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Re: Suggestion:
****** message to minivend-users from Birgitt Funk <birgitt@minivend.com> ******
Dear Mike,
I am really happy and relieved that you (finally) posted this
to the list. Let's just all work on the one thing which would
make all the difference, an easier to grasp documentation.
Cheers,
Birgitt Funk
As always I couldn't resist to make some small comments.
On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 mikeh@minivend.com wrote:
> ****** message to minivend-users from mikeh@minivend.com ******
>
> Quoting Yossi Cohen (YOSSI@prodigy.net):
> [most snipped]
> > In a way I disagree with some of us who think that because Minivend is free
> > we are not entitled to complain about it.
>
> You are of course entitled. One of my favorite sayings is:
>
> "Find the grain of truth in criticism, chew it, and
> swallow it."
>
> I don't know who said it, but I try to live up to it. I especially try
> and remember this when I am feeling a bit thin-skinned. I have learned
> that I cannot be everything to everyone.
>
> > It is very much similar to a fancy
> > toy given as a gift to a child who doesn't know how to operate it. So how do
> > you expect him to enjoy it?
> >
>
> I would say it is more like a child picking up some car keys and driving
> the car away. They can steer pretty good for a while, at least if they can
> see over the dashboard, but the end result is usually that they spin out
> of control. I think I do say frequently that MiniVend is complex and it
> requires real knowledge of the web and databases. That may change some
> day, but for now it is still true. If I were spouting "easy to use,
> anyone can do it!" then I might feel guilty. But I think I come right
> out and say that it is not for everyone.
>
But almost everyone will want to use it one day - and you do realize that
almost any child will pick up the car keys and drive off despite all
the warnings from Dad. Just be assured, most of us know it's hard
to be a Dad sometimes. 8-)
> One thing that I don't hear mentioned is that MiniVend is about as
> ambitious an application as you will see in the freeware category.
> It is, as Brian Bullen put it, at "the top of the pyramid". It relies on
> a number of complex underlying pieces and is a face that your customers
> see and interact with every day. It is not hidden out of the way where
> you might not realize what it is doing; it is directly on the firing line,
> and will often get blame that might be due to the underlying parts. Try
> and think of another freeware application that is out there that far --
> you can come up with some, but there aren't that many. 8-)
>
Let me say this: I often heard this argument when getting discouraged
to use MV by myself because of all of my lacking knowledge:
"If I can do it, you can do it too".
Though I don't see any logic in this statement (a=10 doesn't prove
b=10 all by itsself), I like to believe that this is true:
If you can see it, we can see it too, just what you see
clearly, we can grasp just through a fog.
What I mean is that most of us can see what MV is about, what it can
do and what it relies on, just many of us can't see it as clearly
as you do. To say it with your logic now:
If I could see it, all of us can. 8-)
It's like your child picking the car keys for the "Porsche"
instead of the 20 year old "Beetle" to do its first cruise, because
somehow it can see vaguely that the "Porsche" is the cooler car even
if it has no idea why.
You know how great it is to take the kids to the museum one day
and show them all the interior parts of the Prosche's engine and let
them dig through all the "information material" there is displayed.
Chances are, coming home, they will start to rip the "Beetle" engine
apart and get into some very useful learning experiences.
What I want to say is, that I think MV is the best learning material
I can think of. I am very committed to help giving it the
best "information" material we can think of, to help the kids get
"cruising" with Dad's car without trashing it. 8-)
> I run into all kinds in the process of answering or not answering
> questions. I have been called all sorts of names and had people yell at
> me on the phone when I tell them I won't answer their question.
>
> There is one person who recently was a little bit of a trial. They tried
> to use MiniVend on a 7-year-old operating system with less than famous
> success. They happened to email me with a specific request for information
> right about the time Minivend.com was cracked (Linux security hole,
> not MiniVend 8-) and I was working 20 hours a day recovering. Normally
> it was the kind of question I would answer, if only to say "update your
> seven-year old operating system". But I just didn't have the time for
> something like that. When I didn't respond in a couple of days, they
> started in on posting denigrating comments to newsgroups. (I later saw
> the postings but didn't respond.) When something like that happens,
> I try and remember I did nothing wrong, and that it does not really
> reflect on me. It is getting easier. Once upon a time I would have gotten
> a bit upset; today I realize I am one human being with the corresponding
> limitations and that that is all right. And that the person who
> is bashing me is human too. 8-)
>
> There are many questions I don't answer. I choose to spend what
> time I can making MiniVend better in a general sense. I cannot
> possibly tutor everyone who uses MiniVend, and I don't even care
> to try. That way lies madness.
>
> I also don't try and get exposure for MiniVend any more. I virtually
> avoid it. I turn down every partner request; I don't ask for links
> nor do I give any; I turn down book and buy-out offers; and I have not
> posted an announcement to a newsgroup for at least a year, maybe even
> more. Downloads/page views are running about 8,000/180,000 a month right
> now, and that is enough for me. One day if the MV documentation becomes
> good enough, I might make a blitz. I think that probably less than 5%
> of potential users even know about Minivend, and that a good percentage
> of the ones who are aware of it don't know what it is capable of. If
> presented right, with good documentation and an easy interface for the
> "flycat" and for database maintenance, it could even become a category
> killer in the freeware area. The new documentation project will go a
> long way toward that; I expect to reduce the number of inconsistencies
> quite a bit with their help.
>
> I am quite proud of MiniVend even with all of its faults. I have looked
> at a couple of high-end packages and in many ways MiniVend is better. I
> have several times rescued clients who committed to a commercial shopping
> cart, were stung, and had to recover. MiniVend takes literally thousands
> of orders worth millions of dollars every month, and that is only the
> sites I work on. I don't know about others, except vaguely of a few
> that say they are doing well with MiniVend.
>
> I don't know how many hours I have spent working on it, but I can
> tell you that it is a lot. 8-)
>
> I have had people who I respect tell me it is a pretty fair
> accomplishment. And it is used in some serious applications in some
> serious places. If I make that blitz I will ask some large companies
> to allow me to say that they use MiniVend. Freeware is getting less and
> less of a sensitive spot with the recent success of Linux.
>
> This has turned into a bit of a rant. I wanted to make sure everyone
> knows that I can defend myself and MiniVend quite well, if it even needs
> that. It is definitely OK to criticize it. I realize that if people
> didn't care they wouldn't take the time; and I believe that if it wasn't
> any good then no one would use it. And hundreds or thousands of you
> seem to.
>
> And I get lots of pats on the back too; thanks. 8-)
>
> --
> Mike Heins http://www.minivend.com/ ___
> Internet Robotics |_ _|____
> Few blame themselves until they 131 Willow Lane, Floor 2 | || _ \
> have exhausted all other Oxford, OH 45056 | || |_) |
> possibilities. <mikeh@minivend.com> |___| _ <
> -- anonymous 513.523.7621 FAX 7501 |_| \_\
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