> > Thinking about their marketing strategy (giving away an old version), > > which is interesting as well. > > > > > Very interesting - they have sufficient faith in their > products to think that users of V3 will be so impressed that many (or even some ?) will > upgrade to V5. Picture this scenario: > > MS brings out Vista and believes that it is so fantastic that > they can now give away XP (or even 2K) because many (or even some ?) > users will actually *want* to upgrade to Vista ....
Obviously, their gamble is on the value of brand loyalty. The OS aside for the moment (because I think the OS is fundamentally different enough to warrant a separate discussion), I think we tend to develop a certain loyalty to substantial software products that deepens over time, all things being equal (e.g. that the product does the job very well and is backed by a company with on ongoing commitment to the product line). There's also the not-so-small matter of projects built using a given tool that may or (most likely) may not be transferable to another product, so they get their hooks in you, so to speak. In my case, I've been walking around the issue of creating a video library to compliment my product for some time now. I've tested and used Wink, but it's been an exercise in frustration for different reasons, terrible audio recording comes immediately to mind. I just couldn't muster the energy to get going on the project with that tool. Now after just a few tests (including audio, of course), I see what a serious product looks like and am feeling re-energized to take on this project. As for their marketing, in the end it does boil down to the question: "will people eventually pay?". For myself, I'll answer this way: the odds on my buying an upgrade at some point are now HUGELY greater then they were before getting this free copy. I'm only half-considering the approach for my product - because the only "old" version I have is FPD ... Hmmmm. Bill > Paul Newton _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
