Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!marque!lakesys!mikes
From: mikes@lakesys.UUCP (Mike Shawaluk)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Used DPAINT [I & II] for sale
Message-ID: <550@lakesys.UUCP>
Date: 15 Apr 89 12:19:14 GMT
References: <16386@oberon.USC.EDU> <6789@ecsvax.UUCP> <16404@oberon.USC.EDU> <16958@cup.portal.com> <16459@oberon.USC.EDU> <17050@cup.portal.com> <17146@cup.portal.com> <99107@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Reply-To: mikes@lakesys.UUCP (Mike Shawaluk)
Organization: Lake Systems - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Lines: 36

To put in my $0.02 worth here, it seems to me that one of the issues here
that no one has mentioned is the rationale for renaming a product versus just
bumping up the version/revision number.  Now, in the case of DPaint, it
*seems* like it's just a case of newer version numbers, since the product
name has a number in it (even if it's a Roman numeral).  For ATalk, it's a
little fuzzier, since the "middle" member was a "Plus", preceded by just
plain ATalk and followed by ATalk III (speaking of which, the first DPaint
wasn't really called DPaint I, was it?  Sort of like World War I, it didn't
get its number until the *second* one came along).

Anyways, there are lots of marketing reasons why it's desirable to change the
name of a product when a significant number of new features are being added
at upgrade time, not the least of which would be:  price increase!  Most
folks (myself included) would view a price increase of a product negatively,
even if there were improvements from a previous version, but for some strange
reason, it seems more justifiable to pay the extra $$ if it's a new product
(i.e., the name has changed, and not just to protect the innocent :-).  And,
if a customer bought the first version for $99, and the new "product" is now
being priced at $129 (assuming that it can compete in the general marketplace
at that price, of course), the customer will usually feel good about being
able to "upgrade" to the newer version for the differential between those
prices, or thereabouts (although if he is a mail-order purchaser, the _true_
differential in selling price would probably be less that the difference in
list prices).

BTW, I sent in my upgrade card (and manual cover) to EA a week or so ago, and
I don't really plan on selling my DP II set, mostly because I don't think I
could!  There have been so many new & improved paint programs out lately
(Photon Paint, etc.), that I feel DPaint *had* to experience an "upgrade"
just to stay alive in the market (I'll bet EA feels the same way! :-)  Also
(and sadly), anyone I know of who would hasn't bought, but would like to have 
DPaint II, most likely already has an illegal copy of it...
-- 
   - Mike Shawaluk 
       (mikes@lakesys.lakesys.com  OR  ...!uunet!marque!lakesys!mikes)
    "Where were you on the night of August 12?"