>“Within 6 months of membership activation, Empower Program members must publicly announce the new packaged application on their own official Web site”.

Charles;

LOL! Oh, we have to ship?


George Morrow coined a term that many use in reference to software. The word is “vaporware”. Software that does not exist and may never exist!

A story that I well remember is about the Osborne computer. “In 1982, the Osborne Computer Company introduced a successor, the Executive, with a larger screen and a cooling fan. Shortly thereafter, they anounced the next system, the Vixen, an MS-DOS compatible portable. Unfortunately, potential customers stopped buying the older Osbornes, waiting for the Vixen, which wasn't even ready to ship yet. Sales plummeted and Osborne quickly ran out of money and filed for bankruptcy in September of 1983”.

The announcement of the “new computer” was made at Moscone Center in San Francisco. The sales staff told everyone, “Do not buy the Executive – the Vixen will be out in six months”! Well, people listened to the salespersons and waited for the new model.

Sports fans, what do you think will happen to your companies sales if you do as Microsoft requires from the above quote? Announce your “new product”, and what will happen to sales? If in fact it is a new and product not related to your present offerings then that would be a good move – if you deliver on time! Remember “Vaporware”!

What will happen if the new program you must create is used to replace your present offering and an important source of income for your company? Remember Osborn Computer?

I worked for a company that had a great product (software) and the Help Desk, Sales Staff and President of the company told customers for three months, “Do not buy our present software package! We will be developing a new version in a few weeks”. The weeks stretched into months and there was little cash flow. The three investors asked what was going on! When they found out they pulled the plug. The “new version” was far from complete. My warnings to the staff and president of the company using the above example of Osborne Computer did not register.

The moral to my story, “Always keep an updated resume and keep your options open”.

In a five year period I had 13 programming jobs. Almost all the companies failed financially. This was before the .COM business. However, I think the same clowns that ran those companies ran the .COM business or was that “lack of business”? What is a “profit”? When you have millions of dollars of someone else’s money you sure can have fun. At least for a while. Now where is that second investor for “round two investing”?

Tom






>"Shipping is a feature"
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>You ship, get the goodies, start working on the service pack. Did you learn *nothing* in your tenure at MS? < bg >
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>>So what happens if you don't get the application done and to market at the end of the 12 months? Ya know .. I've heard that sometimes software development falls behind schedule .. just a little!!