From: "Stephen W. Ramsden" <sramsden@natca.net>
Date: September 5, 2012 3:11:50 PM MDT
To: <Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: RE: [Astro_IIDC] Re: Astro IIDC 4.09.00 site updated
American politics spoils everything it touches Milton. Referring to it in
any conversation turns it into a shouting match where everyone leaves
unhappy. I think most of you know where I stand on the issues in my weird
position as a big 'ole redneck from the deep south / hard core liberal
elitist and "share everything" socialist...:) It's hard to have these split
personalities but I have room for them both in my life. This list
conversation is further reasoning for why I don't allow ANY political or
religious posts or conversations on my forum or at my events. People's
value as individual human beings has always overshadowed any disagreements I
may have had politically with them. I just don't talk about it. Waste of
time.
Milton, your brain has produced something that has greatly aided me and many
others in the outreach community. Without your software it would have been
impossible to bring the Sun to over 300,000 students in its full colorful
ferocity through my program so far, and much more difficult to serve the
millions touched by Alan's world renowned images on the internet and at his
awesome art shows or Phil's blog Bad Astronomy...:) By the way, Brian
Shelton is the one who introduced me to your software. Word of mouth.
That being said, you have to do what you have to do and the world is full of
good advice. As soon as they are ready I will be the first in line to buy
the golden key. Other than the awesome iMac Brian S. donated to my cause I
am always buying up used iMacs for my program as they only last a couple
years with all the rough treatment from transportation and the students.
I would be happy to host the listserve and the current version of the
downloadable software for ASTRO IIDC through my nonprofit but only if I can
give it away for free as a perk of being a member of my outreach group to
select and verified people who complete three or more outreach events per
year. I have a strong aversion to retail sales or making a profit off of
this stuff so that would not be possible but I could pay you a consulting
fee every few months for bug fixing or software fixes if necessary.
Again, as soon as the golden key is ready, I will be the first in line to
buy it.
Ramsden
-----Original Message-----
From: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Milton Aupperle
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2012 3:27 PM
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Re: Astro IIDC 4.09.00 site updated
Hi Alan and others;
Okay. I removed the reference to Obama. Naming him specifically was dumb and
as I indicated in my last posting given the economic situation - cuts have
to be made by the government. Unfortunately, they affect me and my ability
to continue development of Astro IIDC and I'm bitter and very stressed about
this all.
On 5-Sep-12, at 11:43 AM, Alan Friedman wrote:
Hi Milton,
Many of us are working to try to keep businesses solvent and pay the
bills. It hasn't been an easy time.
I don't know your goals well enough to suggest a direction for your
business. But I will share a few observations - many of which are
gleaned from fellow users who have shared their thoughts in recent
weeks.
My goal has been clear - Astro IIDC has to be self funding. It has to be
able to pay my monthly bills to continue with it.
1. Astro IIDC is a fully fleshed and working application with a
potential for continued revenue stream. To "kill" it seems to serve
no purpose. If you prefer not to invest further time in development,
sales or support, find a way to simplify the sales and download
process and empower the user group to provide support for new sales.
I drew a line in the sand and said 100 new users starting on August
7th. We are at 11% of that goal today.
The only reason to kill it is it frees me up to find employment.
As I said before, employment contracts have clauses in them that
prevent you from doing projects outside of work - especially for
software companies. All of my contracts have been that way - they want
you focussed on them.
If I go back to my mining roots (I was a mineral exploration geologist
for almost 15 years) - I will likely be gone in the field for months
at a time with no phone, internet or outside contact - so you can't
even fulfill sales or offer the vaguest kind of support.
I will not leave a product dangling. Either it is a going concern or
it's done - that just screws up any third party company that wants to
build a competing product - just like "Open Source" or "Share Ware"
does.
2. Divide the program into a basic and advanced versions. The basic
version provides camera control only. the advanced version includes
image processing. The program has become large and feature laden,
with some learning curve issues. A simplified capture program would
be easier to sell in a new campaign and might reach out to a broader
user group (including education) with the potential to draw users to
the processing side as they gain experience.
