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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Mailing List Archives |
| Subject: | RE: GISList: ArcView vs MapInfo vs Manifold |
| Date: |
08/26/2002 08:34:29 PM |
| From: |
Dimitri Rotow |
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>
> Every product has a product manager, but thankfully, they don't
> all drone on
> and on via this list about their product while at the same time chastising
> companies who have sales associates or marketing campaigns.
Ahem... I could be wrong, but I don't believe I've every "chastised" a
company for having sales associates or marketing campaigns.
I have pointed out, as accurately as I know how, the economic and other
practical consequences for both vendors and customers of different sales
strategy in GIS markets. If you dispute the economic points I have made
please don't be shy about describing my errors. For example, I've
frequently noted that the cost of an in-person, national account sales force
is ultimately borne by the customer. Who would disagree with that?
Some companies spend a lot more on in-person sales activities, advertising
and marketing than they do on development. All that money comes from the
customers who buy their products. If you buy such products, a relatively
small percentage of the money you spend on GIS goes to fund development of
the GIS you use. If you're happy spending money that way, fine.
However, some GIS users like the idea that the majority of the money they
pay for a GIS package does not go into "overhead" but rather goes straight
into creating a better product. They believe that buying from
development-focused companies will get them a much better product at a much
lower price. Experience shows they've got a point.
At the end of the day, it's the customer's choice how they want their money
to be spent.
> So what, are you claiming there's a conspiracy out there? Give
> me a break.
> My point is you can take several single product reviews, and as Hugo
> suggested, develop a matrix of can and can't do features, price, etc.
> Something where actual, independent-of-the-software-maker people
You don't need a conspiracy for people in similar circumstances to react to
the economic factors that affect them the same way. All of the journalistic
organizations reporting on GIS are so small they cannot afford to alienate
their big advertisers by writing favorable reviews about non-advertisers.
You'd feel the same way and would do the same thing in their shoes, as would
I, yet neither you nor I are part of any conspiracy, right?
As to creating a capabilities matrix for each product, well, that sounds
easy but is in practise very difficult to do for the reasons I set forth in
an earlier posting. It is very difficult for an independent reviewer to
find the time to create such a matrix.
Regards to all,
Dimitri
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