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Error in previous post:
In the last paragraph, replace "If you don't
believe you're not up to the task " with "If you don't believe you're up to the
task ".
Peter K
<BLOCKQUOTE
>
----- Original Message -----
<DIV
>From:
Peter
Kuskopf
To: <A
title=equismetastock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
href="">equismetastock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2003 7:24
PM
Subject: Re: [EquisMetaStock Group]
Secrets to Getting your stuff on Equis's Development List
JO (or <A title=no_reply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
href="">manohohman) probably works in
the software industry but I think it's a bit of a stretch to assume that
anybody who writes with some knowledge of the software industry is
automatically an Equis employee who is defending Equis.
I also work in the software industry.
I also use various shrink-wrap packages which from time to time are
very frustrating. Hopefully I can see both sides.
There are 3 variants of software sale that I am
aware of.
1. You buy the full intellectual rights to the
software, which gives you the rights to on-sell, licence, lease, source codes
etc. You are the new owner and no other person has any ownership right. Expect
to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a commercially attractive
package.
2. You buy a license to use the software in
perpetuity. The licensor can set whatever terms he wants on the license. You
decide if the terms are satisfactory or not, and then you choose if you want
to use the software under those terms or not. You hold very little negotiating
clout in the shrink-wrap end of the market, so unfortunately it's like it or
lump it. (Aussie vernacular, not sure if it translates). You may or may not
get any support included in the price. You will probably get preferential
pricing for upgrades to new versions.
3. Lease or right to use license for a fixed
period. Similar to 2. At the end of the period, you must pay again for the
next period. Most of the same comments as 2 apply. Support tends to be built
into the price, as are new versions.
If you understand what you're getting before you
hand over your hard-earned, then you will help to ensure that the market
favours those vendors who provide the most favourable license terms. The best
outcome for consumers is when they are well-informed, and they perform their
research thoroughly.
If a vendor
allowed licensees the right to transfer a licence to someone
else, one of two things will occur:
a) the vendor's administration
costs in changing ownership details and validating support rights
would be passed on in some form to all buyers of the
software.
b) the vendor would charge a
fee to perform the transfer to cover administrative costs.
In the shrink-wrap end of the market, I
suspect no vendor is interested in the administrative overhead, and
no buyers are interested in paying for this ability.
I personally favour purchasing trialware or
software leases. If you don't believe you're not up to the task of turning the
software into a useful tool within a reasonable period, then either it's a
piece of crap, or it's OK but you're not yet advanced enough in your trading
career to make good use of it. Either way, you've found this out at
little or no cost.
Peter K
<BLOCKQUOTE
>
----- Original Message -----
<DIV
>From:
<A title=rjmods@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
href="">R.J.Mauchline
To: <A
title=equismetastock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
href="">equismetastock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2003 1:15
PM
Subject: Re: [EquisMetaStock Group]
Secrets to Getting your stuff on Equis's Development List
<FONT
face=Arial size=2>
Hi,
May I point out just one
inconstistancy with your article. However before I go there it would
seem to me without you saying so that in fact you do work in some form for
Equis. The statement which you make and I would like to take to task
is where you say we (individually) BOUGHT the program MS - did not lease it
but BOUGHT it. Seems to me from what has been previously said that in
fact we did not buy it ( we were hoodwinked into thinking we had bought it)
but in fact we are leasing it - why - because we cannot sell what we
purportably bought - seems then we are in a leasing situation and in this
case all upgrades improvements etc should be supplied free as part of a
leasing aggreement. Just food for thought.
rjmods
<BLOCKQUOTE
>
----- Original Message -----
<DIV
>From:
<A title=no_reply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
href="">manohohman
To: <A
title=equismetastock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
href="">equismetastock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2003
10:06 AM
Subject: [EquisMetaStock Group]
Secrets to Getting your stuff on Equis's Development List
How software gets
updated is an interesting process and based on a priority list I'll
tell you about. Then I'll give you some clues as to how to get on the
priority list and how to move up. Read all of the post, the secret is
at the bottom.First you have to understand how the list is made
up. Here's the list of priorities for upgrading software.1.
