Re: TTG marketing woes

[chasby@xxxxxxxx (Charles Burke)]

Hi Leslie,

On Sun, 04 Feb 1996 12:17:40 -0500 (EST) you wrote:

>  >Click and drag and drop (though it
>  >may seem infantile or kludgy to some of us) really is easier for other
>  >people. And frankly, I'm glad it's there for her.
>
>  Good for her and I'm glad, too. I didn't mean to imply that such
>machines and such software shouldn't be made, but merely that consumers
>should have a choice. Some people want sedans with automatic shifts; others
>want sports cars with five-speed stick shifts, and both markets are
>accommodated. The same ought to prevail in Computer World, too.

Long live choice. Unfortunately, the uneasy tension that exists
between a wide selection of products and economies of scale (read
price) can sometimes chew the head off of variety. And it can be hard
not to take it personally when it's one's own particular favorite
product that gets discarded by the market ("What's the matter with the
world? Doesn't it know a superior product when it sees one?").
Obviously, anybody will find it hard to be happy with the choices
available when they're not sitting comfortably somewhere in the middle
of that market. Didn't somebody once call free enterprise markets
the democracy of dollars?

I guess the major players in the market will always go where the
largest segments are buying, and right now the big crowds at the cash
register appear to be corporate users and at-home beginners. Thank
goodness for niche companies (like TTG). I just wish TTG were a bit
more . . . what shall we call it? Savvy? Ambitious?

So now, isn't somebody going to suggest forming a Group Xy, similar to
Group OS2, that would go forth unto the ends of the earth preaching
the joys of command lines and programming? Actually, though, if it
does, I can't qualify, being a writer rather than a programmer and
having no desire to become one.

Still, it'd be nice to have the product better represented to advanced
users and writers in the marketplace. Ah well. At least maybe there
won't be another Signature.

Charles Burke, Tokyo