Video Toaster
[ continuation ]
went through with the first two releases of PageStream. Whether you are a
freind of SoftLogik or not you have to admit there was incredible
resentment at the way it turned out after two years of hearing about it
prior to its actual release. I was also involved with a company that had a
dynamite demo unit that they went to sale with before it was ready and the
company is now out of business due to dashed hopes and customer
frustration. NewTek has demoed but not sold the product. Frustration is
building as is evident by the messages here. My point was to say, "hey,
Moose, enough with the Toaster – stick to stuff that exists and is in the
hands of consumers now. Let the Toaster speak for itself when it gets
released."
Betty, you know that a bad thought harbored has sme force. A bad thought
spoken has incredible force. Not so much for the listener as the speaker.
If Rad just quits talking about the Toaster, there will be less opportunity
for the Mr. Forcades to vent their frustration and thus make them less
likely to buy when it is released.
The other point that had nothing to do with the Moose (as he is a technical
type and technical types like to share too much to be good business types,
right?) is the apparent NewTek strategy to keep other developers at bay in
this arena by appearing to be RSN to Toaster release. It is a very basic
business strategy, but one you can only get away with once. In an infant
business sector like Amiga hardware/software was in '78 and '88, such
posturing may have prevented, say Micro Way, or some other PC/Mac developer
from comeing to the AMiga market with a similar product because the cost of
beating a company that is just about to release would be to high and the
venture too riskey in such a limited market. The point I was making was
that what worked well to keep the competion at bay may, if strung out much
longer, damage seriuosly the market NewTek is trying to save for
themselves. Not only NewTek but the Amiga and its users would suffer. I
thought it was worth pointing out in case it had not been a concious
strategy on NewTek's part. Having a wonderful product is nice, but you
still need to sell it. There are people (as one message indicated) who
have given up on NewTek and gone to other platforms and suppliers. I see
nothing wrong in reminding NewTek of that from time to time. At some point
you have to release, even if its Toaster jr. The problem with talking and
showing is that expectations get built up that make it more difficult to
actually release as the product needs constant rework to meet the latest
level of expectation. And hardware cannot be developed that fast! (Niether
can complex software packages).
I have no stake in this matter. If the Toaster came out today it would
make no difference to me other than the effect it had on those who consider
the Amiga a game machine. However, if they wait another year it may not be
any big deal as the "other guys" may beat them to market. After all, them
other guys is smart 'cause they don't genrally give advanced notice on
stuff (they learned after one or two bad experiences) they just spring it
on ya!!
I think if you go back and read my previous message as coming from a
disinterested observer (from a loss or gain point of view) perspective you
will get a whole different (and the intended) meaning of the message
instead of viewing it as an attack on an individual.