Obviously, non-programmers haven't and can't do this. For those of us with programming experience, though, have you ever simply created your own software or programs in order to save some money? Perhaps you needed a simple program or app that cost a few bucks that you didn't want to pay, or perhaps the available options didn't have a feature that you absolutely needed. The great thing about knowing your programming languages is that you can always work around your issues by creating a solution. I know friends that have designed entire programs to suit their needs and saved tons of money in the process.
I'm not a big fan of re-inventing the wheel since I consider that in and of itself a huge waste of time. I don't know programming in the sense of writing stand alone apps, but I do know HTML and CSS as well as some JQuery and Javascript, and my decision to just make something myself or buy it would really depend on the amount of time it would take me to make it myself. I would never think of trying to create my own content management system or forum script just to save a few bucks from the commercial alternatives. But I would be willing to code my own page layouts or custom Wordpress theme to save some money and make sure it's exactly how I want it.
I actually had a few ideas but I'm not one to do it because first of all, it takes time. The time it takes for you to actually make something work is really not a matter of hours not unless you're a genius. But if you have a fairly light load every day for your schedule then you can cram it in but I think it's better for me to just go with it since it would take some time and money to make my own. But I did sold an idea for a program once.
In depends on my needs. I mean if it's manageable then I think it's okay but if it's a whole program then you're better off purchasing one. If the time it takes for you to design your own software is really going to get you off your life then I think it's not worth it to save a few dollars. Not unless you're trying to emulate an expensive program but I think if you try and do this you're better off pirating it if you're that cheap.
I have always wanted to design my own software, just to prove that I am good enough for doing it. But I never got an opportunity or the right method to do it. I think it is all because of the fact that the I am used to do only one particular job for a long period of time. However, I am planning to develop my own apps in the future and make it very efficient for the people.
I'm no programmer, so the closest thing to this I have done is to set up some bots to automate certain tasks. I still use these bots to this day and it has saved me tons of time.
The one thing I ever designed was a small flash game, not to save cash, but for fun. If I knew any advanced programming I'd probably design some tools in order to automate certain activities, but for more complex tasks, I'd rather pay for ready made software instead of spending obscene amounts of time coding it myself. So my answer is yes, I'd design something myself for small tasks, but buy software for advanced ones.
