inessential by Brent Simmons

March 2012

NickB on Privacy

My co-worker Nick Bradbury: Privacy is not an Option.

Microsoft Outlook used to be like that: by default it would allow viruses to be emailed to you, but you could configure it to be secure if you knew where the security options were.

I think this is the first time I’ve heard our current situation with privacy compared to the old Windows days of big open doors for viruses.

Neven Stands Outside the Gate

Neven Mrgan, The Agony and The Ecstasy of The President:

The first thing I see are the guards. And they are carrying guns. All around the vast, sprawling compound, a twelve-foot fence keeps the workers inside. You see, there has been a shooting not too long ago. Strolling in the park one night, President Garfield was shot by a disgruntled coworker.

Do you think Neven really doesn’t know that his last name is missing a vowel? Really? With his attention to detail?

Glassboard Business Plan Follow-Up

Okay, it’s probably not strictly accurate to say we don’t have a business plan or model, as reported yesterday. We do. We have a bunch of details to fill in, though.

The gist: free app, no advertising, and things-to-charge-for. We haven’t worked out the details on the things-to-charge-for part, but we have a bunch of ideas. (And are open to more, of course.)

In other words, it’s a fairly traditional idea. Not about “monetizing eyeballs” — it’s about creating quality software that people like and selling additional somethings that people will pay for.

There’s a follow-up on the blog.

No Plan

In a post today on the Glassboard blog Jenny wrote:

We’ve been asked before what our business model is, and honestly there isn’t one in place yet.

I love this because it’s true.

She also wrote:

A business model that relies on targeted advertising doesn’t jive with our culture at Sepia Labs. We’d rather add amazing new features that people would be willing to pay us for, because they enjoy Glassboard so much.

True too.

But anyway — here’s a video of a cat and an owl playing together.

Gus on Pricing

Gus brings up a dilemma with upgrade pricing and VoodooPad 5 and makes good points.

I think there may be exceptions to the stick-with-a-price rule — especially upgrades and transitioning from non-Mac-App-Store to Mac App Store. I’d still lean toward picking a price and sticking with it, but you have to consider your incentives, the product, and the people who already use it.

Deflation and Introductory Pricing

If you don’t think about it too much, you might think that deflation increases demand. After all, if things are cheaper, you’re more likely to spend money.

The problem is that people are aware of deflation, and they expect prices to continue to drop, so they postpone purchases.

On the other hand, inflation increases demand — people think they should buy now before the price goes up.

This relates to App Store pricing. When prices continue to drop, people may look at an app they want and then decide to wait, since prices tend to drop on the App Store.

At first glance, I think this argues in favor of having introductory pricing when releasing a new product or a major new version of a product. It increases demand in the short term, since people know that the price will go up.

The problem is this, though: after the price goes back up, people may remember that you had introductory pricing, and they then expect you’ll do another round with another release, or you’ll put it on sale for Christmas. They think that they’ll never have to pay the regular price if they just wait. So demand dries up after the initial burst of sales — not only because it’s more expensive now but because they think it will be cheaper again.

I’m convinced — at the moment, at least — that the better approach in almost all cases is to launch with the regular price and never change it. (Unless you have very good reason to raise it.)

There’s also something to be said for stability and trustworthiness, which is reinforced by stable pricing.

So much of the App Store is junk from people you’ve never heard of. I’d rather buy software from people who make a great app and set a good price and who don’t try to make a game out of pricing. Those are the people I trust to be in it for the long haul and who I believe are focused on what counts: quality software.

Copying Email Address from Address Book

Every time I copy an email address from Address Book, I wonder why it’s so difficult. (Maybe it’s easier in Mountain Lion. I’m using Lion.)

I expect an email address to be treated as a unit, similar to how Mail treats an address, instead of as a collection of characters. (Except when editing.)

Instead it’s necessary to select the characters — triple-click, or click-hold-swipe, or click and cmd-A — and then copy.

Five Years

We’re creeping up on the five-year anniversary of the Palm Foleo. I just wanted to remind you early, so you have time to rent banquet halls, compose new hymns, etc.

Josh on All the Trouble Designers are Now In

Josh Clark, 3.1 Million Pixels Are Heavy:

For utterly understandable business and workflow reasons, a vast number of publishers have adopted platforms like Woodwing and Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite. Trouble is, these tools publish images of pages, not actual text-and-image layouts. They’re giant bitmaps.

And now those bitmaps need to be four times bigger. Or they could find a leaner, smarter way to publish.

Buzz Interview

Pixel Union interviews Buzz Andersen:

I think people have a tendency to internalize successes like Apple’s in a somewhat shallow way, and it seems to me that the conversation in the startup community increasingly equates novelty and visual flair with good design.

Good interview.

Found

I only just now learned about chflags nohidden ~/Library. Sheesh. Needed that.