Re: Limited ;) marketing idea

From: Andreas Prucha (prucha_at_helicon.co.at)
Date: 12/03/03 

Date: 2 Dec 2003 18:16:15 -0700

"Thomas J. Theobald" <ttheobald2003@nospamplease.msn.com> wrote in
news:3fccd8c9@newsgroups.borland.com:

>> If Delphi was a completely free tool, it would IMO have a huge
>> market- share. But Borland would not make money from it, of course.
>> But that's not the point. The point was, that a free student/school
>> license could increase the market share.
>>
>
> Personal edition. Download. Free. Worldwide.

Errm, sorry, but the personal edition is not really a good advertising.
It's too limited. And IIRC it's not longer available.

> But they would lose where educational licenses were sold.

I do not know how many educational licenses they sell.

> Besides,
> show me an IT manager with a budget who is going to buy a product just
> because some new hire says "Oh, man, I used this thing back in school,
> and it was the coolest!"

After some time they are not "new hire" any more. And even if they are
new, they may have some influence. It's free advertising if the employees
tell about the strength of a tool, because the manager might not know it.
The new hire does not make the final decision, but he may influence the
decision. And many programmers do some private jobs beside their main
job. They may chose Delphi there, if they know it.

> And the students would be forced by their managers to use whatever the
> corporate standard was, when they got a paying job.

Yes. But whenever some problems with the existing tools show up, the
discussion will go into the direction of "why don't we use this" or "why
don't we use that".

> I think you are really overstating the influence students have on the
> buying habits of their managers.

I do not think so. As a manger, you also have to take into account what
the majority of the people can. C++ or VB may not be the best tools for
many jobs, but there is a huge pool of programmers. Thus, it may make
sense to use it because you can find people quite easy. "If I need
someone, I will have a difficult time to find somebody" is a very
negative argument for a manager.

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