CompuServe Messages

Marc, I must take exception to your statement that home users don't need automatic index generation in their word processor. I use this a lot – when I do my homework for my studies in Portuguese. I bet I'm not the only person who is still involved in the educational system and wishes to keep their notes/essays on their Amiga – and wishes to do a good job of it. If you leave out a whole load of facilities in order to keep the price down, how will your product be any better than any other? At the extreme, if the user wants a cheap WP, he/she will look at PD sources first and only. Yes, I've known people who refused to spend $20 on commercial software, saying that it was too expensive, and wanted to get a better product for free. What happens to your profit margin if you sell a rock-bottom product at rock-bottom prices? How could you possibly stay in business? How are you even going to get into the market, competing against other companies who have been in it for years, and which sell products which already cover the bottom end of the market pretty well? To be blunt, if _I_ wanted to write a letter to mom, I would use pen and paper. If I wanted to create a collection of recipes, I would use scissors and a folder to put the cuttings in. If I need to emphasise a word or two, I just write bigger and more heavily – or use a marker pen. No, I use a computer because I want to be able to use the facilities that I can only have with a computer running decent software. Or else I just want to play games all day long ('borrowed' from my friends), and never even think of going out and buying 'serious' software. I wish I could be less pessimistic about all this, but I have a nasty feeling that you could easily end up with less than nothing for your trouble if you don't think _very_ carefully about your plans. Regards, Shraddhan – via Whap! from Hertfordshire in the UK