Re: Did A2Command Miss the Boat?

[Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Payton Byrd <plbyrd@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have to say that I've been astonished at how little feedback and usage
> I have seen for A2Command (a2command.codeplex.com) since I released the
> full version 1.0 back in February.  In over 6 months of being in a stable
> state, there have been only 204 downloads of the disk archives (that
> includes people who downloaded each archive format).  There have been 110
> downloads of the 140K DSK image, which I would assume would be pretty
> much the number of unique downloaders for the project.
> 
> I'm wondering if Oliver and I missed the boat on something major
> concerning A2Command.  It's sister project, CBM-Command
> (cbmcommand.codeplex.com) enjoys huge success despite having competitive
> projects in the CBM scene.  As far as we know there is nothing else like
> A2Command available for Apple II systems.  
> 
> My theory is that A2 enthusiasts don't use their old hardware as much as
> CBM enthusiasts do and thus there's simply not as much demand for
> aggressively using the mass storage options available for the A2 platform.  
> 
> I find this to be at odds with the number of CFFA cards that seem to be
> flying off of the shelf, so to speak.  I'm wondering if maybe buyers of
> CFFA could be given a 140K floppy with A2Command and that would improve usage of A2Command.
> 
> Anyways, I don't want to sound like a glory hound here.  I want people to
> use A2Command because it's useful, not to stroke my ego.  A2Command is a
> better product, IMHO, then CBM-Command (it's more focused, has better
> functionality, is faster, 80-columns, etc.).  I'm wondering what Oliver
> and I could have done differently to improve the usage of A2Command, or
> whether it's simply too niche at this point to really develop a following.

I use a real //e a lot, but my fingers know their way around ProSel and
Copy II Plus, so they get most of my keystrokes. ;-)

Habit is powerful...

-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon