Beekeeping Software Idea

[KES]

After looking around the last several months for software that would fit my style and habits for beekeeping, I basically came up short. Most all programs have been abondanded and are no longer being supported. The issue being, you just can't please everyone with a single program.

I finally designed my own Excel spreadsheet program but I'm really interested in seeing a comprehensive software solution aimed at the hobbyist beekeeper with less than 100 hives to find it's way to the market. There is more and more interest in beekeeping due to the media coverage of CCD. Many of the new beekeepers will also be looking for programming options for record keeping and hive maintenance.

I've submitted my idea to a site called Cambrianhouse.com. It's a site that promotes the idea, then partners the ideas creator with the necessary talent and funding.....if your idea passes muster. They have a voting system that pushes my idea to the top (or bottom, as the case may be) and that's where you come in.

I'm asking if you would take a couple of minutes and review my idea then vote accordingly. If so, click on the link above. Also, if you think the idea has merit, please feel free to send a link to my idea page to a thousand of your closest friends. That would help immensely.

Thanks,

Ken

[Bennettoid]

I was going to vote, but it hasn't started yet. You'll have to bump this in 4 days.

[KES]

Thanks Bennettoid, I'll give it a bump again when voting starts.  I created the thread early knowing that people could comment (free registration required) on the idea and provide additional insight.

[bassman1977]

I talked to a guy I work with about developing a software for beeks.  He is interested.  If people want to post their ideas for features, that would be a good start.  I sounds like he wants to create it and keep it open source so that it is free for all.  I will consult him during the process.  I am going to give him a sample of my logs for starters.

[KES]

Just a quick note to let you know that voting begins tomorrow (Wed) at noon, Central Standard Time. I've been recieving some very good responses to the idea.

[Bennettoid]

Voted.

[KES]

Bennettoid!

Thanks for voting and thanks for your comment on the site.  I was just getting ready to bump this up so people would know that voting has started.  If you go to the ideas page and preview all the ideas, you can click on "sort by Total Score" and see where I'm ranked.  There are 26 ideas in this round.

I've also made a few contacts with people who have expressed an interest in designing the program.  It's all getting pretty exciting.

[KES]

Just a quick update, the idea is leading the voting in all catagories (Total score, Average Score, Votes, and comments). I've made contact with a few people who have expressed an interest in helping design the program and help get the idea off the ground. I've also received a number of positive comments about the idea itself. We've now reached a point where "the crowd" wants to know what the market might look like and they want to know how many potential beekeepers that might be interested in the software.

Here's what I've currently been working on; I'm trying to determine how many beekeepers there are in the USA and around the world. This is proving to be daunting task because many are not registered and there also doesn't seem to be any official reports stating the number of beekeepers. I'm getting lots of information on pounds of honey and number of hives but not numbers of beekeepers themselves.

Can anyone here help me with this? Please post links if you can. Thanks again.

[KES]

Voting is now over and the idea has won this weeks challenge!  Interest continues to build from "the crowd" as well as beekeepers.  If you haven't taken part in the poll yet, please head over here and tell us what you think.

I would like to keep comments about the program itself here in this thread.