You're competing with piracy.
Yup, that is true. However, I don't view piracy as a major deterrent especially considering my materials are going to be given away for free.
I just don't see how third world countries without food, water, and the internet are going to start book-keeping.
They already are. You are forgetting to realize that most 3rd world countries are going to be developing rapidly over the next 50 years. Africa is going to be the next big growth story.
How do these third world countries work without the internet?
Many are starting to get internet but mainly in the form of cell phone type networks.
Have you ever worked with India? It's ROUGH. And that's one we've been working on and with for a LONG time...
The only thing I know is that the average person is India values education and is extremely motivated to become educated, if they can afford it.
Things like this - that idea only works if your secretary is sitting around doing nothing...Or if she has excess capacity...in which case it would be more efficient to part-time her.
Doesn't matter. The employer would rather have the secretary working full time and have that person being able to multitask instead of having a bunch of part timers. The more employees you have, the more paperwork and other HR hassles to deal with. The secretary is just one example of course. There are many other examples.
I just feel like you haven't started the material, and you haven't fully thought this out.
I have written the first 3 chapters which mainly relate to the overall theory of financial accounting but they are rough drafts at best. There is a lot of work involved of course and plus I need to get my life settled. It is a long-term project to me.
What your talking about isn't going to get accomplished without lots of funding and people.
This is a common misconception. Why? Because people are willing to volunteer their time to worthwhile projects. Just look at wikipedia. Hundreds of thousands of random people have all joined to together to write millions of articles and have given it all away for free. Now wikipedia is the go to place if you need a quick summary of some topic.
You talk about an online homework manager being VERY EASY to make. Sure, relatively to a complicated program. But....are you going to make it? Do you know the issues they've dealt with...? Are you a programmer?
Yeah I might make it, if I feel that it is something worthwhile to pursue. Also, yes I know various web programming languages. I have used the LAMP stack for my previous business (that's mysql, php, html/css, javascript etc.) which was related to adaptive educational technology. Unfortunately, I had to shut down that business due to legal issues. It is a long story needless to say and after that I pretty much decided to go back to school to get my BA degree + CPA which is where I am at today.
Listen. I'm not trying to shit on your dreams. I'm just challenging your idea because you have an idea, not a project, not a business plan, not a draft. You have an idea and you spend your time with ideas while posting on reddit.
It is not just an idea. It is a vision for the future. That's how everything starts and then someone needs to take the first step to build it. I am working on writing the first rough draft of the textbook off and on, time permitting. When I finish writing it, I'll slap together a quick site with mediawiki on it and I will share it with /r/accounting so everyone can critique it/edit it/discuss it.
Also yes, I get where you are coming from and I appreciate your feedback. I don't take it personal as I have gotten many positive and negative criticism from this idea. I have taken those criticism into mind and have adjusted my vision to be more realistic.