FP was not at SCOForum... why not?

[John Esak]

Just so I throw my second two cents in here.  I brought up the question of
FP not being at SCOForum just out of curiosity sake.  I was not  really
making a judgement about it.  However, I do have an opinion.  Essentially, I
would never fault a company for not going to *any*  convention.  They do
have dubious value as Bill Campbell said.  Allocating resources for every
little thing that should be done when resources are scarece is a very hard
thing to do.

We (most of us) run small companies, or have run organizations with tight
budgets. I really don't fault FP for making a decision that this was just
not the time or place to put funds. However, that said, Bud did mention that
they were going to SCOForum at the last town meeting in the FP Room, and I
think as soon as they made the decision NOT to go, they should have
announced this to everyone. "We decided not to attend SCOForum this year."
Simple, short, sweet. It's the communication line that has never been there
acting up again... or not acting up as the case may be. :-)

Honestly, I'd rather have them putting their time and money into developing
the next releas(s) and forego the conferences and advertising, etc.
However, one last opposing viewpoint is that there were lots of old filePro
people at the conference, and it would have been very good for them to be
there. Showing a minimal profile to your loyal user base is an important
facet of keeping that user base loyal. On the whole, I think mssing this
event for FP Tech won't hurt them much at all... but, it certainly would not
have hurt them either.

So, though I think it would have been great to see them there, and it would
have been a very good thing for them to have gone.... I know that Bud felt
that having no new version to show would be a big downside, and I can't
disagree. So the real score is about 50/50 worth it/not worth it, and
therefore to them was a big wash.

JE