[Sigia-l] Macromedia Flashpaper [was: Acrobat reader ?]

[Russ Unger]

> Macromedia isn't doing anyone a favor by publishing that survey. It's
> part of their sales pitch. Besides, it was not conducted by them, they
> probably commissioned it. And since David wrote in to substantiate the
> 'methodology' I had to question what seemed like an extremely suspect
> figure.

More opinion, I'm afraid.  Commissioning it is a common practice when it
comes to surveys (and I say that based upon my myopic experience in more
than a handful of different firms, so this could certainly be a skewed
view), lest the party be accused of skewing the results themselves,
which it still seems as if it is happening. Sales pitch or not, I've
worked with MM for a variety or products and I've witnessed their
behaviors toward the user audiences first-hand.  They have their things
that they do great and they have things that they could use some work
on, but more than anything, from what I have seen, they are out and
involved in the user community via mailing lists and appearances and
that behavior isn't suspect to me, but it's not dealing with the results
of a survey so it may not be relevant.  Dave's presence on this list
alone is something I've yet to see from, oh, say... Apple.  Any Apple
folks here to chime in and provide specifics as to their products?

> As to how do I know that about Quicktime? Well, Steve Jobs told me in
> his keynote at Macworld.

I'll agree that everyone has a way of inflating and
skewing--certainly--just like Steve Jobs would at Macworld--something
that's put on to <gasp> pump and pump Apple products.  Bill Gates and
Conan O'Brien told me some neat things about MS products, but I took
them with a grain of salt, as well.  Steve Jobs states that there have
been over 330 million copies of QT6 downloaded (plus tens of millions
with products and on CDs, etc.) AND 98% of the downloads have been from
Windows users, according to Steve, but even so, Apple probably
commissioned those results, eh?  If that's okay with you, why is it not
okay for it to come from Dave/Macromedia?

I'm all for taking a stance on a topic, but please be consistent on how
you're choosing to determine what is spin and what is hardcore fact,
otherwise it's emotional bargaining, in my opinion.

Regardless, it's a tired topic for me now.