Re: Light at the end of the tunnel.....

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

"blulynx" <blulynx@wt.net> wrote:

>I was an Apple II gamer in my childhood, and some
>of those old titles appeal to my sense of nostalgia
>(I hear some games in their origional boxes are
>actually collectors items). Those who distribute old
>software are really doing their part to revive the Apple II
>community. They do a great service to developers by
>providing free advertising of the "Apple style" that
>old and potential users will expect. It should be a great
>relief to any struggling developer to know that there are
>people out there who take time out to evaluate, enjoy,
>and pass the word about great work. Those who
>distribute software do one very important thing for
>the developer that nobody else will without a price:
>get his or her name out there! So I say screw pessimism.

That kind of thinking works for old titles like Karateka,
but what about newly released titles?  If Mike Westerfield
releases GS BASIC, for example, I think he expects to
sell at the very least 100 to 200 copies.  I think the A2
market can still support at least this meager number of
sales.  For example, Quick Click Calc released about
two and a half years ago sold something like 500 copies.

What would happen if GS BASIC appears, on the day
of its release, on Asimov?  Suddenly, 200 people
download copies from Asimov.  Out of these, maybe
20 would think...gee what a great program, I'll buy it...
you've lost 180 paying customers...

This kind of thing may have been survivable for real
development in the days when AppleWorks outsold
all other titles even in IBM PC world, but it kills such
development today...

100 to 200 sales represent sales to the really hard
core GS users who are still really using there
computers...I think that's a realistic number that'll
actually buy a $40 program...factoring attrition from
the 500 people that bought Quick Click Calc for $60
two and a half years ago...

If you want to see evaluation, there's no need to
pirate...every time something is released, a paying
customer usually posts a "review" (or impressions)
of the program here on usenet...