I'm not wanting to point the finger at anyone in particular, but I'm always astonished at how many people talk about new software products, without ever saying what it actually DOES!
For example (and its only one example of a great many!), FLEX was out for months and months before I could persuade anyone to tell me what it was for. Several times I even asked point blank, "What does it do?", and got a blank look as though I was some kind of crackpot. The quizzical looks said "are you serious? just download it and find out for yourself you lazy bugger!" Microsoft does it a lot too. We'll get announcement from them that MSNewWidget2 is out, but not actually saying what it does. Or else giving motherhood statements like "enables users to access their information easily and rapidly" They get so close to something while it's being developed, I think they forget that the rest of us have been busy with our own lives and don't know . It's as though simply because it's been released (or more latterly been made availble on beta) I ought to spend a few hours downloading and configuring something, in order to find out if I might possibly use it. NO! It's not MY responsibility to go to all the trouble to find out what it does, if you have a new product, it's YOUR responsibility to TELL ME what it does, and convince me it's worth my while to go to all the trouble to get the product and put it on my system. These days to look at a software package can be a commitment of several hours. On chargeable time, that's several hundred bucks. On my own spare time, it's worth ten times that because I have precious little of it. Another example: I've been hearing about PLUM for ages, but I never saw anyone saying what it DOES. I had to go to the PLUM site before I found a statement saying what it is. And that was against my better judgement. If it's too much trouble for the PLUM team to say what it's for, why should I go to the effort? i have plenty to occupy my time. Look this sounds like a rant, and I suppose it is. But I spent enough time in sales to know that no one has any obligation to look at your product. IF you've gone to all the trouble to make it, it's up to YOU to tell potential customer/users why they should bother. Just because it's there and available, is insufficient reason for me to invest the time and money to go get it, on the off-chance it might be useful for me. [/RANT MODE OFF] There. I feel much better now. -- Cheers Mike Kear Windsor, NSW, Australia AFP Webworks http://afpwebworks.com .com,.net,.org domains from AUD$20/Year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:187523 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
