programming knowledge. still 2-3 years is a great transition time to a new keeper of the sheetcam package

[WyoGreen]

Les,
being a long time retired person, I would not begrudge you the experience of doing what you want when you want. So, good luck on your retirement (when you retire.) Just make sure you have something to do once you do retire, otherwise you won't last too long just sitting around.
As far as the finance side of things, if you do go the open source side, perhaps there's a funding mechanism that direction also. People seem to love to give money away, so perhaps some kind of a "go fund me" or "patron" type of thing. There are a lot of people using your program, perhaps there is a community out there that would band together to keep Sheetcam going and help "buy" you out. I see a lot of that type thing in the Linux world.

Just rambling here, Steve

[Les Newell]

Thanks Steve,

I know what you mean about needing something to do. I have seen others go downhill fast after retiring. However to a certain extent I have the opposite problem. I have lots of ideas and projects fizzing in my head but not enough time to do anything about them.

I'm in the fortunate situation that I can now comfortably retire with or without the money from the sale of SheetCam. I would feel rather guilty asking people to donate when I don't need it. The business is worth a considerable sum and a part of me cringes at just giving it away, even though I can afford to do so. However I would rather do that than pass it on to a company that just milks it for every penny they can get without investing in improving SheetCam.

[pgilley]

I rarely contact sheetcam for help but have always gotten a reply from Les when I needed it.He will be sorely missed in my opinion. I am retired after working 58 years solid. It took about a month of retirement to realize that I needed something to occupy me. I had worked in the coal industry for 30 years and taught a community college welding program for 28 years after that. I purchased a simple plasma table from Eagle Plasma and started doing hobby cuts for people, house numbers, mailbox names, etc. It has been a life saver for me. Thanks to Les and sheetcam members.

[repauli1]

Wow, wish I was younger, what a fantastic opportunity for a seasoned coder familiar with CNC, electronics. I reached out to a mature company in the industry that has great products, with modest margins. Possibly (hopefully) they might be interested. (You have worked with them).
I retired (sold) my automation business in 2019 at 65, wish I hadn't now. I keep busy in my shop I built behind my home now, building a couple cnc plasma tables, retrofitting controls, restoring cnc machines, and machining collision torch mounts to sell, all just to stay busy. I still wake up at 430/530 am, just can't get use to doing relaxing things.

[mancavedweller]

Well Les, you've brought us a fantastic product at a fair price, and gave fantastic support since the start.

I sincerely hope you love retirement and it allows you to play with all those ideas you have stored away.

I'm the same as you, and if I could retire there would still not be enough hours in the day. So many interesting things to do in life.

[shineworld]

This news on the one hand saddens me, I have had the opportunity to recommend SheetCAM to many users of our numerical control and have never received any negative feedback, but on the other hand I am also happy, from one developer to another we get to a point that it is okay to leave a challenging project to look forward to other things in life.

I hope you will be happy with the choice you make, whether the project is sold or bequeathed to the open-source world.

Leaving a product like this to which you have devoted so many years and effort will not be easy, I have done it in the past and the parting is always painful but also a relief.

Those who make software with dedication throw a tremendous amount of energy and time into it, always with the goal of giving a good product that satisfies the needs of the many users.

Again, thank you Les for the work so far.