Maptitude - http://research.umbc.edu/~roswell/maptitude.html >Anyhow, I look forward to the time Caliper start a more agressive marketing >program. Such a program would certainly make my life and my business hunting, >easier. A few more points on Caliper marketing: 1. I guarantee you that the price will have to go up if Caliper has to do a lot more marketing (they do do some marketing, by the way). Maptitude's pricing was a daring move when it came out 5 years ago, and amazingly enough it is still the same price 5 years later. This is quite a feat in the software world. 2. Think about it. If you were the president of a small, scrappy software company with a superior product that the big boys will do anything to try to get rid of, how would you promote yourself. I think you would do it quietly, through word of mouth and through very specialized channels. 3. With limited marketing resources, how do you decide how to promote a generic product used by specialized users. Maptitude is used in dozens and dozens of vertical markets, any one of which could consume the entire marketing budget. 4. Another very big question is does a lot of marketing really help. One example: IBM really marketed OS2 which many people considered a product superior to Windows. I doesn't look like it helped their market share much. The big question is what is the way to get the best return for your marketing money. How do you "raise the profile" under all of these circumstances? I'm sure Caliper would be very interested in any suggestions that can fit their business model. But, the thing I'm most concerned about is that Caliper doesn't take chances that could hurt their survival. In case you didn't know, Maptitude (and TransCAD), are selling very well, especially abroad, so I am very optimistic about Caliper's future. That's my second (and last, I promise) two cents for today. Larry Manire ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
