sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) (08/15/89)
<951@corpane.UUCP> <4672@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> Sender: Reply-To: sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: Corpane Industries, Inc. Keywords: In article <4672@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) writes: > me: >>package", if only 20% ever bother registering, then that is a good sign that >>the program is not worth the cost, and the maker better get on the ball and >>come out with a good program or face the facts of lowered sales as word of >>mouth travels about the crappy program. >> > >This is simply not true. Many people buy good useful programs and >use then only once or twice then self them. Of coarse it is much >more true for games and real productive software but it still seems >to be the norm. Also it seems that many people don't even bother to >register there hardware let alone their software. According to a >Commodore rep out here only 2000 Amigas were registered the second >quarter this year in North America. I sure hope the Amiga sells are >better than this. > >Anyway, my point is that impulse buying in not really bad. Many >great products are sold this way. How many people buy a paint program >like Deluxe Paint to only use it a few times, or a program like SA3D >to only raytrace a few pictures. Are these bad products, no! However, >I'm willing to bet that impulse buying plays a big part in many of >their sales. > Well I disagree with the point about deluxe paint. Most everyone I know who has the program loves it and uses it quite often. Now, about sculpt-animate 3d, I think that makes MY point. I agree with you there, many people buy it and only use it once or twice. Seems to me that Byte-by-Byte should ask themselves "WHY? what can we do to make it better?" I'll tell you the problems: 1> It is very difficult to design 3d shapes with it. The windows are too small to see what the hell you are doing. The method of making faces, lines, etc is cumbersome and very hard to learn 2> It takes FOREVER to ray trace a picture. Compared to many of the freely distributable raytracers like DBW, and QRT, SA3D is a DOG when it comes to speed. The main problem with DBW and QRT is also a lack of a decent way to design 3D shapes. The only way to make SA3D useful is to use a third party 3D shape designer or the ACAD translator which allows you to port AutoCAD 3d objects into SA3D. So no wonder it gets put on the shelf. In my opinion, nobody buys a program (especially one for over a $100) on the reasoning, that "I think I'll buy this program, if I don't like it I'll just throw it on the shelf". When someone buys a program like SA3D, they want to be creative with it. If the program let's them down or is too difficult to use, then it DOES get thrown on the shelf. And that is the programs fault. It needs work. I am an artist, and an engineer. I draw, paint and use Autocad all day to make 3d objects, no problem. But even I can't use Sculpt effectively. It's too much work for what you get out. I have been using ACAD translator to transfer my 3D Autocad drawings into scene files. Actually I only have Sculpt-3d. and no I didn't send in my registration card. And the reason was I was so disappointed in it that I DID throw it on the shelf. In disgust. I have only just began to start using it again, now that I have the ACAD translator. S3D does an excellent (but slow) job when all it has to do is ray trace. The user interface SUCKS. >The problem is that if pirated copies of the program abound, then >these light users who are still valid sales sometimes use the programs >and never pay for it because they reason, well I don't use it that >much so why buy it. I have inside information on the sales of 9 >different Amiga programs. From where I stand it looks like copy- >protecting my programs doubles my sales! So what choice do I have? > Do what you have to do. But realize that copy protection hurts legit owners too. It makes it difficult to put the program on a hard disk, and hard to make a back up copy. It doesn't stop pirates though. If someone wants to break a program, someone will find a way to do it. But I think that these "light sales" are taking advantage of people. They didn't know what they were buying and were disappointed and so threw the program on the shelf. Most places won't give refunds on software, so they are stuck. Why would anyone buy a program and not use it if it was what they wanted? People don't have money to throw away. I sure don't. >Maybe I shouldn't have used the term "impulse buying" since it seems >to be to mis-understood. Instead let coin the term "light sales", that >is sales to casual or one-time users. As a programmer, I still want >to be paid for these light sales! Maybe I'd feel different if the >Amiga market was much bigger, but I doubt it. > >I hope this clears the air some. I can see your point, but try to look at it from the buying public's view too. If a program doesn't perform as expected, then it won't be used. There will always be a percentage of customers that will be disappointed in a program, no matter what you do. But if this percentage is 80% (what you quoted) then that means that there is a problem somewhere. Either the program doesn't work as well as it should, or there is a misrepresentation in the marketing of the product. 80% of sales who don't use the program means something is wrong. I realize that the 80% you quoted was for those who did not send in the registration. And of course there will be a portion of that 80% who do like the program but don't bother to send in the card. But IMHO, most of that 80% will be those who don't like the program. If it's a terrific program, then they will want to be registered so they will be informed of upgrades. > > Wayne Knapp > >P.S. When you are getting as high as 20% registering on a programs that >costs only around a $100, it is a sign that you have a great program! ONLY $100! sheesh, must be nice to have $100 to throw away. >I seen super programs that don't do nearly as well. (Stuff that I >worked on at Montana State Univ. a few years ago). -- John Sparks | {rutgers|uunet}!ukma!corpane!sparks | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 1200bps ||||||||||||||| sparks@corpane.UUCP | 502/968-5401 thru -5406 I want to live forever or die in the attempt.