| From: | Wil Haslup |
| Date: | 10 Apr 2001 at 19:33:47 |
| Subject: | [D5] Re: Back from St. Louis! |
Hi Richard
On 10-Apr-01, you wrote:
> 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.
When Bill Gates makes this arguement and is intending to release the
next version of his OS so that it calls MS and checks in it seems to
me that it is a fair statement. The arguement that personal piracy on
the PC platform is prevelant has been the norm for some time.
<snip...>
>> 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,
come on! these days that's not that much of a perk...it should be
assumed.
> 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?
Developers should develop their product and support their users....if
they can't do that without it becoming personal based on their own
inability to find a large enough market share they should move on to
greener opportunities exactly as GP is doing.
> 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.
Hmmm, how do we explain Nova Design? Multiple products, commitment to
develop for the Amiga platform, present at the last show and providing
help and support for their apps in their booth. I guess these folks
are too dense to realize the Amiga market is dead.
Obviously, everyone doesn't see the same set of circumstances in the
same light. Fact is that GP needs to do what they think best given
the circumstances they find themselves in. It is unfortunate that
developers have to make these decisions but its the same for all of
us.....just business...when an application or a platform fails to
allow us the ability to do what we need to do we have to move on.
Personally, I've made it clear that I don't think the Amiga market is
dead and that it does require some creativity to find your niche in
it.
Regards
Wil