Peter Elst

A couple of months back I launched a set of components that allow you to look up belgian zipcodes based on a city name and vice versa. At the time I saw it as a test to see how feasible it is to release commercial Flash components.

Must say I’ve got mixed feelings about the result, the components have attracted a rather large number of visitors but have sold less than a handful of licenses.I’ve considered a couple of things:

• limited userbase for the components: doesn’t appear to be the case seeing the number of belgian visitors I get to that post
• blog not an ideal medium to sell: that might be the case, though in the past I’ve had more success
• price setting: doubt it, at 20 Euro or 25 USD it costs less than the average hourly rate for a Flash developer

In any case, other exciting projects are keeping me busy at the moment and have decided to make the components and source code available free of charge under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

Download here

If you’re so inclined, donations are still very welcome and will be used in full to sponsor PremaHome, a project in Tamil Nadu - South India that provides shelter for some 750 orphan and destitute children and free education to 900.

I’ve personally seen the hard work they’re putting in and can vouch any contribution will be well spent in this impoverished area. With just 25 USD you can cover the basic expenses of one child for an entire month, a very worthy cause!