fek@wuphys.UUCP (Frank Kramer) (03/31/85)
AN APOLOGY is offered to those readers of net.micro.apple who are most likely becoming weary of reading piracy articles and would like to see a return to discussions of those great little engines from Apple Computer, Inc. But please allow me to squeeze these few thoughts in before the book is closed. I do program development for a small software firm out of Denver. The company (which I will not name unless requested by mail) puts out some very fine products for the petroleum and mineral exploration industry for use on microcomputers. The founder of that company is an absolute fanatic when it comes to the pricing of these products; using the startegy (but not, unfrotunately, the resources) of Borland, he insists that all software be priced as cheaply as is possible. The development costs are recouped over the long run rather than the short. The result is that a product designed to compete with a $5000 package will be priced around $1500. And products that would normally sell for $1500 are priced at less than $100. We predicted heavy sighs of corporate relief and a mailbox stuffed with purchase orders. What we got was a few purchase orders and a lot of long distance phone calls that may summarized with "What's the catch? At only a hundred bucks it can't be very useful." Only time will tell if our pricing strategy was a good idea. By the way, the software is minimally copy-protected (PROLOK) because the low prices coupled with the small market precludes staying in business if piracy becomes a significant factor. It is very difficult for any small business to make it. It is the smaller concerns that seem to make most of the advances in any arena and there is no guarantee that these advances will be rewarded financially. So the average small business person ends up working hundred hour weeks for no money trying to build a living, breathing entity where once there was but a void. In spite of media bally-hoo, not everyone in the computer industry drives a BMW and spends evenings drinking french wine in a hot tub. There are one hell of a lot of us driving ten-year old cars and eating PBJ sandwiches trying to make our little places in the sun. And if we don't make it, well that's what gambling is all about. But another factor to be reckoned with is finding a job after the company goes belly-up. It is very difficult for a former entrepreneur to find a position in corporate America. The personnel people (oops, Human Recources Specialists) believe "Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur." You are considered unlikely to be a team player. You cannot be trusted to stay with the job because you will most likely leave and start up a company with the knowledge that you have gained while in their employ. Look, I'm not trying to elicit sympathy from anyone. I know the risks. I know the rewards. But I am trying to make some points that have been under-treated (boy, I'll bet I get flamed for that one) in this discussion. There are no simple answers like "Just lower your prices and do away with copy-protection" (sorry, Mr. Pournelle). It also does no good to tell people like DR. VAX that he is doing wrong. He knows that. There will always be people with a set of values like those possessed by him. They are the ones who drive drunk. They turn street signs around. They go hunting at night out of season. They piss on toilet seats. They cut you off in traffic. They write their names on walls and pirated software. I firmly believe that the great majority of those starting up new companies, at least in this industry, are honestly trying to make a real contribution, with the profit motive secondary. And if I did not think that there is a simple grandeur in that, I would not be doing it. But I also believe that we deserve an even break. That's all, Frank
brad@gcc-bill.ARPA (Brad Parker) (04/02/85)
In article <250@wuphys.UUCP> fek@wuphys.UUCP (Frank Kramer) writes: >... In spite of media bally-hoo, >not everyone in the computer industry drives a BMW and spends evenings >drinking french wine in a hot tub... > >Frank I don't know about you Frank, but it's absolute hell trying to find someone to tune my Ferrari while I'm in Paris for the day. It's a good thing I'm in software... :-) -- J Bradford Parker uucp: seismo!harvard!gcc-bill!brad "I've seen this happen in other people's lives... and now it's happening in mine." -The Smiths
cjl@ecsvax.UUCP (Charles Lord) (04/04/85)
Frank, you said it all!
So for the rest-
ENOUGH ALREADY!