Re: Survey at Scripting News

[tobeth@lava.net (Beech Family)]

Brett wrote:

>
>I think there's a severe case of sample bias here. Based on my
>experience in consulting, it seems to me that "it was already
>installed on the computer" is #1 among the masses of average users.
>


Yes..this is a heavily biased sample.Which is why I encourage y'all to vote!

First of all..I think the site and survey are aimed primarily at developers.<?>

Second of all..Dave Winer was [is?] an infamous Mac developer who started
this newsletter called "Davenet" which I subscribed to back in the days
when I thought I might actually learn Mac programming.Recently he decided
to port his scripting application, "Frontier" to Windows. Ever since, I
think he's been trying to convice himself he hasn't gone to bed with the
enemy.[My interpretation of "Who is Dave Winer ?"..generally supported by
various e-friends and Mac developers of my acquaintance]

So *which* developers are reading his newsletter/visiting his website?
That's what this survey is really telling us,IMHO.

The latest Davenet..an interpretation of this "survey" among other things..
follows: [for anyone out there gnashing their teeth..this is the last of
Dave Winer on this thread from me..I promise ;-)]

You may send feedback on this and other Winer-osities directly to Dave as
well...
Send it to :

dwiner@well.com

He often publishes such feedback on his website..unless you ask him
specifically not to..in which case, your communication will remain private.

best..

Heather

======= forwarded material follows =================================

>X-Sender: dwiner@mail.well.com
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 08:15:53 -0800
>To: "DaveNet World" <davenet-world@scripting.com>
>From: dwiner@well.com (DaveNet email)
>Subject: Oh Netscape!
>Sender: <davenet-world@scripting.com>
>Precedence: Bulk
>
>-------------------------------------
>>From Scripting News... It's DaveNet!
>Released on 4/6/98; 8:15:49 AM PST
>-------------------------------------
>
>  Good morning!
>
>  Oh baby. It's raining it's sunny.
>
>  Rain sun rain sunrainsunrainrainsun.
>
>  It's spring in California!
>
>  Oooooooooooh.
>
>  Welcome.
>
>  OK.
>
>  ***Free software
>
>  Oh Netscape! They give away the source and miss the point.
>
>  Netscape's purpose is to serve the web developer community. They did
>  that for a few months at the end of 1994, the beginning of 1995, and
>  then, ever since, they've been lost. Contrary to popular belief it
>  was a self-inflicted slide, not caused by the fierce competition
>  with Microsoft.
>
>  ***Here's what went wrong
>
>  Imagine you're a web developer.
>
>  You like blockquote, table, hr, etc. They're so easy, even if they're
>  limited (mostly *because* they're limited). You're cruising
>  along. Loving what you're doing.
>
>  Then one day the company that started it all says "Java Java Java".
>  It's neat! OK. You go out and get a Java book. Huh? What's this? But
>  everyone's so excited. There must be something wrong with me.
>
>  ***Those nutty VCs
>
>  Three years later, the Java hype is over. VCs won't touch it, which is
>  ironic because people developing in Java are finally starting to
>  ship commercial quality results. Oh those nutty VCs.
>
>  A contrarian VC would clean up, merge a bunch of Java teams into one
>  company and market their products. Whatever floats to the top is the
>  killer app.
>
>  Java is a lot like the Newton or Palm Pilot. It takes a few years for new
>  environments to gestate. Patience pays. It's a long-term bet. But
>  Java was never a good bet for Netscape.
>
>  ***Back to the story
>
>  Like Candide lost in the software industry, Netscape looks for a new
>  home. Java didn't work for them. So instead of talking to their only
>  natural constituency, they say C++ C++ C++! Our bacon will be saved by
>  the creativity of thousands of C++ programmers. But these people
>  don't make websites. Oooops.
>
>  I've been sending private emails to Marc Andreessen for the last
>  week. "Marc, get a clue!" I say. He says I have to talk to the new
>  benevolent dictator in charge of the Navigator software, as if I have
>  a feature request or want to start programming in C++ again.
>
>  Hmmm.
>
>  ***Free source
>
>  Based on my experience, confirmed by the informal survey I ran over
>  the weekend, very few people place supreme value on free source code.
>
>  <http://betty.userland.com/testing/softwareSurvey/default.wsf>
>
>  "Features you can't get anywhere else" was by far the number one
>  choice.
>
>  "Free source code available" was way down the list. Why? My guess:
>  most people have no use for free source code, even if they have the
>  skills. People are busy busy busy. They want to double-click and get
>  going.
>
>  Maybe this piece will inspire some web developers with C++ skills to
>  take a leadership position in the new free-source world of
>  Navigator, and maybe they'll prove me wrong. Nothing would please me
>  more.
>
>  ***It's a conversation
>
>  My friend Doc Searls says that marketing is a conversation. He's so
>  right. It's a two way thing. So many people think marketing is a
>  message, I talk, you listen, but that's how you lose your way.
>
>  If marketing is a conversation then a company is a fireplace. We sit
>  down and talk. If you talk over my head (Java) or say stupid things
>  (Java), no matter how nice you look, or what other people say about
>  you, eventually I'll look for a more interesting conversation
>  elsewhere.
>
>  I think most web developers, like most Mac users, are inherently not
>  part of the Microsoft conversation. It was never about feature
>  parity, just as in the Mac market it was never about market share or
>  licensing.
>
>  Microsoft is big and self-contained. That's just who they are. Media
>  businesses are diverse and cacaphonous. Sure, some web developers
>  sing the Microsoft song. But there are plenty of smart web people who
>  see the value in independence from Microsoft, almost at a genetic,
>  self-defining level.
>
>  If Netscape was a really beautiful fireplace for web developers, one
>  built on respect, and if they had hired and trusted people who loved
>  the new medium, there would have been nothing Microsoft could have
>  done to displace them.
>
>  The independence of the web developer community is what Netscape was
>  founded on. It's a dramatic tragedy that the owners of the company
>  never connected with this simple idea.
>
>  ***A watershed
>
>  I feel like we're at a watershed, about to disconnect from Netscape.
>  They're going in a different direction, we wish them luck in their
>  journey, but don't expect to take the trip with them.
>
>  Instead, I invite them to come with us on our journey.
>
>  <http://www.scripting.com/98/04/stories/simpleCrossNetworkScript.html>
>
>  Dave Winer
>
>  PS: VC stands for Venture Capitalist.
>
>-------------------------------------------
>Scripting News: <http://www.scripting.com/>