Dilwyn, speaking as one of the "uninformed/non-technical" types you got a great idea here. It may even get me back to the copy of QPC2 Demo I d/lded a year or two ago.
Still lurking here but most (99%) of it goes overr my head. Denny Work Trucks http://www.frontiernet.net/~n9vrb/Geneology/pictures/index.html Outgoing mail scanned by Trend-Micro PcCillin Internet Security 12..4.1015 http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/personal.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dilwyn Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 4:02 PM Subject: Re: [ql-users] QL disk transfer >> There is quite a simple solution to the chicken and egg problem with >> unzip. >> Just send the enquirer a disk with it on. Most of us have a stock of >> old DD >> disks we no longer use. Just wrap one in bubble foam, put in a >> cheap >> envelope with a second class stamp. I've done it many times. > Yes, usually that works, but in the case of Mr Barker in Antartica for > example it was impractical (OK, an extreme example, but the situation > does arise). I have been known to pop a QL emulators CD in the post to > some people where the situation seemed to merit it, in the hope that > helps the person concerned and of course pays benefit in terms of that > person staying with the QL, buying stuff from traders, joining Quanta > or whatever. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, but I try. > >> I have also successfully sold many copies of QPC2. When someone asks >> for my >> help in transferring files to a PC because they are abandoning the >> QL, I >> send them a copy of the QPC2 demo disk. Often the next stop for them >> is Roy >> or Jochen. > Absolutely. I often recommend emulators or certain PD programs or to > contact the traders to see if they have programs or services able to > help them. I get about one or two emails from my website form on this > subject every day and most result in the senders being directed > towards the QL traders. I do offer to copy unzip to a disk if they > send me the floppy with return postage of course. > > In my case, it's the volume of queries repeating the same > information - my contacts arise from people who find QL software on my > website - searches for "QL" seem to locate my website quite well on > most search engines, even though I've never really used promotion and > ranking services beyond the description and keywords meta tags in my > pages. If there was minimal documentation on there somewhere it would > help me and help others too. What we don't know is how many people try > and give up of course. I'm just afraid of a scenario like the QL > survey last year which discovered just how many 128K QL users > minimally expanded systems are out there in fairly active use. > > Once the informationis on a page, I'll just make sure there's a link > to it from my home page and it's there for all to read without even > having to contact anyone, that way, I may only need to help people who > run into problems rather than repeatedly pointing out the same things. > >> Sometimes the old fashioned solutions work best, > :-) > And sometimes it's easy to overlook the obvious too. As my boss > sometimes says, "you need to reiterate very basic issues surprisingly > often." > >> PS What about a nice little challenge for Quanta? Investigate the >> possibility of a telephone line at all shows and then offer a >> download >> facility for those members who cannot access the internet! > Good idea, and of course as Quanta have copies of most of my CDs which > are essentially freeware collections, it might be equally easy to > offer a "PD Copying Service" at shows too. I'm sure Quanta > sub-librarians used to do this at shows in the past, maybe Quanta > still does just I was asleep at the time ;-) > > Modern mobile phone links may make it practical to download moderate > amounts of material where there isn't a landline (can't see demand > being very large) - user just pays for online call time perhaps? Since > QL software isn't at all large, downloading entire QL sites is often a > matter of just a few megabytes, someone with broadband could quickly > download most QL site content to a CD for copying at shows within > obvious copyright limitations. I've more than once said yes to > requests to give copies of my website on CD to people without internet > access. > > With the will, there's always solutions and usually cheap, practical > ones too. > > -- > Dilwyn Jones > > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.2.3/281 - Release Date: 14/03/2006 > > _______________________________________________ > QL-Users Mailing List > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm > > _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
