In message <4c16cc82.9090...@genesis-midi.com>, Phil Kett
<pk...@genesis-midi.com> writes
On 15/06/2010 00:15, Roy Wood wrote:
Which brings me onto the 'future of the QL' debate. Nothing has a
future if it does not move. All the while I was writing 'Byts of Wood'
was up against the fact that there was nothing to write about.
Nothing new. No point in being a trader for a static community if all
you are advertising is the same stuff that everyone already owns.
Then, when you come up with a great system to make things better, no
one buys it (QDT of course). There may well be 500+ users on Rich's
database but what are they doing with the QL? What has he sold them?
The odd keyboard membrane, disk expansion,? How many repeat sales?
Data is only of use if it has a context.
In all the time I was a trader there were very few ground breakers
and they gradually fell by the wayside through lack of support and
sales. This has been the most active conversation on this list for
ages and a while back there were people talking about how to print - a
subject that has been round the track more times than a sprinter with
Alzheimers. When the QL community was thriving it was moving forward
flowing. These last years it has been inward looking and
characterised by infighting and lack of inspiration. I have not seen
QL Today since I stopped distributing it but I am still a member of
Quanta and I see nothing new there.
If you want it to continue then you have to stop complaining and
waffling on this list and write programs, have ideas and innovate. No
point in magazines and user groups if there is nothing new to say or
do. (BTW the Sussex group stopped meeting years back because there was
nothing new to do and the only reason it says that we no longer have a
venue is that Quanta was too lazy to contact us and just printed the
same message every time.)
This may all seem a bit harsh but, like a jolt to the heart in teh
case case of cardiac arrest, sometimes you need a defibrilator to
restore a pulse. The paddles are in your hands - don't wait for the
flat line.
I wasn't going to contribute to the QL future debate but Roy's reply
(good to hear from you by the way) has prompted me to.
If you look at the communities surrounding the old computers, whether
they be sinclair, commodore, atari or whatever - in nearly all cases
it's the games that keep the computers alive. Yes, there are hardware
innovations, but it's nearly always the ability to load games quicker
that prompts the development - the div-ide interface for the spectrum
springs to mind.
People unfamiliar with the QL aren't going to want to try and use a
word processor from the 80s when the one installed on their PC is 100
times better.
The availability of software is also something that isn't there in the
QL community. Search for just about any other 80s computer and you'll
find a wealth of software available on the net. The legality of these
downloads may be suspect but they're there - search for QL software and
what do you find? One or two sites offering compilers and productivity
software or asking you to purchase games.
The QL is a fairly obscure platform and no one that is unfamiliar with
it is going to pay money for something on the off chance that it might
be good.
There is another problem with QL software - it's fragmented. Some
software will run on a basic QL for which you can download an emulator.
Other software requires an enhanced system for which you need to either
have the hardware to run it or purchase an emulator. For just about
every other 80s or 90s computer you can download an emulator that will
run all the software for that machine.
I think we need to face the fact that the QL is almost a dead machine.
People aren't willing to invest money in something if they have no
compelling reason to use it and let's face it most people don't even
know what the QL is!
There are thriving homebrew communities for a lot of the old computers
but the QL isn't one of them. Why is this? It's not a money thing, a
lot of homebrew software is given away free. Basically there aren't
that many people who are bothered about the QL - why write something
for the QL when you could write something for the Spectrum and get a
wider audience?
The QL is a dwindling niche market and while people continue charging
not inconsiderable sums for software it will remain that way (until it
dwindles into oblivion).
Sorry for the rant - I think I've had too many glasses of wine this evening!
Regards,
Phil
The QL market will continue to be smaller than the Spectrum, Commodore
or others; as the QL sold less well when it was first introduced.
Therefore the "customer base" is smaller.
Yet, potential users will be tempted back in, or new ones introduced by
an easy way in.
This would need to be through an Emulator - either completely free and
workable - or an Emulator on a time period trial, say of 60 days.
Working on the "host" of PC hardware.
Qemulator and QPC2 would be candidates for this, if the authors agreed.
Enhanced versions, to move on to, could always also be an option to get
some income back for the authors.
The marketing should be fun and interesting, and yet quite aggressive -
to appeal to people to try it out.
There is an audience for retro computers - of which the QL is one.
A software package, or easy access to free or low cost software, would
be essential to tempt users in. As they need to see something to be
done with the system - and will not be interested in finding it all out
for themselves.
Once interest is kindled, then users will get interested in acquiring
original hardware and original add-ons, as well as using the emulator(s)
on PC hardware ( or others ).
Most users, on this list, are not a part of this target market - as most
already have several QL hardware items, and a lot of software; plus long
experience.
The latter need tempting in a different way, by some new hardware or
software, for the 21st Century - as the QL was a 20th Century invention.
I have QDT, which I use all of the time as the main "desktop" for a QL
system. Yet it is not finished - the file manager side is not complete;
and it lacks a lot of other "functionality".
I also use Launchpad to compensate for QDT's deficiencies in the file
management area.
Both Quanta and QL Today could be involved in this type of promotion of
the QL.
--
Malcolm Cadman
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