Another suggestion for next release

[Steve Lamb]

On Thu, Sep 30, 1999 at 08:05:21PM -0400, Darin McBride wrote:
> OOTC: Unfortunately, PMMail doesn't have the market presence that DB2
> has, giving it a much slimmer chance to make money there.

    Exactly.  DB2 is a completely different beast.  PMMail on Linux will be
fighting all the other clients that are already out there.  While there is not
a client like PMMail on Linux (trust me, I've argued the point to death every
~3 months for the past 2 years now) that doesn't guarentee that it would be a
success.  It would have to contend with several viable free alternatives which
have been around for years as well as face off with the newer batch of QT/GTK
clients.

    If I were to go out on a limb and make a prediction on what would happen,
this is it.  PMMail gets ported to Linux.  There would be an initial rush by
PMMail loyalists who are already using Linux to register.  Within 3-4 months
the current batch of QT/GTK clients would start to exihibit the features of
PMMail.  Within 8-12 months they would be at a level comparable, if not
beyond, PMMail.  From that point out sales would be lackluster because PMMail
would be competing with rivals which are just as good as, if not better than
it but had the very attractive cost of $0.

    PMMail on Linux would serve as a turning point to finally wake up the open
source community to the shortcomings of the current mail system, nothing more.
I don't consider that something that is commercially viable to do.

    I would much rather see PMMail ported to BeOS before Linux as BeOS is more
open to proprietary software and it, too, lacks a decent email client.  It,
while being a smaller market, is a more receptive one.  BeOS would be a nice
niche to get into, just like OS/2 was years ago.  

    All of that coming from the guy who is writing this message in X with mutt
and vim and dislikes BeOS.  Ya know I'm convinced of something when that
happens.  ;)

-- 
         Steve C. Lamb         | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
         ICQ: 5107343          | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
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