Well, I was going to ask ...

[Alma J Wetzker]

Michael Hipp wrote:
> Tim Wunder wrote:
> 
>> On Thursday 06 May 2004 10:25 pm, someone claiming to be Michael Hipp 
>> wrote:
>> <snip>
>>
>>> But RH has now narrowed their potential customer base down to only the
>>> very biggest and richest and I fear that will be a mistake in the long
>>> run. They have, in effect, told a huge number of people "your money is
>>> no good here."
>>>
>>
>> Isn't that market demand met by Fedora Core?
> 
> 
> Certainly some would say yes. But I don't really think so. A year ago I 
> was using their low end product and gladly paying them a bit of money to 
> do so. Now I use their lower-end non-product but do so for free. I get 
> less and they get nothing.
> 
> And worse, whereas last year my brand loyalty to RH was growing every 
> day. Now it is diminishing every day as reasons to stick with them seem 
> fewer and less compelling.
> 
> Just my view of the world ...

About a decade ago I was involved in a major purchase of HP equipment. 
Because of the size of the purchase, we were asked if there was anything we 
wanted as a bonus.  I asked for calculators (I love the RPN).  We were told, 
no.  It seems that HP did not quite break even on the calculator division and 
only continued producing them because it put the HP name in front of so many 
engineers and financial types.

That sounded to me like smart business then and still does.  You just can't 
buy that kind of devotion with marketing.  I think RH, and before them 
Caldera, are really missing something by not supporting a desktop.  It may be 
just beyond their cash flow but it seems to me that it bought devotion that 
marketing could never match.

     -- Alma