From owner-freebsd-advocacy Thu Dec 16 14:29:49 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from zippy.cdrom.com (zippy.cdrom.com [204.216.27.228]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C66B814F45 for ; Thu, 16 Dec 1999 14:29:46 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jkh@zippy.cdrom.com) Received: from zippy.cdrom.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by zippy.cdrom.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA63655; Thu, 16 Dec 1999 14:29:15 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jkh@zippy.cdrom.com) To: dwilde1@thuntek.net Cc: Pat Lynch , freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The Bazaar part II In-reply-to: Your message of "Thu, 16 Dec 1999 07:10:12 MST." <3858F2C4.57480E83@thuntek.net> Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 14:29:15 -0800 Message-ID: <63651.945383355@zippy.cdrom.com> From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" Sender: owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > it's a great marketdroid-type decision to take freeware and print the > manuals and package it in a box. DO NOT bundle them together, the idea > is for people to see that there's STUFF TO BUY for FreeBSD. I think the > Power Pak is actually a mistake, it would be better to split out the > components as separate products. Heh, unfortunately, this is engineer-thinking rather than channel sales thinking. :) First off, the components are available split off as separate products and have been for far longer than the PowerPak has been a discrete product. The Pak was created due to retailer demand, who didn't *want* a whole bunch of $39.95 products (on which they make little) on the shelves and taking up valuable shelf space. They wanted something more compact and priced up around $59.00 and so that's what they got. You don't dictate terms to the channel, it dictates terms to you and you better listen or you don't get to stay in there very long. :-) > shelves. It seems that part of the reason Linux has taken off at escape > velocity is that there's lots of stuff to buy, and the impulse to pull And the retailers hate this, the only thing keeping them stocking all those diverse products is the fact that the products are all in competition with one another and there's no *hope* of consolidation. The size of the Linux market means the retailers have to still devote the shelf space, but they don't have to be happy about it. We, unfortunately, are too small to get away with that kind of behavior. :) Not to say that retailers wouldn't mind more products in the FreeBSD line, they just want them to cost more than $50. This means creating bundles of some sort since raising the price of the base product would suck rocks and everyone here would agree. - Jordan To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message