🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <8533@pogo.WV.TEK.COM> bluneski@pogo.WV.TEK.COM (Bob Luneski) writes:
>
>In <"90-02-09-11:06:10.92*UK14"@DKAUNI2.BITNET> O. Steinmeier writes:
>
>>...
>>So, if you know a reliable, fast, cheap (PD or shareware preferred)
>>harddisk backup program, would you send me a message?
>
>So you want it to be fast, reliable, and do everything but wash the kitchen
>sink but you don't want to pay for it????  Typical.
>
>Besides the TOTAL lack of support from Atari Corp.(products, marketing, and 
>distribution) the single most important factor contributing to the decline
>(and eventual death unless something changes) of the ST is the unwillingness 
>of users to PAY for quality software.  NOBODY wants to develop software for 
>a machine that you can only sell 500 copies of a program before it's on half 
>the bulletin boards across the country.  
>

While I agree with your point about many users not willing to pay for quality
software, I don't think you had to jump on this guy to make it.  There's
nothing to indicate that he was not going to pay for a shareware product.
Maybe he feels the best value is in the shareware/PD market.  And asking for
fast and reliable software is not asking for much!!!!

The way that I see it is that most ST owners bought their ST because of it's
value (translation:  it was priced lower than everything else).  You will
find tons of college students owning STs, and I've seen hundreds of messages
from those students saying "I'm a poor college student and can't afford to pay
for this piece of software.  Does anyone know where I could find something
comparable in the PD or as shareware?"

At first I wondered why Publishing Partner (remember that?) came out without
a HP laser printer driver (I couldn't believe it had a Postscript driver!), but
I read somewhere that the company felt that most ST owners could not afford a
laser printer and that the Postscript driver was for the serious desktop
publisher, and for their own use.  If Softlogic really said that, I don't know,
but that is what I'm talking about.

Maybe this is why the ST has trouble attracting the big name software
developers.  They know that someone who paid $600 for a complete system won't
pay $300-$500 for their software.

-- 
 Tom Bellucco - moscom!tmb@cs.rochester.edu  or  {...}!rochester!moscom!tmb
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   "Whatever I said, I didn't mean it...unless, of course, you liked it!"
   #include <std.disclaimer>