Re: Ada vendors and the art of selling used cars

["Marin David Condic" <dont.bother.mcondic.auntie.spam@[acm.org>]

I certainly don't expect anyone to work for free, so vendors are entitled to
charge what they need to in order to provide support. But one would hope
that a given product is a) sufficiently reliable and b) sufficiently
documented so that a low end user can manage to get by without having to
hire a staff of support techs from the vendor.

Consider this: There will always be a certain number of customers for whom
time is of sufficient money that it will pay for them to get full scale
support from the vendor. They want/need training and education to get up to
speed with the tool. They don't want production halted for some minor bug in
the tool that forces them to figure out workarounds. If something isn't
intuitively and immediately obvious, they want a phone number of someone who
can tell them to check that the unit is plugged into the wall and that the
power switch is "on". For that level of support, one would expect to pay
through the nose.

But if the software in question does exactly what it is supposed to do and
what it is supposed to do is clearly documented, and how it does it does not
involve complex and arcane rituals, then your average, low-end user (home
hobyist, etc.) ought to be able to make it work without having to spend
$12,000 a year for customer support. *Maybe* (Maybe!) they might need some
help with an installation, but even this should be a matter of plugging in a
disk and going to town whenever possible. Hence, high reliability, high
quality documentation and intuitive operation are important ways to make a
vendor's product more profitable in a consumer oriented product.

Think about your average home appliance. Most companies provide 800 numbers
you can call to get questions answered about the appliance. They usually
provide a nice, detailed user's manual - usually even way too detailed.
(Don't use this toaster while taking a bath. Don't stick a fork into the
toaster. Don't lick the hot coils on the toaster. Don't bash yourself
repeatedly in the head with the toaster.... - ever looked at the back of a
box of toothpics and seen the instructions there? Its enough to convince you
to build the world an asylum...:-)

Typically, the features on the device match what is customary and usual for
a home appliance - the on/off button is labeled in a common way, the plug
fits a standard socket (usually) the doohickies and thingamabobs are usually
similar to those of other manufacturers - basically an end user can turn it
on and make it work with minimal fuss. Why is all this the case? Can you
imagine how many calls there would be to customer support if the toaster
they sold required you to type at a keyboard "dknbrd -S 5 - s 1"? (Unix-ese
for "Darken Bread, shade = medium (1..10), slices = 1") How long before that
800 number became a 900 number? How long would UnixToaster, Inc. be in
business?

Now the important question: Why does software have to be different from
that? Sure, its more complex than your average toaster, but is that
sufficient excuse for why it can't work reliably enough and intuitively
enough so that the user at home doesn't need a support contract?

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/


"Al Christians" <achrist@easystreet.com> wrote in message
news:3B82AC17.8BF90918@easystreet.com...
>
> Maybe it takes high-volume to get the product to be reliable enough
> regardless of all the variations in conditions of use that prevail
> (ie different configurations of the customers' hardware and software)
> so that sales without support is relatively likely to give the customer
> good satisfaction.  And maybe the Ada market is too small to support
> that kind of product.
>