Sound Ideas banned from filePro conference

[Fairlight]

Is it just me, or did Bud Henschen say:
> WWWHHHHHOOOOOOAAAAAAAA!   Larry you should have gotten your fact straight
> before you got everyone involved. This is why I don't monitor this list but
> have one of the staff monitor it. I am open to speak with anyone concerning
> any issue (call 419-352-5454), but I'm not entering into a useless debate
> via email.

The medium is not the message.  Nuff said on that.

> The facts are that this is a FP Conference and I see it as open to vendors
> that promote filePro.  Micro-lite (Backup Edge) chose to have a training
> session following our conference and Tom promoted the filePro Conference in
> his newsletter and during the SCO forum this past August.  Bob
> Rasmussen,(Anzio)has promoted filePro for many years and showed it in his
> demos at SCO forum; however, if you check out Dave's www.soundideas.com
> web-site, you'll see no promo or mention of filePro.

So if you visit http://soundideas.com/pages/reface.html and look at the 10
obvious fP conversion screenshots, I guess that doesn't say anything about
how well it works with filePro, or how much it appears to have been
designed in large part to work with it in particular?

What do you consider promoting, exactly?  Any product that raises the bar
for your flagship product, makes it more usable and MORE ADOPTABLE by the
world at large, is a -huge- promotion of your product.  Without shoppes
like Daves, your ship is sinking, sinking, sinking.  Maybe slowly, maybe
indefinitely, but surely it does not have the potential that it would with
the (*buzzword cringe*) synergy it would enjoy -with- these products.

It's not like someone can arbitrarily slap your logo on their page--it's
trademarked.  Where's your facility for helping people sponsor your
products, with "Powered by filePro" graphics?  Where and how are you
enabling them to do the promotion you want from them?

> I saw that the "Vendor Showcase" begins at 7:30 PM on Monday, 11/5.  How
> long will it last?  Does that mean that I would only need to be there on
> Monday night (I rarely develop in filePro anymore so I do not need to attend
> the conference)?
> 
> Dave
> =======================
> As you can see, Dave did not ask to present at the conference as Larry's
> email indicated, but to be at the "Vendor's Showcase", he "rarely develop in
> filePro" (so what happens if he stops supporting filePro?), and "I do not

He didn't even -hint- at stopping -supporting- filePro.  He hinted that
he no longer =actively develops- in filePro anymore, but has 20+ years
experience in it.  There's a huge, gaping difference.  I didn't actively
develop in it (by and large) for the last 12 years.  Now I am again for a
client.  Things change.  You're still not catching the distinction in the
first place, however.

I don't develop in it unless someone asks me to take over part of a
project, but I still support filePro by making it continue to be viable in
new and random situations people run up against.  Integrators like Dave,
Howie, others, and myself are the people that are -making up for- your
product's shortcomings and making it look better than it is.  If that isn't
promotion, I dunno what is.  We're floating your boat, and in more than a
couple instances, we're retaining customers for you that you'd otherwise
have lost years ago.

> need to attend the conference (lack of interest, humm)."  Based on this, I

*thinks* Every last one of my current active major clients (the ones I
do business with on a monthly basis at least, not one-off drive-by's
that have a problem with something) uses filePro, and I support their
entire platform as a whole, including making fP work in ways it's not even
remotely designed to.  But I'm not planning on attending either--it'd
be a waste of money for me, as everything I do relies on techniques I
already know, or can readily look up (or ask someone who knows).  Even were
travel an option for me (it's not, health reasons), it would be fiscally
irresponsible of me to blow that much cash attending something I don't
actually need.  If I'm going to toss money around, I'd rather sink it into
a new PRAM module for my synth, or a 5-string bass, or any one of a dozen
frivolous things it could be better spent on, sorry.

Not lack of interest.  More than likely lack of -need-.

> didn't think it was in the best interest of having him participate without
> including Tru-Gui, etc. etc. I'm not sure why you (list members) feel that
> FP Tech should promote non-filePro vendors at the filePro conference.  I

See above.  We're all helping your ship stay afloat.  If not entirely, then
a lot better than it otherwise would be.  If you can't see that, then I
feel you're even more short-sighted than I previously thought.

> Since many feel that I DO NOT listen to what is being said, let me inform
> you that I spoke with Dave this AM and invited him to come to the "Vendor
> Show" on Monday evening from 7:30 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. to speak with any of
> you concerning his software. 

At least something good came of this.

> He will be allowed to include any information
> he wants to include in the conference distribution; 

"Allowed."  How magnanimous of you.

> however, he will not be
> a presenter at the conference nor will I promote his product at this time.

You really don't get it, do you?  He's promoting your product by virtue of
what it does in making it more viable in a GUI day and age--moreso than
your own product can possibly do by -anyone's- account, and I've talked to
more than a few fP loyalists about it over the years.  

By promoting his product, you help him promote yours.  It saves the users
money in switching platforms, helps him move his own product, and in the
end, it helps you retain user base, and maybe even gain some.  It's a
Win-Win-Win scenario--if you open your eyes and see that his product is
doing you a huge favour by its very existence.

It really depends on what your focus is, I guess.  Is it the flagship
product?  Or is it the botched "GUI" that nobody I've talked to can even
take seriously?  Because he's helping the hell out of the flagship product,
even if he's denting the botched GUI's (probably miniscule) market.

Big picture.  Focus.

> Once our staff has had a chance to review his product at length, Dave and I
> will discuss possibility of offering his product to the filePro community. 

So in keeping with the usual scheduling, that should be what, about 2010?

> Hopefully this will clarify the facts for you.

It's all too clear.

Like I said, at least something good came out of the whole thing.  I still
don't think you "get" the big picture, Bud.  Not even a little.

The reality is that vendors like SI, several others, myself--we -can- go
elsewhere and do other projects in other venues.  We all have the skills.
Nobody wants to toss away a market they've cultivated for years, however.
But we -could- do it and actually help shift people away from fP, or even
just switch venues entirely.  We -can- find other work and projects.

You probably -can't- easily drum up the talent or money to provide the
software they're/we're providing that makes your main product look and act
better than it really is--and we're doing it at no cost to your company.

In short, you need them/us more than they/we need you.  You might think
about that for a few minutes sometime.

mark->