Seeding the market (was Informix Directions)

Tim Schaefer wrote: > Take care of the engine, and developers FIRST, > and the rest will take care of itself. I will be more than > happy to head up your marketing efforts, give me a call. > > Hear, hear: And to seed the market w/ developers of Informix - who will then evangelize to the rest of the company, including management: EDUCATE DEVELOPERS FOR FREE. This may seem like a radical idea, but it's painfully obvious to me that this is a sure way to get developers recommending Informix. It amazes me that companies don't already do this. People recommend what they know. Give developers free Online, and give them FREE education w/ the software. Multiply the number of experts out there, and the number of instances of Online will multiply as it gets recommended for projects because these newly educated developers know Online will do the job. The money spent educating users will come back in revenues of product sold. It seems absurd to me that companies like Informix charge people to learn how to use their software. Rather, smart companies should be banging on doors saying, "C'mon, C'mon, we'll teach you to use our software for free! (Because, then, you'll _buy_ the product.)" Charging people to learn how to use a product, especially one as complex as Online, is an _impediment_ to using it. Companies need to see customer education as Marketing. It should be incumbent on Informix to educate the users. Spending marketing money this way would be incredibly cost-effective. Trainers are cheap. If you train a class of 30-40 new developers, you only need to sell one new _small_ license to immediately recoup the cost of the training. This is brilliant . . . I can't belive I just thought of this! :-) -- * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ADDRESS ALTERED TO FOIL SPAMMERS: Remove "*NO-SPAM*" to reply. Cosmo Lee Multi-User Computer Systems Brooklyn, NY "JUST SAY 'NO' TO SPAM" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *