Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!sun!coherent!dplatt From: dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: Re: Virtual Finder Message-ID: <44624@improper.coherent.com> Date: 13 Jan 90 22:36:36 GMT References: <104700068@p.cs.uiuc.edu> <917@appleoz.oz.au> <2707@draken.nada.kth.se> <44580@improper.coherent.com> <2716@draken.nada.kth.se> Reply-To: dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) Organization: Coherent Thought Inc., Palo Alto CA Lines: 108 In article <2716@draken.nada.kth.se> d88-jwa@nada.kth.se (Jon W{tte) writes: > In article <44580@improper.coherent.com> I wrote > >Hey, cool down, guys! Please take note of the fact that the $1000 > >figure did NOT come out of Apple. It was included in an article > > But it did ! I had that figure from Apple to become an overseas > Partner/Associate. Note the domain ... .se ! I stand corrected. Please accept my apologies for misstating the case. > >Yes, it would be nice if Apple were to subsidize its DTS group, and APDA, > >more than they do... so that these groups could afford to provide > ... > >start giving away money in this way. It's rarely done. > > But they'd get the money back, manyfold ! > > Good developer support -> good programs fast -> buyers > percieve Apple as ahead of the competition -> more macs sold. Well, perhaps. I don't think it's that simple, though. Apple is a business. In particular, it's a business anchored in the United States. It operates under a financial system that places a great deal of importance on short-term results... the day-to-day stock price, and the quarterly financial reports, are the metrics by which most U.S. companies are measured. To most U.S. commercial managers, "long-term" issues are those which refer to the next fiscal year. [I wish I were joking, or overstating the case. I'm not joking, nor do I think I'm overstating the case.] Making cash investments, today, in the hope of having improved sales a few years down the road is often viewed as being a speculative, high-risk venture. In big companies, managers aren't well-rewarded for taking risks... they're rewarded for getting the short-term job done, with acceptable quality and at minimum cost. Like most large corporations, Apple is a fragmented and subdivided organization. Different portions of it operate with some degree of independence, and are responsible for their own financial well-being. Most portions of a large corporation are required, by upper management, to operate on a break-even basis or better (10% ROI is a bare minimum for most, I believe). I strongly suspect that Apple's Developer Services group is required to break even... at least on paper. They _must_ charge enough money, to developers or [on paper] to other divisions within Apple, to pay for the services that they provide. I understand that the "new" (Apple- operated) APDA is working on this basis. Yes, it's true that Apple might boost the quality of Mac software by providing less-expensive (subsidized) support to developers. The critical question, from Apple's point of view, would be this: "Is that the best way for us to invest our money?" Providing lots of subsidized support is _expensive_... if even half of the people currently signed up as APDA members were to join up as Partners or Associates at reduced rates, Apple would probably have to hire quite a few additional people to provide the necessary support. Would Apple earn an acceptable return on its investment, as time went by? Maybe so, maybe not. How many computer manufacturers provide heavily-subsidized technical support to large number of developers? Not many... in fact, I don't personally know of _any_ who do so. This strongly suggests that nobody has been prove convincingly that it makes good financial sense to do so. A few years ago, Apple's "Certified Developer" program was rather less expensive that it is today, I believe... but, to qualify at all, you had to prove that you had a product under development, _and_ had already shown yourself capable of developing, marketing, and supporting a product. I don't think this was unfair, since being a Developer gave you the opportunity to buy hardware at a large discount... clearly, Apple wanted to offer the discount (forego the profit) only when dealing with people whose work had a good chance of "making it" in the market, and benefitting Macintosh sales. I wouldn't have qualified back then; neither, I think, would most readers of this newsgroup. Apple has since changed the rules. Today, anybody can become an Associate. The price for doing so is on the rough order of the cost of a decent small hard disk for a Mac. You can also become a Partner, at a slightly higher cost, if you can show that you have a product in development or already on the market... you'll then qualify for developer prices on hardware. Apple has apparently decided that anyone who is developing a serious product, which could really benefit Macintosh sales in the next few years, can afford an investment of $1000 or so if they need direct-line support. Those who cannot afford or justify this investment probably won't be releasing products that will have any measureable effect on the Macintosh market. I've found it possible to do all of the development I wish to do, without having to make the investment in becoming a Partner or Associate. If I were producing software for sale, I could justify the expense. As it is, I can't. Not can I really assert that the software which I write, and give away, is sufficiently important that it would result in any significant increase in Mac sales, and would thus justify (to Apple) any subsidy. Frankly, if Apple decides to spend some money in a way which will lead people to treat them as a true "leading edge" company, I hope they do it by scrapping their ridiculous 90-day warranty, and moving up to AT LEAST 1 year. 2 years would be better. This would directly benefit many, many thousands of Macintosh owners... not just a few hundred developers who want front-line DTS support but can't justify the expense. -- Dave Platt VOICE: (415) 493-8805 UUCP: ...!{ames,apple,uunet}!coherent!dplatt DOMAIN: dplatt@coherent.com INTERNET: coherent!dplatt@ames.arpa, ...@uunet.uu.net USNAIL: Coherent Thought Inc. 3350 West Bayshore #205 Palo Alto CA 94303