Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!coherent!dplatt
From: dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Developers conference
Message-ID: <52169@coherent.coherent.com>
Date: 8 Apr 90 05:05:47 GMT
References: <4a7WTh_00WB25gdV1X@andrew.cmu.edu>
Reply-To: dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt)
Organization: Coherent Thought Inc., Palo Alto CA
Lines: 60

In article <4a7WTh_00WB25gdV1X@andrew.cmu.edu> es2q+@andrew.cmu.edu (Erik Warren Selberg) writes:
> maybe Apple only wants what it terms "High-quality" developers, but if it's
> criteria is those able to pay gobs of money then they are, IMHO, completely
> brain dead.

Have you checked out the going rate for private-sector tutorials,
teach-ins, etc. recently?  I receive a lot of flyers from companies
hawking "Introductory Excel", "Power Users' tricks in Word", technical
seminars and conferences on electromagnetic interference, tutorials on
OSI networking, ISDN, and so forth.  Most of these run at _least_
$200/day;  many highly-technical conferences seem to run $800-$900 for a
two-day session.

I've read notes to the effect that Apple's cash outflow for this
conference will be substantially greater than the fees it takes in.  I
can well believe it... especially as they're allowing people to sign up
on a day-by-day basis (pay for what you want to hear), and yet must rent
the facilities for a full five days (or perhaps a full week).

I'll be attending this year, on my employer's nickel.  It'll be nice to
be there, learn good stuff directly from the developers and DTS people,
and have the opportunity to ask questions... but I really doubt I'd go
if I were paying cash out of my own pocket.  Yeah, it'd be nice if the
conference was $50/day and everyone could go... but I imagine that it'd
be even more of a zoo than it's likely to be, and that Apple would lose
even more money, and hence might be unable to justify hosting the affair
at all.  In my (limited and cynical) experience, it's usually only the
Marketing folks who are given permission to host big bashes and lose
money in the interest of Customer Relations... the fact that this
conference is oriented towards techie-types is somewhat unusual for a
money-losing affair.

According to the promo mailing I received, developers who attend the
conference will be able to pick up their System 7.0 starter-kits and
documentation in person.  Developers (partners & associates) who don't
attend the conference will get the same starter-kits and documentation
in the regular monthly mailing.  Presumably, people who are not Partners
or Associates will be able to order this same material through APDA in a
few months.

I sympathize very much with people who can't afford to go, or who aren't
in a position to be invited to attend (I was in the same position in
both respects last year).  However, it isn't the end of the world,
folks!

Please don't declare Apple to be The Great Satan simply because they (as
a business) choose to spend their subsidy-money getting information into
the hands of people who work for companies that have a track-record in
the business of making money.  I can think of lots of better reasons to
hold Apple over a slow fire than that one!  Now that MacWorld can cancel
their "N months without an adequate warranty" campaign, maybe we can
start one for "N issues of APDAlog without a publicly-available
equivalent to Phil&Dave's Excellent CD at a fair and affordable price."


-- 
Dave Platt                                             VOICE: (415) 493-8805
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