Technical problems that impact the use of the software. OS conflicts,
hardware problems, crashes, etc.2. Changes being forced on the
developer by other companies who are constantly changing protocols,
moving from 16 bit to 32 bit real time applications (speed issue, and
Metastock needs more speed), data vendors who don't follow published
protocols, etc.3. Changes that need to be made to keep up with
changes in the market. Other companies don't sit on their asses. They
add things that help sell their product so you've got to keep up in
some kind of way. The feedback here comes from the marketing
department.4. Changes that serve the long-term strategic business
objectives of the company. Example: Microsoft incorporated and tried
to integrated Internet Explorer into their OS. 5. Technical
support issues. Tech support defines a list of issues that they get
called about most often. These need to be fixed because tech support
costs money and doesn't make you any, so the fewer phone calls, the
lower the cost.6. Customer suggestions ranked in the order of what
has been most requested. This one is the lowest priority. Do you know
why? Think about it.Before the entire upgrade planning process
takes place a budget has been set. It's usually a percentage of the
revenues from that the software generates, but sometimes it's more
because there's a strategic purpose to the software that goes beyond
the sales it creates by itself. The budget dollars translate into
programming time and resources. Everything on the list is prioritized
and the priced out in terms of those resources. The list is evaluated
with various people in management and the process begins.About
70 to 90% of the way through the process, various managers come in and
say they need more changes and each change is life and death. Now the
release is delayed while the systems people and management figure out
what can and can't be done and what it's going to cost. After that
gnashing of teeth is completed, the program is finished and goes out
for beta testing. Of course, beta testing turns up many new surprises
that have to be fixed before the final release.So where's the
established users in all of this. Equis wants to keep you happy, but
just happy enough not to complain too much or to switch products.
That's as happy as they need you to be because you've already bought
the product and invested a huge amount into it in terms of time and
emotional energy. Those are big barriers to switching. You know it and
Equis knows it. TradeStation has a better programming language so why
aren't you switching instead of complaining? As for the new
customers, the vast majority of Metastock's new customer's don't have
a clue why they're buying the software or what it can and can't do.
When I read these posts I can tell that a lot of you still don't have
a clue. A few people buy Metastock because they're switching from some
other package that some of you say will do "anything and everything I
need" except it didn't so something those people thought their lives
depended on that metastock does better. And finally, there are a few
traders who actually know Metastock and are buying with their eyes
open. The list of items under #6 above is decided on by how many
questions, phone calls, tech support time, etc metastock gets about an
issue. Your list of stuff is already on the bottom of the funding. If
Equis gets three calls requesting X be changed out 100,000 calls a
year, I don't think those three requests are going to get on the
list.Fib boy are you hearing me! Powerful ain't the problem.
Listening ain't the problem. It's about money and selling more
product, period. Where do you think those bonuses come from? Are you
sending them extra money every year? If you leased the software,
turnover would be a problem, but you didn't lease it you bought
it.Why did you buy it, because you would have bitched to high
heaven about leasing it. Get it.I used to have customers call
me asking me why in 2000 we didn't make a DOS version of our software.
You've got to be kidding. I'll be those customers said we weren't
listening or responding to the market. We had another guy call and
want to know why we only made the software for Windows and not Apple
OS. Well, because out of the last 20,000 copies we've sold we've only
talked to one customer who had an Apple computer trying to run his cal
lab--that's why. Everybody thinks that everybody else wants chaos
theory formulas, Fib everything, Gann out the rear, but the truth is
it's a small minority of customers who want that stuff. Equis
tries to satisfy this need by producing the add-ons for the Gann boys
or Chinese cycle freaks. That way they can get someone else with the
expertise to write the code and they can do the other stuff higher on
their list. I'm sorry to say there just isn't much money in
writing books or programming tools. If there was, do you think all of
the smart boys and girls in the TA biz would pass up this opportunity.
Of course not!I just hope Roy makes enough from his work to feel
like it was worth his time and effort because if he doesn't it's going
to be even longer before someone else comes along and tries again.
The secret to getting anything on Equis's list is to round up
several hundred to several thousand Metastock users, get them to agree
on the ten things they most want to see fixed in Metastock, have them
either call individually or email with the same list of ten items. If
there are enough of them Equis will put the items on the priority list
and they will get fixed. It's that simple.Here's my bet. You
couldn't get 25 Metastock users on this board to agree on a list of
ten things that need fixing much less several hundred to a few
thousand, so don't plan your complaints getting addressed anytime
soon.We don't make a DOS version, we aren't going to turn back the
clock and make one next year either, and it's hundreds of thousands of
dollars cheaper to give the one Apple user a free Intel computer with
their software purchase, than to write even a basic version of the
code for Apple users--unless of course Apple users are willing to pay
$800,000 a copy.JOP.S. I'm not sticking up for Equis.
They've got some problems they need to address if they want to keep on
going on, but I haven't seen any of those problems mentioned in these
posts. As I remember Eduardo was asking about plug-ins---he didn't
send out a venting invitation, did he? I know you all feel like you
have real gripes, but everything runs on money, not emotion.
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