fpRoom with KB & LB Part Uno

[Fairlight]

On Wed, Jan 12, 2005 at 04:34:29PM -0500, Scott Walker may or may not have
proven themselves an utter git by pronouncing:
> 
> I read once (can't remember where) and I have come to believe this
> (paraphrased):
> 
> "Most people overestimate how many people will want what they have
> created.  But most people underestimate how much someone who wants it
> would be willing to pay for it".

My wife takes a different approach.  She looks at the circle she's in
(crafts such as crochet, tatting, etc.) and looks at what she's put
together and how much -she'd- be willing to pay for it.  What price would
be an automatic "sure!", what price would be a "maybe...I'll get back to it
in a week when I see how things are going", and what would be a "you've got
to be kidding me".  Personally, I think she's going into this one project
too low, but it's her business and her call.  She did most of the work.  I
only wrote the program that ties it all together, and I'd do that for her
if she was giving it away.  But we get input from each other, even if we're
not entirely conversant with each other's market or sub-market.  We kick it
back and forth, get feedback, and make our final decisions.

My experience in this community has been that cost is almost a non-factor.
You can take a product that's -inferior- in 27 of 32 key features and costs
twice as much--and it will WIN based on name-recognition and brand loyalty.
Cutting prices for a "sale" or "special" does pretty much zero good.  It's
just not an impulse-purchase market, and it's specialised stuff.  It sells
at what it's priced, or it doesn't, period.  What merits it does or does
not sell on are subject to common sense with some people, and arbitrary
whims of know-nothings in suits that outrank the people with real brains
sitting in the trencheds other times.  It's damned near pot-luck.  Put it
out there, price it reasonably, and pray.  That's about where I'm at.

>               3.  Cut out anything that is available at a much lower cost
> elsewhere and concentrate on the stuff that is not available anywhere
> else.  It's not that I don't like some of this stuff, it's just that it's
> info that you can get in other periodicals.  For example:
>
>               a. No articles on vi
>
>               b. No articles on generic Linux topics such as hardware tips
>
>               c. No SCO specific articles, like on Tarantella, etc.

At least if I just got slammed, so did JPR.  :)  FWIW, I dunno about JPR's
columns/articles, but miue were solicited.  Laura -wanted- to do
platform-specific things.  Not that I think you were "slamming" anyone in
particular in the first place.  

Speaking directly to the point I think you're trying to make:

Anything that ties into, "How can I achieve 'x' goal with fP?" is open to
inclusion, IMHO.  That includes anything from hardware makes and models, to
drivers and bridgeware.  It's all part of the Big Picture, and while the
focus should be fP and everything should be tied to it, having that
peripheral area input can be valuable.  You may be able to get general
knowledge on SCO and Linux (or Windows, certainly) elsewhere at a lower
cost, but -not- from people that have experience with fP on same.  That's
the key ingredient that makes inclusion desirable, IMHO.

>From that perspective, I think Laura's judgement call wasn't necessarily
off-base.  I just don't think the publication had enough time for it to
mature to the point where everyone was comfortable and "settled in".  I
know I surely wasn't, anyway.  I can pretty much only speak for myself
there, but I personally have to warm up and settle into such a frame of
mind that makes it all gel to the point that it works.  Turning the
writing switch on and off is not the best way to achieve consistantly
good results--far less so than the programming switch, IMHO.

mark->
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