(I'm new to this list, so please forgive me if I add some silly notes...)
I do have to agree on WO bein WAY to expensive. I'm a small developer
usually doing MFC coding on windows95/98/NT platform for large companies
(Recently did some job for BP) : administrative tools for the managers and
such, who don't mind coughing up 10.000 to 20.000$ for a silly app nobody
uses, but when it comes to a serious intranetserver, they are not willing
to spend 25.000 just to USE the software (they don't consider it buying,
because that's what they pay me for : desiging and implementing the stuff
is what they call buying of software)
the last two months, I've been looking around for something new to learn.
(being a bit tired of MFC) and I thought intranet was cool technology,
especially with the OSX Server + WO4 coming up, which gives me an
opportunity to come back to my beloved mac. I was already buzzing around
customers, and I actually had two companies enthousiast about an intranet
server. ... until I learned about the tpm stuff, which is EXTREMELY
undocumented when you read WO adds on the apple website.
None of my customers wants to go on with this. At first I though, no
problem : I buy the software myself and setup a server at home with 5
projects or so and split the price. No can do, since I wil need to buy
separate licences (aparently) for separate projects.
It loked like a very promising technology to me, and apple has (with the
server bundle) the best server package on the market.
This looks like just another Dec-alpha story : great Hardware, great
software, but too expensive to justify the investment
there's one big lesson apple has to learn from windows, linux, and every
other successstory : huge and expensive software with a few big company
names on the users list won't make a hit : software doesn't break through
unless you establish a user base. And it seems like me that WO is losing
fans faster than it can gain them.
there's one last note : I, like a few other developers I know, am eager to
learn new technology, but that is done with SMALL projects that have a HIGH
tmp. What I want is make some small projects first, and gradually go into
better, bigger and more sophisticated websites that take the ful advantage
of WO. wellm, I can't do such thing with this silly tpm and high price.
either drop the price to $2.500 PER PROJECT, or keep it dump out this
tmp-crap so I can at least spread the cost over multiple projects. It's not
the big guys you want to win, apple : it's the little developers that make
a technology popular !!!!! mainframe techonlogy is DEAD. focus on the small
fish, but capture a lot of them !
just my $49,999 worth of code
jeroen
