Re: The "user-developer gap" myth

[Dain Neater <dneater@inebraska.com>]

Why can't someone who puts hard work into a piece of software be
compensated.  If you think $25 is a lot of money, I am sorry for you.
I only know a handful of titles that aren't compilations, that are $25 or
more.

Dain

In a free world nothing would get done.





> From: Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>
> Organization: SBC Internet Services
> Reply-To: rubywand@swbell.net
> Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
> Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 15:20:13 -0500
> Subject: The "user-developer gap" myth
> 
> The Apple II Mail Group writes ...
> 
> ....
>>> 
> I thought I would comment here about the essay on the "State of the Apple
> II." I believe there is a serious gap between end users and developers,
> <<
> 
> Well, there certainly has been a major gap between Apple II users and a
> few developers. On the other hand, most active developers get along fine with
> users.
> 
> Here is a listing of a few along with recent products/upgrades
> announced:
> 
> 
> Teodor Angeloff- Apple II Oasis v2.4
> 
> Jesse Blue (NinjaForce)- Asimov2, NinjaForce Assembler
> 
> Beverly Cadieux- Appleworks and ProSel updates
> 
> Peter Koch- unix-based A2 emulator
> 
> Andy McFadden- Nulib2
> 
> Steven W. Mentzer- XGS/32 IIgs emulator
> 
> Ron Kneusel- DSK2FILE v5.7f
> 
> Jonathan Schattke- AppleWin v1.11.B
> 
> Eric A. Seiden (DAR Systems)- ProLine 3.1
> 
> Mike Westerfield (Byte Works)- GSoft BASIC v1.2.0
> 
> 
> The list would be longer; but, these are examples which were easiest to find
> via a few simple newsgroup scans.
> 
> 
> Other developers and budding developers who regularly participate in
> Csa2 discussions without any "gap" include Paul Guertin, Jerry Kendall, Rudy
> Guy, Phoenyx, Paul Schlyter, Boris Guenter, Jon Bettencourt, ...
> 
> Meanwhile, you can count up developers with a real "user gap" problem on
> the fingers of one hand.
> 
> The so-called "gap" between developers and users is a myth.
> 
> 
> 
>>> 
> but it is not for the reasons given in the article.
> <<
> 
> Naturally.
> 
> 
>>> 
> That article states, "Selling 40 copies of a product is now considered a
> success. Selling 60 copies is a smash hit." This surprises me and is not
> true.
> 
> I easily sell many hundreds of copies of disks containing my original
> software (AppleWorks-related patches, TimeOut accessories, etc.)  as soon as
> they come out. ..And not just to my subscribers; we have buyers from all
> sorts of Apple II resources. The problem is not that the users are not buying
> because they don't buy anything. It's more likely because the users simply
> don't know what's available.
> <<
> ....
> 
> In general, agree. Minor league marketing constitutes a major factor.
> Additional significant factors are ...
> 
> o- Price: We can talk about time invested, etc. until Hell freezes and the
> bottom line will be the same.  No one is going to sell many copies of any
> piece of Apple II software (with, maybe, one exception) for more than $25--
> and even $25 equates to a pretty heavy-duty package. Just about all current
> software is over-priced.
> 
> o- Appeal: A number of recent commercial releases have very limited appeal.
> Until there is a significant upgrade to IIgs hardware, very few users are
> going to care about accessing the net using an Apple II.
> 
> o- PR: For years, a small clique has tried to sell the notion that some elite
> group of developers creates Everything-- obviously not true-- and that
> developers view users as clods and pirates-- possibly still true for a few
> developers. Unfortunately, enough users believe this part of the myth to have
> an impact on sales. People don't like or trust sellers who, they believe, are
> calling them "pirates" for downloading ancient software.
> 
> 
> 
> Rubywand