Damn right - this proposal would end up cheaper for me. And for every other
developer out there.
It will even make life 'cheaper' for companies. But for Borland it will mean
a big fat and expanding revenue pipe.
Consider: For an enterprise, or even a small one man dev. shop:
How much time is spent on performing and testing backups?
How much time is spent on sorting out version control woes?
How much time is spent on fiddling with defect tracking systems?
How much time is spent on security issues surrounding customer access to the
support site?
How much time is spent on packaging and deploying upgrades?
How much time is spend on gathering metrics and working with them?
Etc...
Further, how many companies actually have the skills required (especially in
the security area). How many even manage to actually do any of these? By
bringing many companies together Borland can offer economies of scale and a
guaranteed implementation.
I don't enjoy working on these support tasks - I view them as a very
necessary evil. I would far rather be crafting software. The principle
problem is that most of the 'managers' that I have met have had difficulty
in equating developer time with physical expenditure. Some I have met can't
even comprehend the need for tools such as these. I feel it is generally far
easier to persuade someone to shell out small amounts of cash for a clearly
defined service each month than it is to get them to make one huge payment
every year or so.
As for technically advanced people being anti web services - have a look at
the source forge (http://sourceforge.net/) statistics:
Hosted Projects: 20,349
Registered Users: 169,127
A further thought has just crossed my mind - using data from these
aggregated projects Borland could even develop an extensive set of metrics
that they could use in their (hypothetical) forecasting and planning
services.
To sum up:
Borland are currently aiming their toolsets at the 90% of the market that do
'enterprise' development. Borland are being forced to do this because they
cannot compete with Microsoft on an even footing in the Windows world. But
Borland are now alienating a fair number of the developers who use their
products. This has disturbing implications for their future. This proposal
allows those developers to remain on board and yet for Borland to get the
'enterprise' cream in a nice steady and stream.
Martin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Brennan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
[snip]
> Question, why is this idea more attractive to you than the
> existing purchase system?
>
> Answer (IMO), because you think our proposed system would end
> up cheaper for you.
>And you are probably right - after all you can probably
> develop fine
> without needing most of these things you suggest Borland
> offer via the web.
> After all you (and I) probably do fine without these services
> right now (we
> manage our own source control, backups etc). So if the
> developers think this
> plan would cost us much less money then how are Borland go to
> end up making
> more money out of it?
>
> Basically I'm yet to be sold on any sort of subscription web
> services. IMO
> technically advanced people (which developers usually are)
> like to have
> things run just the way they want them, and web services seem
> to involve too
> many compromises.
>
> Just my 2c of course!
>
[snip]
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