4 ms·

You know, I do not write software for Windows 2000. They are about 10% of my market, but I don't bother testing on 2000, because I choose to focus on the XP and

You know, I do not write software for Windows 2000. They are about 10% of my market, but I don't bother testing on 2000, because I choose to focus on the XP and up market. Nobody even questions this policy or finds it controversial. Why should a website not also decide to focus on 90% of its users so that it can make a better product?

edw519 18y ago
Why should a website not also decide to focus on 90% of its users so that it can make a better product? Because some people just don't want to leave a dime from every dollar on the table. That's all.
- cstejerean 18y ago
  if only the math were that simple. Chances are that focusing on 90% of the market != 10% decline in revenue.
  - edw519 18y ago
    And that's exactly why some people want every eyeball they can get. Because they don't know.
    - 0x44 18y ago
      37Signals isn't really in the "eyeballs" business.
  - DougBTX 18y ago
    If the time you save from ignoring an expensive 10% of your customers lets you grow your total market by 12%, you're into profit.
- alex_c 18y ago
  Because some people just don't want to leave a dime from every dollar on the table. That's all. But at some point, if that dime has to come at an increase of 20% or 30% in effort, it stops being worth it.
  - edw519 18y ago
    Right. A good argument. Which you have to convert into a convincing argument with metrics. In the absence of other metrics, eyeballs wins.
- pchristensen 18y ago
  Unless it costs $0.25 to grab that dime.
- maxklein 18y ago
  If you really think this, then you have no experience running commercial software on multiple platforms. The time spent making software compatible across platforms is way more expensive than the money you gain from selling on that platform. For example, I have some shareware I sell. Brings me about $3000 a month. When I took Windows 2000 off the list, revenues dropped to about $2700 a month. However, about 50% of support requests could now be replied with "Platform not supported" because I could finally use new APIs that were only available on XP. Your idealistic dreamy eyed attitude will be tempered by experience at some point.

edw519 18y ago

Why should a website not also decide to focus on 90% of its users so that it can make a better product? Because some people just don't want to leave a dime from every dollar on the table. That's all.

cstejerean 18y ago
if only the math were that simple. Chances are that focusing on 90% of the market != 10% decline in revenue.
- edw519 18y ago
  And that's exactly why some people want every eyeball they can get. Because they don't know.
  - 0x44 18y ago
    37Signals isn't really in the "eyeballs" business.
- DougBTX 18y ago
  If the time you save from ignoring an expensive 10% of your customers lets you grow your total market by 12%, you're into profit.
alex_c 18y ago
Because some people just don't want to leave a dime from every dollar on the table. That's all. But at some point, if that dime has to come at an increase of 20% or 30% in effort, it stops being worth it.
- edw519 18y ago
  Right. A good argument. Which you have to convert into a convincing argument with metrics. In the absence of other metrics, eyeballs wins.
pchristensen 18y ago
Unless it costs $0.25 to grab that dime.
maxklein 18y ago
If you really think this, then you have no experience running commercial software on multiple platforms. The time spent making software compatible across platforms is way more expensive than the money you gain from selling on that platform. For example, I have some shareware I sell. Brings me about $3000 a month. When I took Windows 2000 off the list, revenues dropped to about $2700 a month. However, about 50% of support requests could now be replied with "Platform not supported" because I could finally use new APIs that were only available on XP. Your idealistic dreamy eyed attitude will be tempered by experience at some point.