Netscape integration

[Ralph Cohen]

On Wed, 30 Jun 1999 14:42:07 -0700, Steve Lamb wrote:

>On Wed, 30 Jun 1999 16:18:13 -0400 (EDT), Ralph Cohen wrote:
>
>>As far as PMMail is concerned, I'm extremely happy to have a quality,
>>native integrated email package available for OS/2 and I hope the
>>authors continue to support and improve it.
>
>    It is not economically viable for them to do so.  The whole reason PMMail
>has not gained any real new members to speak of is because its releases are
>so long in coming that it drops of the download engines!  It was Mar of,
>what, last year when the latest PMMail9x was released.  It is no longer
>listed on Winfiles or Tucows, the two biggests sources of software.
>

I agree with your above analysis but fail to understand the reason for
the lack of new releases.  I complained about the little black box
appearing on the PMMail/2 printouts last Fall and received a fixed file
to try a couple of weeks later.  The fix worked for me but I was asked
not to pass it around because they planned to include it in an update
scheduled for the end of '98.  Here it is 8 months later and people are
still complaining about the problem.  Why hasn't the fix been made
public?  Why hasn't the existence of the problem been noted on the bugs
page at the website?

>    Here is the *FACT*.  Bob & Ike either need to work faster (and since
>PMMail isn't their primary work, I doubt that would happen) or they need to
>work *LESS*.
>

You left out the one thing that Bob & Ike could have done with a
greater chance of success, and that is to work *SMARTER* instead of
harder.  They should have immediately released the various bug fixes
when they became available instead of sitting on them or even denying
their existance.  This would have given the appearance of vitality to
PMMail and would have created continuing exposure for PMMail on
Winfiles or Tucows.  Just as importantly, even minor releases would
have at demonstrated to current users that PMMail was a product being
actively supported and improved by its creators.  This would go a long
way towards making the existing client base more likely to stay put
with PMMail rather than searching for something new.


>    The only way to maintain quality is to stop trying to program four
>seperate applications at once.  I would rather have aspell than have Bob &
>Ike spend the next year trying to recreate it.  I would rather have an editor
>than have Bob & Ike spend another year recreating it.  Same with PGP/GPG.
>

At this point, the editor and speller, etc. have already been created
and integrated and just need to be tweaked a bit.  There would be
nothing to gain at this point by dropping them in favor of an outside
widget except for making the program undesirable for all but a very
small group of savvy computer users.


>>A major advantage of the integrated design is that there is only one place to
>>turn to when there are problems, instead of a bunch of different widget
>>makers pointing fingers at each other.  I, for one, would be more than happy
>>to pay a modest fee for in-version updates just to keep development
>>continuing. 
>
>    And this is why PMMail is slowly fading into obscurity.  Bob & Ike cannot
>do it alone, they cannot hire someone else to help them.  So all their users
>turn to them for them to recreate features they could have in a modular
>design.  In doing so they pull Bob & Ike away from the focus of PMMail being
>a *MAIL* client

On this point I'm afraid we still must disagree.  I believe that
de-integrating the functions already included in PMMail would be the
surest path to it's demise.  There are relatively very few people out
there who would be willing to "roll their own" fantastically great
email program when they can get a somewhat adequate one already rolled.
 Like I said before, a large part PMMail's problems have to do with
marketing and not with programming.  Starting tomorrow, Southsoft
should release a new version of PMMail with the printing problem fix
included.  A couple of weeks later, they could release a new version
with the spell checker problem fix included, and a few weeks after that
they could release a version with the find function fix included, etc. 
This would gain PMMail some much needed exposure in the marketplace as
well as buying them time to finalize and release their seven month old
new version with added functionality.

>
>    And speaking of paying for each upgrade.  Why do you think Microsoft
>muscled itself into the position its in and continues to break its own
>standards?  They know that when most people upgrade, it forces the others to
>upgrade.  Do you gladly pay for that?  
>

I gladly pay for a lot of upgrades and shareware licenses and
memberships and subscriptions, etc. in an effort to support those
products and services which I feel ultimately benefit me and my company
and our use of OS/2.  Besides, I've found that people place a much
higher value on an item they have to pay even a very nominal amount
for, as opposed to getting for free.  As for Microsoft, I generally
avoid their upgrade costs by avoiding their products.  Fortunately,
OS/2 gives me a way to do that.


>    PM/Mail cannot survive the way it is going now.  Bob & Ike simply cannot
>complete with the teams of programmers on Outlook (free), Pegasus (free),
>Communicator (Free) or the many mailers on Unix (all free).
>
>    Something has to change.
>

Bob & Ike have a good product with a loyal following and they should
take advantage of that before it's too late.  Unless they are planning
to release it tomorrow, they should temporarily shelve the damn upgrade
and start immediately releasing the currently available fixes.  By the
time everyone stops ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the wonderful way the
program finally works the way it was supposed to in the first place,
they will be ready to release the new upgrade with all the fabulous new
features and really WOW! us all.

Oh hell, I can dream, can't I? <g>

Ralph

rpcohen@neurotron.com