I have been down this road and have worked with other people that have
done this too. It only fragments your sales market further and
increases your costs exponentially - as now you have multiple
registrations, multiple marketing costs, multiple versions to develop
and support.
Astro IIDC pricing is $75 per copy if bought in pairs. Cameras are
$250 to $5000 USD and your cheapest Mac is about $1000. So the
software pricing is a very small fraction ( <6%) to of the costs of
doing Mac imaging even on the lowest end - on the high end it's < 1%
of cost.
3. Outsource the marketing communications. Get help with creation of
a website that fully expresses the potential of the product.
Showcase the work and images that have been done with the software.
Collaborate with someone who can build relationships with the camera
manufacturers whose products your software supports. and with Apple.
The outsourcing and promotion requires money. Astro IIDC sales for
2012 do not even cover my monthly combined grocery, internet and power
bill - leaving rent, insurance and hardware replacements / updates
unfunded. To do a trade show requires several thousand dollars in
flights, hotels, meals, entertainment (clients / drinks etc.) and
attendance fees per show. I used to do do them in the 1990's for my
Mac GIS Business so I know all about it.
I have already partnered with PGR, and I meet with them fairly
regularly as well as pass them images and information to use for their
promotional work - like my PGR 2 camera review. I have worked with
PixeLink on compatibility issues and some promotional stuff in the
past. The other Camera (i.e. Sony, AVT, Dage, The Imaging Source
etc.) companies don't care about the Mac - it is not a viable market
to them (currently 5.9% of PC sales in the USA, < 3% world wide).
And as far as promoting images, you should visit my web site some time:
http://www.outcastsoft.com/AstroImages/AstroIndex.html
After I update that site, I have posted that to various Astro related
groups too to try to drum up business or raise awareness that there
are Mac options available. While on vacation in August 2012, I was
posting images to other Yahoo group sites that I had taken to try and
promote Astro IIDC and have done that on other occasions too.
I have promoted images on the Astro IIDC web site too at the end of
the FAQ section:
http://www.outcastsoft.com/ASCASTROIIDC.html#FAQ
mention that you can see other peoples images on this list there too
and have a section called "Astro IIDC" in the news too.
I believe that there are current users who might be willing to
assist in some of these efforts. My images are and have always been
available to you for the purposes of communicating what your
software can achieve. I think I can say the same for Stephen, Jim,
Brian, Alberto and many others.
I do appreciate that people have indicated that Astro IIDC was used
for imaging. I'm sure it does help raise awareness.
Whether these ideas could work to solve the financial situation you
find yourself in, I do not know. But assuming you find some
enjoyment from what you've achieved, it seems just as easy to find a
cost effective way to maintain the investment rather than driving it
into a tree.
I can not in good faith hide the fact that sales don't justify the
expenditure of my time. Software doesn't magically maintain
compatibility and at some point Apple will break it or kill it (i.e.
like Rosetta / QuickTime etc.) - so it has to be actively supported.
Actively supporting it means buying the new OS versions and replacing
older hardware (Macs and Cameras) for testing purposes. I currently
have one Mac that can run Mountain Lion for testing - that really is
not enough to say it "works".
The simplest way for me to deal with this whole situation was to just
post a message "it's done" and move on with my life.
What I tried to do is give the Mac community an opportunity to extend
the life of Astro IIDC by reaching a sales target - but that likely
will not happen. So my end game is the "Golden Key" to try and let
people keep their Macs and Cameras running whether I am around or not.
As it stands right now with the number of peoples wanting the Golden
Key, the costs of developing it makes it a break even proposition - so
it people are wondering if I am making money on it - I am not.
with best wishes,
Alan
Thanks Alan - I appreciate the response and suggestions. The bottom
line is I need more customers.
TTYL..
Milton J. Aupperle
President
ASC - Aupperle Services and Contracting
Mac Software (Drivers, Components and Application) Specialist
#1106 - 428 Chaparral Ravine View SE.
Calgary Alberta T2X 0N2
1-(403)-453-1624
milton@outcastsoft.com
www.outcastsoft.com
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