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From: joelonsoftware <rssfeeds@example.com>
Subject: Eddie Kessler describes programming at Napster. Ray Ozzie has
    more on pla
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 15:28:22 -0000
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URL: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/news/20020925.html
Date: Not supplied

Eddie Kessler describes programming at Napster[1]. 

Ray Ozzie has more on platforms[2]. "Finding the 'right' price point for a 
software platform is critical." To me this sounds like a fancy way of saying, 
"I groove all that stuff about how platforms need to be cheap and ubiquitous, 
but I can't bring myself to do it." The price, Ray says, "must be high enough 
both 1) to maintain a perception of value in the platform, and 2) to create 
significant margins well before ubiquity is assured so that the ecosystem is 
assured of the platform's ultimate viability." What he doesn't mention: if you 
lower the price on the only product you're selling, you have a revenue hit, 
which will not make your investors happy, and you may run out of money and have 
to close. But that must be what he's thinking.

[1] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/WorstProjectEver.html
[2] http://www.ozzie.net/blog/stories/2002/09/24/softwarePlatformDynamics.html


