Re: A "hidden" cost

From: Brandi Jasmine <brandi_at_brandijasmine.com>
Date: Fri 04 May 2001 12:22:22 -0500

MICHAEL MARTINEZ <Michael_at_xenite.org> WROTE:

>You had my general agreement up to here. Unfortunately,
>the Federal Trade Commission never did anything about
>Microsoft.

>Well, I had written a long ancedote, but I think it
>will suffice to say that today's massively expensive
>applications may be replaced by tomorrow's inexpesnive
>applications. It's only a matter of time before we
>learn whether people will then pine for the "good old
>days".

That's just as well because gratuitous and irrelevant
Microsoft-bashing bores the hell out of me. While the
company has committed its share of sins that it may
deserve to be punished for - it cannot compare in
terms of scale to what the big players are doing in
the CMS space.

A major player .. I'll call them "VinnieSoft" ... is
charging on average a HALF MILLION DOLLARS for
*installation* alone. Then there are maintenance costs
in the tens of thousands per annum. THEN, you find out
that your content is locked into rigid templates that
you can only change with the help of a programmer, and
if your site is of small-medium size you may need as
many as three ADDITIONAL staff members JUST to maintain
the bloody thing! So not only does it not do the job it
was designed for ("make managing content simpler") but
instead of lowering costs and staffing requirements, it
actually increases them.

There are days when I have heaped curses on Bill Gate's
head when my computer has crashed in the middle of a
project .. but there is nothing Microsoft has done to its
end-users that can remotely compare to this outrage. I
suspect that the reasons the customers are not crying foul
is #1, all the other CMS players are no better or worse,
and #2, these people are embarrassed to admit they got
taken to the cleaners.

None of these people will be pining for the good old days
- with the exception of the VinnieSofts ... who better
rake in whatever they can, because some kid coding in his
basement will do it - or Bill Gates will - and either way
the gravy train will have to come crashing to an inevitable
end.

Kind regards,

Brandi Jasmine
Writer, Digital Photographer, Illustrator
        www.brandijasmine.com
www.astrology.ca - www.twostar.com
      brandi_at_brandijasmine.com



Received on Fri May 04 2001 - 12:22:22 CDT