Hello? <vent>

[Hamilton, Allison]

Just two cents from a Cognos person.... many of us lurkers on this list are
techie types.  I know that I personally try to stay as far away from pricing
issues as I can... so I can't really contribute to that part of the
discussion.

As to publishing bug lists - another part of the ongoing discussion.  I know
of no attempt to hide bugs that our products have from our customers.
Publishing such information does take time and people power.  Perhaps we
just haven't allocated enough resources to handle the task to the level that
people would like.  It would be a challenge keeping up with lists for the
wide variety of versions that we have out there, and the number of platforms
that we support.  I don't think it's our intent to keep you in the dark, but
shedding light on the subject may be more complex that it appears from the
outside.  
I'm doing what I can from the inside to see it happen...
Allison Hamilton
Disclaimer....  Just my two cents worth... and as always,  my own views are
not necessarily those of my employer.

> ----------
> From: 	Robert J.M. Edis[SMTP:Robert.Edis@creatcomp.com]
> Sent: 	Thursday, October 29, 1998 1:10 PM
> To: 	'powerh-l@lists.swau.edu'
> Subject: 	RE: Hello? <vent>
> 
> G'day all
> 
> How come the Cognos people have been so quiet on this issue in this
> forum?
> 
> My understanding is that software pricing is a complex issue taking into
> account a) what the consumer will pay, b) how much it costs to create
> and support the product and c) what competitors are charging.  
> 
> What a product is worth to a customer is based on more than just its
> purchase price.  Besides that and support charges are "can I find people
> who know this product and what do THEY cost?", "How robust will my
> application be if made with this product instead of another?", "How
> quick can I build/upgrade my application in this product vs another?",
> etc.
> 
> I have heard a lot of anecdotal evidence to show that an application can
> be created in PowerHouse in 1/3 to 1/5 the time it takes in other tools.
> Given all other factors (people costs, training, hardware, etc) being
> equal this translates into significant cost savings as the product
> purchase and support charges are only a small part of a project's
> budget.
> 
> My gripe is not what Cognos charges client sites for production licenses
> but what it charges for development licenses.  VB et. al. are affordable
> to a large range of developers and are therefore more popular,
> irrespective of how good a product it is for large scale application
> development.  Cognos NEEDS to build developer support as it is from this
> group that purchase decision makers will arise (or be persistant
> lobbists).  
> 
> Axiant is a good tool but costs too much for the average developer to
> buy and try.  Cognos should release different versions of the package.
> E.g. a cut down version with no migration tools and SQL database for
> under $250, a 'professional' version with additional tools and limited
> support for under $600 and the full 'enterprise' version for under
> $2,000 (all USD).  These prices are more in line with VB, Delpi,
> PowerBuilder, etc.
> 
> Enough from me, over to you.
> 
> Blue
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