Re: [SMSI] WebDNA is too good to go away!
This WebDNA talk-list message is from 2006
It keeps the original formatting.
numero = 67066
interpreted = N
texte = Okay I think I've read enough for a while. Now it's my turn to speak up. I'll try to be gentle ... "I just cant stop thinking that there is a reason why we have not heard from SM in more than 6 months." SmithMicro's stock price has tripled during the past several months, and none of this value increase is due to webdna -- instead it all came from their other divisions. Webdna has basically been a loser for the company for the past year or two. Now they are making lots of real money selling other stuff, yet for some reason you guys still make comments like: "SMSI, you all have invested a significant amount of energy into the product. This is not the time to let it go." Conclusions like this are based on a limited point of view -- that of a programmer, not a businessman. Whether you choose to accept it or not, webdna is a very small piece of a much larger picture. From the standpoint of a businessman this is EXACTLY the time to ignore webdna and to just "let it go". Look, here's my view of the situation: SmithMicro paid too much for webdna in the beginning, then they didn't have the capital (or didn't want to spend it) to market webdna professionally. Without the extensive marketing required to get this software into the hands of the right programmers several years ago, webdna failed to reach its potential. Now that the "window of opportunity" for webdna has been slammed shut by the insidious onslaught of dozens of effective and even more powerful free open source solutions that compete directly with webdna. The result is that webdna hasn't a snowball's chance in hell of ever reaching the potential SmithMicro once saw in it. I truly believe that webdna has been little more than a "sponge" that has soaked up more money from the coffers of SmithMicro than it has ever given off in profits. Probably the only reason they continued to support webdna for as long as they did in the past was that none of their other divisions were doing any better, so they had no reason to abandon webdna any more than they might have abandoned any of their other divisions. SmithMicro has for a very long time been unfocused in their software efforts. They sell a haphazard mismatch of software, most of which has no relation to the others. It looks like they have been "experimenting" instead of focusing, just hoping that one of their products might become a real winner for the company some day. And now that day has come! Too bad their recent success is not from their webdna division, but nevertheless SmithMicro finally has a winner. Hopefully for the sake of the company they will not "blow it" this time like they did with webdna. Instead they will be wise to focus all their efforts and resources on the product that has tripled the value of their company in a few short months, and not miss out on the "window of opportunity" for this new software like they did with webdna. So ... with this information in hand, and with your new broad-based perspective as the President of SmithMicro and not just a programmer, let me ask you this: 1- What kind of future do you see in webdna? Please answer based on your knowledge that free software that competes directly with webdna such as PHP/MySQL have basically taken over the industry and become the de-facto standards for ecommerce and database driven web sites. 2- How much of SmithMicro's resources should you continue to pour into webdna at this time? Please answer based on your knowledge that the webdna has never generated more returns than the money you have invested in it, and instead it has been a loser for the company from the very beginning. You can agree or disagreee with my views, assumptions, opinions and conclusions if you want to, and of course you have that right. But so far I haven't seen a single shred of evidence post here that refutes any of my views -- and until I do I will go on believing that the wisest decision SmithMicro can make at the moment is to continue to ignore webdna. This is a practical business decision, with no regard for the love of webdna that a couple hundred programmers have for it. It may not make you happy, but it certainly makes sense. Sincerely, Kenneth Grome ------------------------------------------------------------- This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to the mailing list
. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to Web Archive of this list is at: http://webdna.smithmicro.com/
Associated Messages, from the most recent to the oldest:
Okay I think I've read enough for a while. Now it's my turn to speak up. I'll try to be gentle ... "I just cant stop thinking that there is a reason why we have not heard from SM in more than 6 months." SmithMicro's stock price has tripled during the past several months, and none of this value increase is due to webdna -- instead it all came from their other divisions. Webdna has basically been a loser for the company for the past year or two. Now they are making lots of real money selling other stuff, yet for some reason you guys still make comments like: "SMSI, you all have invested a significant amount of energy into the product. This is not the time to let it go." Conclusions like this are based on a limited point of view -- that of a programmer, not a businessman. Whether you choose to accept it or not, webdna is a very small piece of a much larger picture. From the standpoint of a businessman this is EXACTLY the time to ignore webdna and to just "let it go". Look, here's my view of the situation: SmithMicro paid too much for webdna in the beginning, then they didn't have the capital (or didn't want to spend it) to market webdna professionally. Without the extensive marketing required to get this software into the hands of the right programmers several years ago, webdna failed to reach its potential. Now that the "window of opportunity" for webdna has been slammed shut by the insidious onslaught of dozens of effective and even more powerful free open source solutions that compete directly with webdna. The result is that webdna hasn't a snowball's chance in hell of ever reaching the potential SmithMicro once saw in it. I truly believe that webdna has been little more than a "sponge" that has soaked up more money from the coffers of SmithMicro than it has ever given off in profits. Probably the only reason they continued to support webdna for as long as they did in the past was that none of their other divisions were doing any better, so they had no reason to abandon webdna any more than they might have abandoned any of their other divisions. SmithMicro has for a very long time been unfocused in their software efforts. They sell a haphazard mismatch of software, most of which has no relation to the others. It looks like they have been "experimenting" instead of focusing, just hoping that one of their products might become a real winner for the company some day. And now that day has come! Too bad their recent success is not from their webdna division, but nevertheless SmithMicro finally has a winner. Hopefully for the sake of the company they will not "blow it" this time like they did with webdna. Instead they will be wise to focus all their efforts and resources on the product that has tripled the value of their company in a few short months, and not miss out on the "window of opportunity" for this new software like they did with webdna. So ... with this information in hand, and with your new broad-based perspective as the President of SmithMicro and not just a programmer, let me ask you this: 1- What kind of future do you see in webdna? Please answer based on your knowledge that free software that competes directly with webdna such as PHP/MySQL have basically taken over the industry and become the de-facto standards for ecommerce and database driven web sites. 2- How much of SmithMicro's resources should you continue to pour into webdna at this time? Please answer based on your knowledge that the webdna has never generated more returns than the money you have invested in it, and instead it has been a loser for the company from the very beginning. You can agree or disagreee with my views, assumptions, opinions and conclusions if you want to, and of course you have that right. But so far I haven't seen a single shred of evidence post here that refutes any of my views -- and until I do I will go on believing that the wisest decision SmithMicro can make at the moment is to continue to ignore webdna. This is a practical business decision, with no regard for the love of webdna that a couple hundred programmers have for it. It may not make you happy, but it certainly makes sense. Sincerely, Kenneth Grome ------------------------------------------------------------- This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to the mailing list . To unsubscribe, E-mail to: To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to Web Archive of this list is at: http://webdna.smithmicro.com/
Kenneth Grome
DOWNLOAD WEBDNA NOW!
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