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RE: Slow Down Development, NO; Speed up Minds, YES
Subject:RE: Slow Down Development, NO; Speed up Minds, YES From:SteveFJong -at- aol -dot- com To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Fri, 28 Apr 2000 18:30:06 EDT
Andrew Plato has once again stirred things up, this time with his assertion
that in software, being first to market is an overriding consideration. In
the discussion that's followed, I think people have interpreted his comment
as 'being first is more important than being good,' which isn't really what
he said and which I don't think is true anyway.
Allen Cooper, in _The Inmates Are Running the Asylum_, pointed out that
customers accept bad software when there's no alternative, but aren't happy
with it, and certainly not loyal to it. His case study was Novell NetWare,
which was first on the market with a file- and print-sharing solution for
distributed LANs. It was first, and everyone bought it; but in Cooper's
estimation, the product was not good. (I use NetWare, and I can't disagree
with his assessment.) When other vendors (Microsoft and Apple) came up with
better solutions, Novell's market share collapsed, and (Cooper writes) the
only people still using NetWare are the ones who can't afford to switch.
Being first to market is important, but you won't last if something better
comes along (unless, of course, you leverage your monopoly 8^). Apple
Computer is a good cautionary tale: it was first with GUI-based home
computers, first with home laser printers, and first with PDAs, but they're
not #1 in any of those markets today.
I think the lesson for software vendors is blindingly obvious: no matter how
successful they are, they are vulnerable to competitors who make better
products (which is as it should be). And what constitutes "better"? Just what
you'd expect: more usable, fewer bugs, and, yes, accessible, accurate,
effective documentation.
-- Steve
Steven Jong, Documentation Team Manager ("Typo? What tpyo?")
Lightbridge, Inc., 67 S. Bedford St., Burlington, MA 01803 USA
Jong -at- lightbridge -dot- com -dot- nospam 781.359.4902[V], 781.359.4500[F]
Home Sweet Homepage: http://members.aol.com/SteveFJong
