haxies

[Michael A. Alderete]

>> Let Usanity fix their stuff with Omniweb, not the other way around.
>
>I generally agree, but I do want to point out that most users aren't
>aware that it's the haxie that's causing the problem, not OmniWeb.
>This is actually somewhat of a customer support burden for us.
>
>And when people start switching away from our product(s) because their
>haxies are crashing, and we therefore can't pay our bills, then their
>problems become our problems.  I think it's really a decision that one
>must make on a per-haxie basis; if there's one particularly popular
>haxie which is causing us to lose a lot of customers, then I don't feel
>bad about taking a look and seeing if I can't quickly resolve the
>issue.

Certainly, if incompatibilities with other software -- no matter how
implemented -- is causing lost sales, then it's worth evaluating if the
cost of fixing the incompatibility is lower than the opportunity cost,
e.g., tracking down a haxie problem will result in more sales than
finishing OmniWeb 5.1 a day earlier.

That's a pragmatic business decision, that every business needs to make for
itself. Bare Bones can make a different decision than Omni; after all,
BBEdit dominates its competition, whereas OmniWeb has to go up against
Safari (among others). Those are very different business situations.

But, speaking strictly as an end user and customer, I long ago got over my
desire to install "cool" software at the expense of stability. I turn away
from any software product the moment it mentions APE. I won't use haxies,
period. And I look at people who are willing to sacrifice stability to be
able to e.g. theme their computing environment as more than a little crazy.

So, again, strictly as a customer and end-user, I would rather see my
software vendors spend time fixing defects that affect me, or adding
features I can use, than spend time looking at support for things like
haxies.

But, I understand the business factors, and respect my vendors' decisions
about where to spend their time. They're the ones with skin in the game, so
they get to make the call, not me. My investment is limited to the cost of
the product, and it's a rare product that doesn't have substitutes, if I
end up deciding the vendor has lost its way.

IMHO.

Cheers!

Michael
-- 

_____________________________________________________________
Michael A. Alderete           <mailto:lists-2003 at alderete.com>
                                     <http://www.alderete.com>