Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen
From: davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: ALED goes to the wastebasket here in Iceland
Message-ID: <4093@sixhub.UUCP>
Date: 16 Jun 91 23:05:18 GMT
References: <3245@krafla.rhi.hi.is> <1991Jun15.124052.17827@cbfsb.att.com> <19965@csli.Stanford.EDU>
Reply-To: davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (bill davidsen)
Organization: *IX Public Access UNIX, Schenectady NY
Lines: 38

In article <19965@csli.Stanford.EDU> ceb@csli.Stanford.EDU (Charles Buckley) writes:

| That's ok.  The seemingly universal built-in parochialism demonstrated
| in so many American-written programs (and American-designed hard
| goods) practically wiped us out in the export market for many years,
| and has given foreigners a poor impression of our culture for quite
| some time now.  I have heard Germans call us culture-colonialists.

  Any one who wants to make a profit aims for a given market. For years
the US manufactures aimed at the US market. It's a big target, and
easier to hit that any of the European countries. Now the US
manufacturers are aiming some of their products at other markets, and
that's a marketing decision, too.

  When someone gives something away and offers to help change it if
contacted at a reasonable hour, that's about as decent as you can get.
The software was intended for the US market, and was not aimed for tiny
isolated groups of people with particular needs. Look at the population
of the US and Iceland, and you will see the relative size of the market.
I suspect there are more left-handed color-blind midgets in the US that
people who register software in Iceland. That's nothing against Iceland,
but it is a small market. I note that frisk sends out shareware tailored
to the US market, and I don't think that makes him insensitive to the
needs of Icelanders, just a good businessman.

  Since there are more computer users (in all countries) who are able to
use English than any other language, it makes sense to aim at that
market first. Note that periyoda was in English, although written by a
Hungarian living in Switzerland. No Icelandic or Cyrilic support in that
one, either.

  Could we stop bashing the software because it doesn't support every
possible market and save bandwidth and hard feelings? 
-- 
bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen)
    sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX
    moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc and 80386 mailing list
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me