What's in it for BSW?

[Ralph Cohen]

On Wed, 20 Oct 1999 18:17:44 +0100, David Gaskill wrote:

>>I suspect, however, that the exact number of existing
>>licensed is exactly the kind of information that BSW would consider
>>proprietary and not disclose to us but certainly would have had to know
>>before purchasing PMMail.
>
>I am sure you are right but if BSW has a list of users why haven't they been 
>circulated with news of the free up date? It would seem that only subscribers to 
>this list know about it. 
>

Well, I did see an announcement on Warpcast last week, so the message
is getting out beyond this mailing list.  Also, as I think Steve Lamb
pointed out, the opportunity exists for BSW to upload the update to
file repositories like Tucows which will further spread the word. 
Coincidentally, I did receive a message from Thomas Bradford of BMT
Micro and BSW last week, which indicated that they were just finishing
up a major overhaul of their order/entry systems and an expansion of
their personnel, so I suspect we will see a far more aggressive push of
PMMail in the next couple of weeks when the dust has settled.

>I am happy with the PMmail 2000 as I was with 98 and as I was from the very 
>first OS/2  version and I expect I will go on being happy as I understand  that it 
>will run on Windows 2000. I am simply curious to know the commercial logic 
>behind up grading or writing mail clients ...  
>

Well, to be sure, not everyone needs a product like PMMail with all the
free email clients available in browsers, etc.  However, I think that a
lot more people need a client with the power and flexibility of PMMail
but they just aren't aware that such a product exists and how they can
benefit by using one.  A similar situation has existed in other
segments of the software market as well.  Consider that Windows has
always come with the built-in Wordpad text editor which is probably
adequate for a lot of people's needs.  Nevertheless, people still go
out and purchase MS Word or WordPerfect, etc. and still others will
spend $1,000 or more for a program like Quark Express because these
programs offer utility that is beyond that offered by Wordpad.  I think
that in many respects the email client market is still extremely
immature and that the public generally has only a very hazy idea of
what a program like PMMail can do for them and their businesses. 
However, as people begin placing greater demands on their free email
clients, the shortcomings in those products will become much more
obvious and the features offered by programs like PMMail will become
more attractive.  To me, the biggest task that BSW and other commercial
emails authors have is to educate the public about the benefits their
packages provide beyond the capabilities of the free clients. 
Fortunately, their potential customers are exactly those persons and
corporations who are currently using a free client to its maximum
potential but still find it wanting.

Ralph
rpcohen@neurotron.com