A5V5 Marketing

[forskare]

RE: A5V5 Marketing

Yupper Do!

The price for Paradox runtime was $299 (found it through a cutthroat vendor but it generally went for $329 or so) Sent it back becasue it was like using VB6 with a few genies for forms,reports, etc. Certainly not anywhere near the friendlyness that A5 is.

On pricing, $399 should be a top price to iclude A5 + Runtime. Anything over that and it is no longer competive. But then, we don't know what all Selwyn is including, etc. that is above and beyond A5 & Runtime.

kenn

[Stephen Williams]

RE: A5V5 Marketing

I am bothered by Alpha Fives poor penetration of the database market. It is easy, quick to develop a functioning product, powerful, and fast. How come so few people have even heard of it?

Marketing is a very sophisticated business that is ESSENTIAL for any business to succeed. It is generally expensive.

I could see it being worth MORE than the competition (you get a working product faster so development is less). Maybe price the original product higher, and the runtime lower (what good is the runtime without the full product?)

Pricing needs to be done by Alpha Five to reflect their goals and financial needs. I am willing to pay more to have it penetrate the market more...

Stephen Williams

[Mike Doty]

RE: A5V5 Marketing

Generate .EXE's and a
runtime is not necessary.

[Elliott Lester]

RE: A5V5 Marketing

Stephen:

My thinking is that the the reason A5 is not well known is because there are too few professional full time programmers
expert in A5. Moreover, there are few tool kit type
programs that these programmers can utilize to create custom
solutions. By tool kits I mean ready made modules like
accounting packages, credit card packages, com packages and the like as there are in other database programms.

I know there are some fantastic A5 software engineers out there--just read this board and you can see them at work.

Marketing for a small company takes a tremendous amount of
resources both in time and money. I would rather see
these tool kits developed. My idea would be to have the ability to develop these modules and compile them so that they can easily be linked to anyone's existing development package. And by the way, if properly done, the tool kit
need not even be written in X basic.

Even links to other programs written into A5 would propel
our software to the forefront. Links like a full read/write
capability to Quick books/Quicken. From reading the board I know many out there that would pay money for this type of
module just for an example.

One method to achieve this goal is for A5 to produce an area
on the board where A5 software engineers can sell there
wares, not just the pay a per hour fee for software programming, but I would prefer to see module tool kit type sales. If you look at the other major databases that are more readily known, you will find that there are huge venues both in paper and electronically where you can sell and purchase pre-made software packages.

I believe that while a run time is fantastic, A5 needs to
concentrate now on catching up on its integration with the web and develop tool kits already pre assembled so that
anyone can integrate these kits together to add value to the product.

I agree with you and the others, this is a very interesting
thread which can affect all of us.

Good luck

[Stephen Williams]

RE: A5V5 Marketing

Elliot:

You are on a similar mind track as myself with regard to data tool kits.

I am a sole proprietor of a landscape installation and maintenance company. I have developed an Alpha Five application that does my estimating, invoicing, and jobcosting. I export/import invoices to MYOB as text files. I have done this to Quickbooks (all code is way out of date - it was done with DOS versions of Alpha and Quickbooks). I also use a Palm Pilot to keep my own time sheets using HandDbase. I see HandDbase has modules so it can read and write to Access database files. Why not A5?

I had thought to myself I bet a LOT of Alpha Fivers would like a DLL or whatever that would allow easy exchange of Palm Pilot, Quickbooks or MYOB data. It would require more knowledge of programming than I have, but would probably not be that hard. You would need to know their data structures and how to read them, and which files you could write to. I had thought of starting a thread here to see if we got someone with the knowledge, maybe we could form a group to contract them to create a few simple DLL's that would convert data from Alpha Five format to whatever. I was even considering asking David Haupert (author and developer of HandDbase) what he would charge to do this...

I find importing invoices as text is simple enough, and from my Alpha Five programming expect MYOB is busily updating files with their own import utility in ways that check and update data - I would not want to sidestep or duplicate the work they have already done...

But a utility to read and write HandDbase formats for Palm Pilots would be superlative. Also a utility to read and write the Palm Datebook files - lots of people here are trying to create calendar utilities. I find my Palm Pilot SO simple I don't see the point of doing one in Alpha Five. I have mine HotSync to Outlook which I only use as a backup tool, but the potential is there to create a very powerful calendar tool. What is needed is better reporting capabilities (read export to Alpha Five) As with accounting packages, calendar programs are a specialized tool - why reinvent it with something that is not really built for it? Rather create a tool to LINK with it...

I am rambling here. And it is a little off my intent with this thread to address the potential of Alpha Five, and how Selwyn and his company intends to sell it. I am less concerned with how much he charges as how he distributes it, and his target market. It costs money to research, and a ton of money to advertise. It all works so long as you do your homework.

Perhaps I should close by saying if Alpha Software FAILS to grow and live up to their potential I am afraid they will die for lack of credibility. I glance longingly at all the links and tools available to Access...now I have my table structures and needs worked out, how hard could it be to do it in Access and have something on a well known platform, AND have all these other capabilities (exchange data with Palm HandDbase, etc)

Stephen Williams

[smtobias]

RE: A5V5 Marketing

I question your assertion that run time versions are more apt to be pirated. I attach the run time program to applications I create for others, but the clients are unable to create anything with the program. It is merely an engine to run the application. I also personalize my applications by inserting headings with the firm name, address, etc. in forms, letters and reports to discourage clients from giving the program to someone else.

While Alpha5 is incredibly easy to use, I find there are many people who do not have the time, aptitude, or interest for developing their own applications. Over the years I have learned many "tricks" and have improved my own database systems. I can create something for someone else in a couple of weeks that would probably take them many months or years to come up with on their own. Therefore, I think there is room for some of us to develop applications for others with the program.

I encourage some of my more sophisticated computer user clients to purchase Alpha5 so that they can make additions or changes in the future as their needs change. In those cases, I only give them the files for the database/set.

I would at least like to see more advertising by Alpha Software if they choose not to market the program through others. Most people I mention the program to say they have never heard of it. It's too good a program to "hide it's light" from everyone. If nothing else, I think they should have a banner ad on the Internet.

Sylvia

[Selig Starr]

RE: A5V5 Marketing

Tom,
I do no think your idea of having twqo versions of Alpha
is a good one.
I would opt for one version, but wo manuals - one for
beginners and one for advanced users, I believe that
Selwyn is working on this two manual idea for Xbasic.
It should also be considered for the user manual.

This way a novice can advance to the to a higher level as
he/she learns Alpha5

Of course, it is a difficlt decision on what to included
in the "beginner's" manuals without dumbing them down or
making them to complex.

BTW, I find that the present manuals need improvemt. I hasve
chimed in on this and so has Stan Mathhews. How about the rest
of you provide input before the new manusls are set in
concrete?

I think that hard copies of manuals should be available.
They can be consulted when your computer is off etc.