Salutations,
I guess the the lesson of the day is 'it isn't always what you say, but
how you say it.'.
There is a world of difference between 'Excuse me, may I pass.' and 'Hey
dumbass, get the hell out of my way.'
There is a world of difference between 'Maybe we can try this' and 'Are
you a friggin idiot? Do it my way.'.
There is a world of difference between sending a private message to the
author saying 'Hmm, I was thinking about your price for the ATA software.
While I am sure it is worth 50 euro, I crunched some numbers and I think you
could net more sales if you lowered it just a bit.' and sending a public
message to everyone saying 'you are gouging all of us and I don't think your
software is worth that. Anyone that purchases this software at that price
is either an idiot or a fanatic that has too much money for their own good.
This is my opinion and here are my reasons why I think someone is charging
too much money for their work.'.
See the difference?
Not only did you say that the software wasn't worth the price you insulted
everyone who is considering buying it. Not a good move. And then you did
it again on you last 'explanation'. Oh well.
Also remember that you are talking about someone else's work. No matter
what you say, you need to phrase it as a suggestion. Because ultimately
that is what you are doing.
And the worst part is that you still don't think you did anything impolite
or just plain wrong. But don't worry, hopefully you will grow out of it.
Cheers,
David
on 7/29/02 12:59 AM, Joshua Johnston at flagg_at_midmaine.com wrote:
>
> I said two lines, simply saying "Ow, that's expensive" and got jumped
> on. What's going on, fanaticism or discussion?
>
> I'm not jealous, bitter, or anything of the sort. And I'm just going to
> post this last set of thoughts, then I'm done. I don't like being
> ganged up on, and this is going to end it.
>
> I think Paul would make more money at $20-25 than he would at $50, and
> here's why:
>
> Currently, Pricewatch (http://www.pricewatch.com) has new Linear Flash
> cards at a 32M size available for $52. (Search all categories for
> 'Linear') Pricewatch also lists 32M ATA at the same price, $52. They
> list 'Compact 32MB' starting at $22 - all prices include estimated
> shipping in the continental US. Interestingly, larger ATA sizes are
> less expensive than the 32M card (apparently the 32M card is a true
> PCMCIA card rather than CompactFlash) and for $70 you can get a 128M
> card.
>
> However, once you get the software, the PCMCIA adapter and the card,
> you've spent $130. Enough for 64M of natively supported linear flash,
> new. Not eBay. You're using two slots and only have half the memory,
> but I hear the speed isn't as good with the ATA. That'll make a big
> difference if you're dealing with large data sets that the ATA driver
> would be useful for.
>
> This might be acceptable to some people. If you have $130 kicking
> around. Now, if you're trying to work within any sort of a budget (like
> many students), you need to look at what the lowest possible break even
> point is. With a $50 ATA driver, you're looking to break even pricewise
> for no less than $100 assuming the Pricewatch list price of $50 for a
> 64M ATA card. And this doesn't count the cost of the PCMCIA adapter.
> That's four dollars less than two linear flash cards. Now, if you cut
> the cost of the ATA driver down to $25, you can actually save $25 and
> get the same amount of storage.
>
> That makes the driver useful to a whole new range of user. It stays
> just as useful to the power user, and actually puts it within the price
> range you'd likely find for most mid-range users. Me, I'm a low-middle
> range user. I'll probably just use one 32M card for the entire time I
> have my Newton. In the future, who knows? Maybe more storage would be
> nice. But I think as its priced now, Paul's cutting off the usefulness
> to a large number of users that he could very well be serving, and
> making more money on the product in the first place. It doesn't look
> like good business when you do the numbers. It doesn't come across as
> altruistic, and if that's your intention, Paul, you might want to look
> at these numbers too. I think a $25/50 price range would get a lot more
> money in the long and short term, and also come across as a nicer thing
> to do for Newton owners. Do the math.
>
> Don't blame me for pointing out that in a business sense, this pricing
> doesn't make any fiscal sense. If you're all willing to overpay, just
> send him donations instead and maybe help encourage him to lower the
> price for people who can't. A week ago, if I'd been working and would
> have been able to read/write a card on my PC for faster transfer to the
> Newton, I'd have sent Paul $20 as a donation, no strings, nothing. But
> now, I just find myself jaded. Not jealous, but jaded. Because I felt
> like a really good chance for the community to come together has turned
> sour. To most of you, it may look like it's just me that's sore over
> this, and maybe I am. It doesn't make me less right.
>
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