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I have been reading this Omega mailing list for a long time. The 95 in the
email address HDD95 that this post is sent from is because I created this
extra HDD95 screen name in 1995 for the purpose of keeping the Omega list
emails separate from my other emails. Before that I was receiving the list in
digest form to my primary email address.
My feeling has always been that this mailing list really isn't only about
Omega products. Rather, the more general topic of discussion seems be trading
software. This is an excerpt from an email I sent someone recently. I have
been trying to talk him into joining the Omega list, and he has been
resistant because he doesn't own Omega products:
>>>
The Omega list is more than just discussion of Omega products. It seems to me
that the general quality of discussion in the Omega list is much better than
the futures trading newsgroups. My theory is that system traders have
migrated to this Omega list because they have something in common, which is
that they use TradeStation, but then these discussion forums take on a life
of their own. It is a critical mass thing. The common interest in
TradeStation has brought the Omega list up to critical mass, where now people
continue to participate based upon the life of it's own the mailing list
itself creates. Almost everyone I talk to subscribes to this mailing list.
<<<
A discussion forum requires critical mass or interest fades. For example,
before the explosion of the Internet I was a long time reader of Club 3000.
This is a discussion forum similar to the Omega list, but instead of posting
Internet email messages, members would mail articles to the editor who would
compile the articles and mail the (paper) compilation out once a month or so.
It used to be the most active traders discussion forum around. Then the
Internet exploded and it seemed the quantity of articles in Club 3000 slowly
went down and down. Finally my renewal came around and I didn't renew. I felt
that the newsletter had lost critical mass, and instead the hot place for
trading talk was mailing lists and newsgroups on the Internet.
If readers of this mailing list do start to transition to TraderWare,
TradeLab, PowerST, or whatever else emerges in the future, and discussion of
these products is kicked off this Omega mailing list into product specific
mailing lists, discussion could become scattered and critical mass could be
lost.
Of course, I am obviously biased here because I am the author of a new
software package in need of some exposure for my product. But think about
this. If you want to squash emerging trading software companies, push them
out of the forums which can give them the exposure that will help them grow
and prosper. If the topic of discussion in the most active trading system
software mailing list I have found on the Internet is restricted to Omega
products, it is only Omega products that will get exposure. Omega is the one
who needs the exposure the least, because everyone already knows about them,
and because they are big enough to afford the full page glossy ads in every
issue of every trading magazine. It is the emerging companies who need to be
nurtured a little by the marketplace if the marketplace really wants to see
some competition against the big guys.
Year after year people have been complaining about the Omega products. Year
after year there are articles in this mailing list saying that there is a
need for competition in trading software. Finally it appears that some
serious competition is emerging in the form of TradeLab, TraderWare and
PowerST. And what is the reaction?
Shut up, we don't want to hear about it...
> You've already given us enough information about PowerST. If there is
> interest on the part of any readers they can visit your web site or
> correspond with you individually.
>
> I personally object to being forced to sort through a bunch of non-Omega
> related items, as do others, when that is not the purpose of this forum.
> Please carry on your sales activity in a more appropriate venue.
>
> Richard Funkhouser
Where am I suppose to go to make contact and communicate with people
potentially interested in my product? I'm supposed to start a PowerST mailing
list and wait for people to subscribe? Besides, how am I suppose to make the
PowerST mailing list known if I'm not allowed to post to existing mailing
lists? How am I suppose to communicate to potential list participants why
they would want to bother to go to a web site to subscribe to the PowerST
mailing list? It seems like an impossible barrier for an new company to get
past. It would be a great policy to make sure it is extremely difficult for
any new product to ever have a chance against the established companies. That
is not going to promote the competition in trading software everyone keeps
hoping for.
I realize there is a fine line between a product announcement and spam. I
don't think I crossed that line. I started with a single announcement
pointing to a web site. After that, all of my other postings were responding
to comments that others posted to the mailing list. If list members had not
expressed interest by posting follow-ups, I would not have make the follow-up
posts. I have no intention of continually posting product advertisements
unless there is either something significant to announce or in direct
response to interest shown by a list member.
Of course, it is a mistake to view the list as a person. Rather it is a
collection of people with different interests and different viewpoints.
This is a posting which was posted early in the same day when the PowerST
announcement was made. This comment encouraged me to go ahead and post the
announcement:
>>>>
> From: Ray_Gurke@xxxxxxxxx (Ray Gurke)
>
> Normally I'd agree with you. I HATE SPAM. But, IMHO, this list supports
> traders and wannbe traders as much as it acts as a forum for discussing
> Omega products, problems and solutions. If there's another alternative to
> the Fabulous Furry Cruz Brothers snake oil and marketing hype, I for one
> want to hear about. But from now on, I hope the software speaks for itself.
> ..and if TraderWareX doesn't have it's own list, I'd suggest it start one.
> If the software turns out to be a viable alternative to Omega, this list
> will shrink dramatically.
<<<<
(I am proposing that instead of product specific lists the subject matter of
this Omega mailing list be expanded to trading software products in general,
which I think has always been the case, but besides that I obviously agree
with the posting.)
Also, this is a comment I received via private email.
>>>>
I have read with great interest all of your postings both good and bad. I for
one appreciate the fact that you took the opportunity to post on the Omega
users site. It is obvious that there is a lot of unhappiness with the Omega
products and those unhappy customers should know that there are other
products out there that work. Certainly Omega management monitors those
postings closely. In the long run everyone will benefit by strong competition.
<<<<
The Internet is an amazing media for someone developing a product in a very
specialized area such as advanced system testing software. As I said above, I
have been reading this mailing list for a long time. I have been listening to
what people in the list have been asking for in trading system testing
software. The Internet is now helping PowerST through controlled
introduction. I posted a product announcement pointing to a web site. People
can browse the detailed web site in as much depth as they are interested. I
have received immediate feedback leading to some posting of corrections to
the mailing list and updates on the web site. I have also received some
valuable feedback about priorities for future software features.
Not only that, but the product announcement was not an announcement of the
release of the product. Rather, it was an announcement that the product is in
controlled introduction and additional controlled introduction users are
being sought. I would not have taken out a magazine advertisement to
publicize the product at this stage in it's release, but posting to the
mailing list seems to have fulfilled my original goals. I have made enough
contacts through private emails to keep the controlled introduction pipeline
saturated for now.
Why controlled introduction? Sometimes someone else will paraphrase your own
thoughts better than you can state them yourselves. This is a comment I
received via private email:
>>>>
I admire your forthrightness in listing limitations as well as the controlled
introduction you are doing to ensure the product is ready for prime time
before you make it generally available.
<<<<
You want to shut down this Internet resource to emerging companies? That is
not going to promote the competition in trading software everyone keeps
hoping for.
Anyway, this is my final post for the time being (unless someone else posts
comments I need to respond to). I hope I am not going to restart the same
conversation about list etiquette and whether it is or is not ok for vendors
to post articles discussing their products. Nobody wants to go through that
again.
One final comment: I said in an earlier post that I was working on a "white
paper" about the topic of portfolio money management. When I was 2/3 through
this paper I thought about it and asked myself, why am I going to post a
white paper which might elicit more interest when I have already received
enough inquiries to "saturate the pipeline" for now? So, I set the white
paper aside. I will finish the white paper and post it sometime in the future.
Bob Bolotin
President, RDB Computing, Inc.
Developer of "PowerST: The Power System Tester"
www.powertesting.com
info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
847-982-1910
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