It was a short while since Chris Wiles mentioned...
Oh dear, oh dear got on your noggin' again didn't I :-) Here's a
picked egg for you to suck on...
> > Just wondered how you can go and release MicroDot-II on
> > the PC when the Amiga version isn't even fixed of all the blimmin'
> > bugs yet! Can't that have priority to the people who have already
> > paid for it?
>
> You know the state of the Amiga market (ie. via your 'Learn to Drive'
> project/CD, or whatever it is called), so we *have* to look at other things
> to keep us in business.
Yeah I've had the hard facts from Epic. But I never wrote it to make
big bucks... just something to stick on my CV when I go for
programming jobs - which caught their attention straight away and got
me the job :) haha.
So yes I don't have to make money from it to stay in business - true.
Why don't you provide web design or something? Companies around here
(North Devon) charge upto �250 for a crap one page document with a few
scanned pictures (charge more to take photots with a digital camera)
and some text. Easy money if *ever* I knew some! Well honest easy
money anyway...
> I've never known a market so quiet/dead/finished. The last 2-3 months are
> crippling us, and that is not a joke. For instance, May was the quietest
> month we've had since October 1996. Sales were 50% (!) lower than the
> average month.
>
> June is no better and I doubt July nor August nor September will be either.
Surely your appearance at the WoA will bring in some sales from
punters who can see and play with the software first hand on a decent
display system will buy, buy, buy. Or maybe everybody who wants to
get on the net is now on the internet? You'll have to hold tight
until 0800 access comes about and another surge of people get the
taste for internet - as I guess happened with the likes of Freeserve
etc.
> So, how do we 'stay in business' when no-one is buying anything? An example:
>
> a) from 18th May until 17th of June we did not sell one (standalone) copy of
> STFax!
But this is a very specific program. I do not know many people who
could be arsed to run an answering machine from their computer. It's
as bad as my Driving Theroy test software - the purchaser of that
would have to be young (at a guess), still own an Amiga, *with* a
CD-ROM and be learning to drive and wanting to revise for the theory
test. Maybe they is to lazy to read a book like I did? Anyway back
to the subject in hand...
> b) from early May until today, we've only sold 9 copies of (standalone)
> NetConnect
More than I considered :-/ it's expensive kit (but *very* worth while
for the actual combined price). I see Amiga owners as only owning an
AMiga because they can't afford a PC now. Tight fisted to****s.
There *are* a few who really do commit to their machine and buy it
bits of jewellrey such as PPC cards, GFX cards and sound cards etc.
Or treat it to a new CD-ROM or hard drive. I bet currently more
hardware is sold than software.
> c) in the entire month of May, we sold only 20 modem packs
>
> If you do your own calculations, you can see that is a devastingly dead
> market. The above sales don't even pay for the advertising, never mind other
> costs and me actually making a wage to actually sit here and:
>
> a) answer all the support calls all day
>
> b) bother to manage the NC v3 and other (Amiga) projects
By "(Amiga) projects" you are refering to ST Fax 4? Two
complete products.I would say that doesn't require much management -
at least not every day. Just tell the coderswhat to do and wait for
the latest BETA to arrive. You/or the product programmer can use a
mailing list to manage things - dump a BETA on there and let the
selected subscribes eat away at it. The coder could read the reports
from testers and you would never need to come in on the project until
it is time to polish it up on finer details ready for a commercial
launch.
> > And yes I *do* realise it is not *yet* available but as it's mentioned
> > on the website it must be in some state of development?
>
> 1. Who said anything about 'Microdot-II'?
Microdot = MicrodotII. What else could it have been. As I read from
your other mail it is infact a port of STFax to the PC! What sort of
stupid cross-over name mix-up confusion causing thing is that to
do?!? Something like "ST Fax Office" or some hybrid name would have
been more appropriate to seperate it from current products -
*whatever* platform they may be currently available on.
> 2. Who said that our Amiga coders, like Olli, are coding it?
Erm, nobody did? Okay I said that our Amiga version is not fixed of
bugs = Olli codes it. But then again it is perfectly possible...
> 3. Who the hell said we are 'giving up' or 'stopped' developing Amiga
> software or even slowed down?
Erm, nobody did!? Paranoid or what? I mentioned *absolutley NOTHING*
about the way in which you currently supported the Amiga software
produced.
> 4. Lastly, what the hell is the problem?
>
> If anything, this really annoys me and makes me more determined *not* to
> work on new software products for the (small and really dead) Amiga market.
As the original subject was Microdot (assuming MicrodotII from
the stupid name it has been given on the PC) comming out on PC whilst
the Amiga version has still got holes and 'problems' (and don't say
'what problems?' because the mailing list has a nice selection -
often) which IMO should be addressed _before moving on to ruin other
peoples use of the internet, or more specifically email_ even if it is
just PC users, which have a hundred of so e-mail clients already. AND
YES, I DO *NOW* REALISE THAT THE PC MICRODOT IS MORE THAN JUST EMAIL
OR FAX.
> It's amazing. If any PC software development company decided to produce some
> software for the Amiga market, people would be rejoicing and saying 'wow
> wow!'.
I hope they wouldn't just for the sake of it. If however the
software they produced was good, stable, useful, well supported and
reasonably priced then I do not see why it should not be thought of as
good, and people may 'rejoice'. There would be a good chance of
software from a PC company being good because they have more money to
back up development and ensure it to be a little more bugless (and
don't mention Micro$oft here because that's a bad example!).
> If a small (almost dead) Amiga company decides to try and save
> itself, by producing a title that perhaps might sell more than 10 copies a
> month, Amiga users go ballistic.
Oh yes, look at all them frantic, ballistic users go. bang, bang ...
argghh!!! They're comming to your house to burn down the building.
I just think you should complete one thing before starting another
whole task. By 'complete' I mean to a stable, fully functoning level
which is comparable to software on _any_ other platform. Having too
manyh projects for you to manage Chris will make your little brain
hurtt and everything will be a mess and you would not spend all your
love and attention to the smaller niggles because other things are too
important.
Can I go now please? Awaiting more... :)
Dinky do,
Mike C.
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