[ale] Open Source Apps

[Christopher Ness]

On Saturday 17 January 2004 02:35 am, ChangingLINKS.com wrote:
> > The arguments come back to a frequently prooven failing of capitalist
>
> systems.
>
> Uh oh . . . .
>
> > Simply stated, competitor exclusion becomes easier to pursue than product
> > excellence when there are few ethical consequences to mediate the greed
> > motive.
> > peace
> > aaron
>
> No. I think the bigger problem is that those with more knowledge of the
> product THINK that the better product should win the market.
> That is (almost) NEVER true.

Like   Taco Bell beating Del Taco (which had fresh salsas not just the packets 
of chemical goo) Bad money always drives out good quality.

> Coke Example:
> Even Coke says Coke does not taste as good as Pepsi (remember the whole
> "New Coke" campaign?). 

Not quite true. I was there when Goizueta introduced "New Coke" to the 
bottlers. It was to go after those people who preferred Pepsi in part, true, 
but the true purpose was (and still  is in part  because "Classic Coke" is 
still not original recipe Coca-Cola) to eliminate cane sugar in Coca Cola. If 
you will remember Goizueta was the son of a Coca-Cola sugar plantation 
manager in Cuba and because of Castro the US government had blockaded Cuban 
trade. Goizueta was a  Chemical Engineer by training and when he ascended to 
the throne at CCE his mission  was to change the formula. Florida was not 
growing enough sugar at this point (about 15 years into the embargo) to 
sustain the growth of demand, and corn syrup was considerably cheaper and 
readily available. But corn syrup may have the sweetness, but doesn't taste 
like sugar especially when caramelized. 
Whenever I worked for Coke, there would always be unlimited free drinks for 
all the workers. But on this day at the Atlanta Symphony Hall, things were 
different. By ten AM they had banned Cokes from the stage area. It seems the 
stagehands would open one and instead of drinking the can down and getting 
another later, they would take a few drinks out of the can and set it down; 
later someone else would knock the 3/4 full can over and someone would have 
to mop it up. By ten AM, the stage was littered with partial cans behind 
every flat, under risers and on every flat surface. But you see, we didn't 
know yet anything was different. All we knew was that it was another bottlers 
meeting

> Back to the Coke example:
> When is the last time you bought a "New Coke?" That's right, they aren't
> sold anymore. What happened? Coke spent the time to create a better product
> (which by taste tests did better than Pepsi AND Classic Coke) BUT the
> consumers wanted "the Real Thing" aka "Coca-Cola CLASSIC." As a result,
> Coke lost market share, and they discontinued pushing "New Coke" so they
> could remain the #1 cola company.

Again, the real thing never came back. Corn syrup is still a big ingredient. 
But the taste was altered (again) to get it closer to the original. But maybe 
that is closer toward your point.  Marketing has convinced people that this 
is the original formula - well, compared to "New Coke" it is. And perception 
is really what counts. Perception is your Spinozan reality. You know, 
"Windows is easier than Linux", yet I know from my own labors with it that 
over the 10 years that I have had my own side-by-side taste test of Linux and 
Windows (i.e. two computers) the Windows machine takes far more attention to 
keep running. Prior to XP it would take a twice yearly 36 hour marathon of 
trying to get it back where it worked at all. I can't believe that my 
computers at home AND at work have somehow consistantly been lemons. (at 
least at work they Ghost the hard disk - at home, I'm never quite ready to 
consider it ready to ghost) But still, "Windows is easy". Easy to what?

>
> The point: The inferior product with the great marketing campaign always
> wins. Moreover, contrary to what Aaron implies, the consumers ARE happy,
> Coke is happy, and the venders that gave Coke exclusives (McDonald's,
> stadiums etc.) are happy as well.
>
> "Coke is it!"

Remember the words of H.L. Mencken" " You will never go broke underestimating 
the taste of the American public.
-- 
Chris Ness
mailto:cness at earthlink.net               All jobs are equally easy to
http://home.earthlink.net/~cness           the person not doing the work.
			   			         Holt's Law