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did you and Tom both intentionally miss my point here, or was I just too subtle? for those who didn't find this really obvious, this little story was what may have happened to electrix over the past year or so. at least from my vantage point. just trying to point out how the choices made can affect the result, when you don't have the option to choose everything and your resources are very limited. If you are designing a complex electronic musical instrument with limited resources, and you can have good visual design OR good engineering, but not both, which do you choose? Or do you try to do both anyway, accepting that quality of both will be low? kim At 03:28 PM 10/16/2001, Mark Sottilaro wrote: >I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT CUSTOM MOLDED PLASTICS I'M TALKING ABOUT A NEW SILK >SCREEN WITH BETTER LOGOTYPE DESIGN > >Kim Flint wrote: > > > hypothetical scenario: > > > > ok, so we take our tiny budget and devote a significant portion of it >to > > pay for industrial designers, graphic artists, NRE on custom molded > > plastics, extrusions, fancy sales literature, etc. > > > > Sadly, we now don't have enough money after that to pay for another > > software engineer and software QA person that we desperately need. >We've > > already announced a shipping date and our nifty looking hardware is all > > done and ready to go, but our woefully understaffed software team is > > struggling big time. > > > > The project ends up being delayed an entire year while they try to >finish > > coding and debugging. Meanwhile, some crank on the internet is >harassing us > > regularly for being incompetent and unable to deliver according to our > > schedules. > > > > We run out of cash, and have to take desperate measures to keep >ourselves > > afloat long enough in order to get our product out. We hold out as >long as > > we can and finally ship anyway even though we know it is not really >done. > > Same internet crank now berates us for shipping buggy products. > > > > And to top it all off, same crank still doesn't like the visual design >of > > the product after we spend so much on it, and even complains about >that! > > Apparently you can't win. > > > > hmm, wait that sounds kinda familiar.... > > > > yet another fiscal reality check: these are small companies doing >this. > > Tiny companies really. Or maybe tiny divisions of small companies. >Usually > > just 3 or 4 underpaid people tops, without sufficient budget. There is >not > > a lot of capital available. There is not a large market available. >There > > will not be a large return for your investment. You have to manage >these > > issues to make money. In fact, you will be lucky not to lose money. You > > make choices. > > > > In Mike Patton's best nasal sneer: > > > > "You want it all, but you can't have it." > > > > hopefully you enjoy doing it, because you won't be getting rich in this > > business. No matter what choices you make, some people won't like it >and > > they will harass you with surprising passion. A small number of them >will > > even devote significant energy to trying to disrupt whatever paltry >sales > > you might have made. Do they even understand that there are only two or > > three people behind the curtain, and how much damage they cause? >probably > > not. But at least there are others that come by and seem to like what >you > > did, and make it seem worthwhile. > > > > kim > > > > At 06:00 PM 10/15/2001, Mark Sottilaro wrote: > > >Now frankly, the look of the EDP says to me, "Small company, maybe not > > >going to be around very long. Ran out of cash and didn't do any > > >industrial or graphic design." I know this isn't true, but when this >is > > >at your local music shop in a rack of other gear screaming for my > > >attention, unless I'm looking for it, it may be easy to pass by. Now, > > >if it looked interesting, a young pre looper might ask the salesman, > > >"Hey, what does that thing do?" (if it's designed correctly, the look > > >would elude to it's function as well) A quick demo, and they're >running > > >visa cards. They all live happily ever after. Next year a stereo > > >version comes out. > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Kim Flint | Looper's Delight > > kflint@loopers-delight.com | http://www.loopers-delight.com ______________________________________________________________________ Kim Flint | Looper's Delight kflint@loopers-delight.com | http://www.loopers-delight.com