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“Help with Macrobyte's Future” |
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| From: | Seth Dillingham | In Response To: | Top of Thread. |
| Date Posted: | Wednesday, March 20, 2002 2:24:04 AM | Replies: | 15 |
| Enclosures: | None. | ||
Lots of stuff happening right now at Macrobyte (in case you hadn't noticed). All of the software we've been working on for the last few months or years is being released, and Macrobyte (and Friends) is trying to chart a path we're not quite used to.
It's a little nerve-wracking, frankly.
One of my friends has been -- and continues to be -- very outspoken against my preferred course of action. He thinks he's annoying me, but in fact I appreciate the fact that he's really forcing me to think about how the future could go.
I'm tired of not having a place to talk about this stuff, so I'm going to break my own rule and talk about it here, now.
The situation is that we have a lot of software to release. Now that it's all been announced, at least, I'll list it:
So how do we make a living? That's the question.
Sales of our software. Support constracts? (How much?) Non-free developers program? (How much?) Hosting services? Consulting services for continuing to improve our software?
I don't believe that charging a lot for the software will work. We don't have a sales or marketing budget. That means we have to build a community, and work with the other developers to "get the word out".
My friend (or possibly two of them) thinks that we should charge more for the software, simply because its so good. It's worth it, so charge for it. The point has been made that we'll have to sell quite a few copies of Conversant at an annual subscription, in order to keep the business growing.
I counter with the fact that a higher price makes it a much harder sell. (In fact, the same friend has told me to both raise the price *and* do more to cater to the low-end of the customer spectrum. Update: that's not what he meant, I misunderstood.)
I want to trust the developers to work with us, to be honorable and help us all to succeed. This may be a weakness, a flaw.
This is a crazy way to do business, I know, but I'm looking for opinions. If you're a developer who might be interested in working with our software (anything I listed), or a user who might want to install it (at your company), please speak up. Your opinions may help shape Macrobyte's future.
Do you have a site of your own? I invite you to post your thoughts there, and send me the URL. I'll link to it. If not, then feel free to reply here.
If nothing else, speaking up now will give you a chance to say, "See, I was right!" when we succeed -- or fail -- with whatever plan we go with.
Thanks for listening. Now I'm listening.
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