Monday, October 21, 2002, 4:05:47 PM, Don wrote: >> First of all, most computer users (e-mail users) are not advanced, never >> will be and they don't care about all the great stuff TB offers. So what's >> most important to them is not the fact, that TB offers support or so many >> great options, but that Outlook is quite straightforward, easy to set up >> and use basically from the start. Not that TB is not, I think it is, but >> why change when you have something that fits you?...
DZ> Another argument for the Bat advanced/"lite" concept, or even an entire DZ> separate version with most of the advanced features not present. I'm not so sure. First of all, the Internet ad market has fallen on its face. It's very hard to get any revenues for ads. And developing a lite version probably won't be a "piece of cake", so there has to be some way to cover the costs. I see no other method except ads. One might think, that it's an investment, and that more users will then switch to the full TB version after using TB lite for some time. I would disagree. Actually I think this might even discourage some from registering the full version and make the revenues for the TB full version smaller. Why do I think so? Well, as I said, most users are just "users" who don't want full-blown features and the lite version might be all they need. If the lite version has features that are not comparable to what Outlook or other free emailers offer, nobody will switch to TB lite. And if all that the full TB offers are the very advanced options, but it still supports most basic ones, the same ones that Outlook does, there'd be no need for most people to buy the full version at all... So I think it might only be a lot of work and no pay, duh, possibly even losses. I'd say it's a risk. I would rather think that developing TB even more as a full-blown emailer, with features others might only dream of, would be a better way to keep it alive. This way the developers would be targetting possibly a smaller community, but a very valuable one, one that will stick with the program and keep promoting it. Just like it happens now. As I've been working for the press for many years, I have some experience in how important the target is. There are usually two ways: either offer something better than the competition for a large target where there are a lot of competitors, or find your niche and explore it so well, that no competitors have a chance to get into it. I'd say it'd be very hard for TB to, in any way, compete with OE in the 'low-end' target group. Offering a free TB lite version with all the features of Outlook and more (so that people are encouraged to switch, there has to be an advantage for them in it!) is, as I said, very risky - lots of work and lots of risks. Therefore the only logical conclusion is build on what's there already and expand it. Build on the high-end. And be better in it than anyone is. It already is the case, but a standstill would not be a good idea, as someone might come up with something better. So if I were to suggest something to the developers, I'd say: go for more features, more options, of the standard TB so it's easier to use for advanced users. Give them more mechanisms to make their life easier. It's good to be in the niche, I know, I work in a niche magazine that is doing better than many mainstream magazines! About half of magazines and publishers went bankrupt for the last year, and ours is moving forward. Just because we explored a niche that is not taken by anyone else (well, there's one competitor, but a very weak one, they were here earlier but they have no idea about what magazines are about, what target groups are, and what people need). -- tomasz 'tonid' nidecki, zoliborz, warszawa, poland mailto:tonid@;tonid.net http://endemic.org http://mp3.com/tonid http://mp3.com/knownspace * Moses gave the Egyptians 10 plagues. Microsoft gave us Windows. ________________________________________________ Current version is 1.61 | "Using TBUDL" information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
