From: Paul Rohr (paul@abisource.com)
Date: Thu Aug 15 2002 - 11:12:50 EDT
At 07:58 PM 8/14/02 +0100, Alan Horkan wrote:
>i was thinking about submitting abiword to more shareware/freeware sites
>specifically this one (somehow vaguely connected to Walnut Creek by
>Google) http://simtel.net
I obviously can't stop you from doing this if you really want to, but I
would strongly urge you to reconsider.
From the beginning, we've made a conscious effort to promote AbiWord in ways
which emphasize how high-quality a product we're building. This has been a
very ambitious, long-term effort, and we want to make sure that anyone who
hears about our software gets the right picture of us.
That's not hard in the Linux world, and it's even feasible in the Mac world
-- both of which have thriving communities where you can expect to find
high-quality, low-cost software.
However, that's just not the way it is in the Windows world. To be blunt,
when most Windows users think of shareware/freeware, their visceral reaction
is more like:
- heaping piles of crappy software
- they want me to pay $25 for *that*? hah!
- I can't believe I wasted time downloading that
- I spent more time downloading this than they did writing it
- etc.
Yes, there are the occasional gems buried in those piles, but that's
definitely the exception, not the rule. Thus, we've historically avoided
putting any effort into getting our software listed at places where we're
tainted by association.
Instead, I'd encourage folks to concentrate their evangelism efforts in
places:
- where most of the software people find is polished,
- where they look for valuable software that they plan to use every day,
- where they find free/trial versions of software from major companies,
- etc.
Most sites which bill themselves as places to find Windows shareware simply
don't fit that bill.
Paul
motto -- you're known by the company you keep
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