>Are you suggesting that that an obsoleted version sold will have >some magical INCREASE in <the cost and> number of people who seek >tech support?
I've been on "the sharp end" of this. Customers have gotten really irate when I said "actually, I haven't used that myself for over a year. I really can't remember what it looks like or how it works. I'm using version xxx myself. It has all the bug fixes and is ten times faster". "I can't remember" isn't a good answer, although, in my case, it's the only answer I can give. I'm already forgetting how OS9 worked, even tho I'm still using Emailer in "Classic" mode. I had a friend phone me only last night with a question about OS9 extensions and I simply couldn't remember enough to give him an answer other than 'try "Extensions Manager"'. In another year I won't even remember enough to tell him that. The problem with supporting obsolete stuff is that you have to employ someone specifically to keep using it so that he remains familiar with it and can answer tricky questions at the drop of a hat. The customer doesn't want to wait while he searches through the manual in the hope of spotting something plausible. (We get enough of that sort of "support" by outsourcing the job to India!) Bottom line is this: no company is going to employ someone who is productive for only an hour a week and spends the rest of his time playing with old software. In fact, I turn away a lot of potential "customers" because I know that selling them a specific item will result in an overall monetary loss. I do this because I'm 99% certain they won't be able to get it to work. This goes for new stuff as well as obsolete. If they ask me a question that indicates they are totally clueless, the item they want will suddenly be out of stock. I suppose I come across as "hard nosed" but the aim of the business is to maximise its profit. It comes as a surprise to many people that sometimes the way to achieve that is to turn away customers. The trick lies in knowing who to turn away and when and how. I've found the magic words "F**k O*f" work very well. Na, only joking - but I've been tempted. ;-) I'm tending towards the opinion that the best business model would be to "rent" customers the software and renew the key each year. That way they wouldn't be able to use obsolete software! (God forbid that it happens but I can see the trend already). Bear in mind that you can't "own" a web site domain name - you can only rent it. Martin (UK) ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
