I said two lines, simply saying "Ow, that's expensive" and got jumped
on. What's going on, fanaticism or discussion?
I'm not jealous, bitter, or anything of the sort. And I'm just going to
post this last set of thoughts, then I'm done. I don't like being
ganged up on, and this is going to end it.
I think Paul would make more money at $20-25 than he would at $50, and
here's why:
Currently, Pricewatch (http://www.pricewatch.com) has new Linear Flash
cards at a 32M size available for $52. (Search all categories for
'Linear') Pricewatch also lists 32M ATA at the same price, $52. They
list 'Compact 32MB' starting at $22 - all prices include estimated
shipping in the continental US. Interestingly, larger ATA sizes are
less expensive than the 32M card (apparently the 32M card is a true
PCMCIA card rather than CompactFlash) and for $70 you can get a 128M
card.
However, once you get the software, the PCMCIA adapter and the card,
you've spent $130. Enough for 64M of natively supported linear flash,
new. Not eBay. You're using two slots and only have half the memory,
but I hear the speed isn't as good with the ATA. That'll make a big
difference if you're dealing with large data sets that the ATA driver
would be useful for.
This might be acceptable to some people. If you have $130 kicking
around. Now, if you're trying to work within any sort of a budget (like
many students), you need to look at what the lowest possible break even
point is. With a $50 ATA driver, you're looking to break even pricewise
for no less than $100 assuming the Pricewatch list price of $50 for a
64M ATA card. And this doesn't count the cost of the PCMCIA adapter.
That's four dollars less than two linear flash cards. Now, if you cut
the cost of the ATA driver down to $25, you can actually save $25 and
get the same amount of storage.
That makes the driver useful to a whole new range of user. It stays
just as useful to the power user, and actually puts it within the price
range you'd likely find for most mid-range users. Me, I'm a low-middle
range user. I'll probably just use one 32M card for the entire time I
have my Newton. In the future, who knows? Maybe more storage would be
nice. But I think as its priced now, Paul's cutting off the usefulness
to a large number of users that he could very well be serving, and
making more money on the product in the first place. It doesn't look
like good business when you do the numbers. It doesn't come across as
altruistic, and if that's your intention, Paul, you might want to look
at these numbers too. I think a $25/50 price range would get a lot more
money in the long and short term, and also come across as a nicer thing
to do for Newton owners. Do the math.
Don't blame me for pointing out that in a business sense, this pricing
doesn't make any fiscal sense. If you're all willing to overpay, just
send him donations instead and maybe help encourage him to lower the
price for people who can't. A week ago, if I'd been working and would
have been able to read/write a card on my PC for faster transfer to the
Newton, I'd have sent Paul $20 as a donation, no strings, nothing. But
now, I just find myself jaded. Not jealous, but jaded. Because I felt
like a really good chance for the community to come together has turned
sour. To most of you, it may look like it's just me that's sore over
this, and maybe I am. It doesn't make me less right.
-----Original Message-----
From: newtontalk-bounce_at_newtontalk.net
[mailto:newtontalk-bounce_at_newtontalk.net] On Behalf Of Dale Steele
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 12:00 AM
To: newtontalk_at_newtontalk.net
Subject: Re: [NTLK] [ANN] ATA Support 1.0b13
I wasn't going to say anything on this rather disgusting discussion
but I will anyway. Paul has done some amazing things for us newton
users over the last few years and all on a very small student budget.
Most of his effort and products have been free too. He has taken time
on a number of occasions to help me set things up for my NPDS server
(http://rufa.dyndns.org) (that is still the most amazing feature of a
newton to me, and it came well after Apple gave up on it). With the
ATA driver, he seems to have put hundreds of hours solving a problem
that I suspect few could have without considerable support. Paul
explained his plans to charge for this driver when it got beyond
alpha stages.
I see this as a market question. I haven't made my mind up as to
whether I will buy the driver or not but I STRONGLY support him being
able to charge what he thinks it's worth. I trust him on this and he
has earned that over the last few years. I don't expect him to make
that much money on the ATA driver but I do think people who buy it
can appreciate why it wasn't a freebie.
I'd like to see us drop this discussion and see it as something that
should have never come up. The complaints have sounded a lot like
jealousy, unfortunately, great efforts tend to draw that kind of
attention.....
Dale
p.s. Paul, I think you can tell you have a lot of support and
appreciation in this user group!
>I have found this a somewhat discouraging discussion. And I echo what
>Mark Ross just wrote. I have been very impressed with Paul's dedication
>to the Newton and to expanding its capabilities. I have also enjoyed
>greatly his erudite discussions about computers and software. Being in
a
>field, surgery, where the amount I am paid relates not at all to what I
>charge, due to the overwhelming power of insurance companies and the
not
>level playing field of the both the court and the legislatures, from
the
>point of view of physicians, I am absolutely in favor of him deciding
>what his work is worth. jf
>On Sunday, July 28, 2002, at 08:22 PM, Mark Ross wrote:
>
>>
>>>
>>> For a college student to be doing this on his own, with no
>> support but encouragement from the rest of us, is nothing short of
>> amazing. He most definitely deserves what he is asking. As for
whether
>> anyone will pay this, that totally depends on if the drivers are
worth
>> it
>> to the purchaser.
>
>
>--
>Read the List FAQ/Etiquette: http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html
>Read the Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
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