| From: | Richard Lane |
| Date: | 10 Apr 2001 at 18:34:16 |
| Subject: | [D5] Re: Back from St. Louis! |
Hello Bill
On 09-Apr-01, Bill Eaves wrote:
>>> A poor argument.
>
>> Really? I think your view would different if you were a developer trying
>> to earn a living.
>
> Please quote in context.
>
> You omitted the main part of my mail which stated that most Windoze users
> don't py for any of their software !
Most? You know this for a fact? Sure there's piracy on Windows as well as
every other platform, but please don't make such a vast generalisation as
"most". If that was the case then there'd be as much commercial software
available for the PC as there is for the Amiga. This clearly isn't the case.
> That's the bit that makes the big difference - and you carefully omitted it
> :-)
Yes, and I did so with good reason. This is old ground that's been covered too
many times on this list in which the arguements go nowhere and serve no
useful purpose. Piracy happens, both the genuine paying users and developers
have to deal with it as best they can, much in the same way as you do with
any thieves.
> Plus if it was not for us who have tested the Amiga version for years then
> Greg and Co would not have a product to do a Windoze version of. I do hope
> that they plough back some of the money they earn from the PC version back
> into the original. It would be the decent thing to do.
Nothing personal Bill. But quite frankly over the last few months I'm begining
to dispair with Amiga users. I just don't get it. They buy a well written and
incredibly useful program, they get free updates when things don't don't work
as they should even when it's not always the authors fault in the first
place, they have a mailing list funded by the developer where they can speak
directly to the authors for help as well as many other clued up users, they
get many extra user requested features and enhancements added over the years.
Just how much do they expect for what money they've paid, blood?
Fact, the Amiga market is dead, just ask ANY software developer and they'll
tell you the same. GPSoftware have supported the Amiga version well beyond
the point at which it stopped being a commercially viable product.
I'm sure Greg would much rather continue to update the Amiga version for the
next few years, rather than have to write DOpus 6 for Windows from scratch.
But the point is they'd make no money in the current Amiga market.
Though some Amiga users may not like it, the only way GPSoftware are going to
survive is by doing a version for Windows which is a huge market. Even if
they only manage to sell to a small minority of the total number of Windows
users, it's many hundreds if not thousands of times bigger than the any
potential sales left in the Amiga market.
As for putting back money earned from the PC version into the Amiga. They're a
business not a charity. Do you see any other firms who left the Amiga and
went on to be successful in the PC market doing that? No I thought not.
*If* by some miracle Amiga one day have a popular well supported system with a
decent user base then who knows, maybe we will see a version of DOPus for it.
But as it stands it's laughable, I've seen so many broken promises and
changes of direction in the last few months and years by the present and
former owners to believe it's nothing more than hot air. I'd love for you to
come back to me in two years time and laugh in my face at how well the Amiga
has done and how successful all it's wonderful new hardware and Workbench 5
is...... But that ain't going to happen.
If some Amiga users want to continue to live in their own happy little world
believing that there's a future in it then that's fine by me. But I'd rather
live in the real world.
Like it or not Windows is the most popular O/S on the planet used by the
majority of computer users. I'm not suggesting it's the best, just the most
popular. Therefor the only sensible commercial option is to write Opus 6 for
Windows.
DOpus on the Amiga is a terrific program and I see no reason why the PC
version shouldn't be at least as good if not better.
Personally I'm looking forward to getting my PC in the next week or so. It
will be nice to be on a well supported platform again where I can buy stuff
of the shelf from any high St.
I will however continue to support and help with DOpus for the Amiga both here
and on my web site for the forseeable future. There are additional plans I
have for the site later on but..... well, watch this space. :)
Regards