The Economics of PIMs

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Jun 3, 2009 at 03:54 PM

@ PIMfan: I agree with most of what you say; I am more than willing to pay for software as a service (which it is, if support and development continue) and I’m not refering to the webware model. Nowadays I am most reluctant to place my data in ‘completely free’ products and services, even ad-sponsored ones, Google being the sole exception, but even that only as backup. I am enamored with Evernote’s business model, as well as its multidimensional approach (multiplatform, web client, autosync) and hope that others will adopt it.

@ David Dunham
I think that software usually shows early on whether it’s going to become bloatware, if one can get some info on the developer’s vision (see my comment to JohnK below). That said, development is inevitable, simpy because the IT environment constantly changes. Can you still use a DOS program, even if it’s perfect? Especially for PIMs, one expects that they’ll be able to grab (or preferably link to) content from an ever expanding range of sources. Yesterday it was documents and e-mails. Today it’s web and RSS. Tomorrow it will be Google Waves and goodness knows what else.

@ JohnK
Thanks for the heads up on CintaNotes; I appreciate it very much when a developer shares their vision with the user community -and when they have a vision in the first place. Here’s Neville Frank’s, which attracted me to Surfulater a few years ago, and I’m very glad it did: http://blog.surfulater.com/2005/11/21/surfulater-under-the-hood-and-down-the-road/

Alexander