🚀 go-pugleaf

The open letter below was on a local BBS, and I pass it on because I think
some net.programmers might find it interesting and useful.

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                        The Puzzle Factory, Inc.
                             P.O. Box 986
                           Veneta, OR 97487
                            (503) 935-3709

                                                        08 February 1990

Dear fellow Amigan,

For several years I had pondered the state of the software industry from
the point of view of a programmer developing a new program, and what I
saw bothered me quite a bit.  They had several choices: all bad!

They can go the traditional route and sell it to a Software house. 
Software houses may buy the program outright if they think it's a real
killer.  In one typical story a programmer was overjoyed to receive $75K
for their program only to later learn that the company already had a
marketing slot for it, and made over $2M in the first year of sales.

On the other hand they may elect to pay the programmer royalties -
typically 5-15% of the *net*.  Guess how small the net is by the time
they get down to figuring royalties?!?

If this isn't appealing, they can give shareware a try.  We all know how
honest users are, and how they all promptly send in their checks, and
how profitable shareware is.  A very well known Amiga programmer wrote a
much needed and very well written utility.  It soon reached market
saturation, with an estimated 50,000 copies in daily use.  After less
than 1/10 of 1% of its users sent in checks, he gave up on the shareware
market and is now marketing other programs commercially.  Writing and
mailing a check is *hard work*!  'Nuff said.

A third choice is trying to market your creation yourself.  Given the
need to have a fair amount of expertise in publishing, packaging,
marketing, and other esoteric callings, not to mention the inordinate
amount of time and energy needed to get a new product off the ground,
this is obviously something that is *not* for everyone.

I thought this was all pretty dismal, and for a long time I pondered
what I (or anyone) might do about it.  Programmers spend a lot of time
and effort learning a system, and writing that great new program.  They
should profit from this work.  I finally came up with what I felt was an
innovative idea, and it became The Puzzle Factory.  

We look for excellent tools for the Amiga.  When a program is found, we
develop it into a commercial product, and promote it to appropriate
markets.  We split the expenses and the profits equally with the
program's creator.  We sell direct to keep down expenses, and pass these
savings on to the buyer.  Because of our interaction with the program's
author, we are able to give an outstanding level of customer support.

Our first program was ReSource, an intelligent, interactive
disassembler, written by Glen McDiarmid of Queensland, Australia. 
Without undue modesty, this is *the* best disassembler available for
*any* personal computer.

ReSource was a shareware program when we got involved.  It was a great
program, but needed to be developed into a commercial product.  We
worked with the author to get the documentation into shape, printed the
manual, and designed the package.  We have also been aggressively
marketing ReSource to the Amiga programming community.

The Puzzle Factory has a current need for excellent productivity and
development tools for the Amiga.  If you have such a program with
commercial potential, please contact us.  We'd like to add you to our
family.  If you know of a programmer in your area that has a diamond in
the rough, please share this letter with them.

We feel that The Puzzle Factory is an excellent alternative to shareware
or customary commercial marketing.  Please feel free to contact us with
any questions you might have.

                                                Jeff Lavin, President
                                                The Puzzle Factory, Inc.
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Doug Sears   dsears@cie.uoregon.edu
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