Just something I wanted to point out to some folks….
Joel Spolsky wrote something recently I agree with completely (this wouldn’t be the first time I find myself agreeing with Joel, even if he primarily writes Windoze software), but this is important…
Before a consumer will buy your software product, they’ll evaluate all kinds of things to decide if it’s a real product that will meet their needs:
- They’ll evaluate the quality of your website.
- They’ll look for discussion groups to see if people are actually using the product, and if the people who have problems are getting prompt resolutions.
- They’ll look to see if there is a third-party support infrastructure, like books.
- They’ll evaluate your reputation.
- They’ll search the web to see if you have positive buzz.
- They’ll see how long you’ve been around, and they’ll try to evaluate whether you’re profitable and successful and likely to stay around to continue supporting the product.
- Oh, and if they have a few minutes left over, they might actually look at your product itself to see if it works.
And that explains why people buy overpriced but useless shelfware that costs $millions and doesn’t really work. They rationalize that if they install it, they’ll be shielded from criticism and other mercurial notes of anger.
That last point is what I wanted to drive at…. I just spent my morning listening to problems generated by 3 such products. 