[Coco] [Color Computer] Help for a CoCoNut

[operator at coco3.com]

>>> If we're talking about the $120 product I think we are, "similar"
>>> isn't a fair term.  The $120 product I'm thinking of does an awful lot
>>> more than the DrivePak, and it's performance is in a whole different
>>> league.  That's not to say the DrivePak couldn't sell for more, but it
>>> would have to improve quite a bit to compete with the more expensive
>>> products.
>>>
>>
>> Aaron, with all respect, please describe the awful lot more that the
>> said
>> product does more than a CoCoNet-equipped Drive Pak.  I mean, describe
>> each device as you know them.  I know you're a Cloud-9'er for life and I
>> can't change that, but I beg to differ.
>


> This puts me in a difficult place.  I don't want to detract from any
> sales you might make, I know what it's like to be in a tough place and
> I sure don't want to make it any worse for you.  On the other hand,
> having owned both a DrivePak and another product, I can't see them as
> "similar".  IMHO the relative pricing is probably about right.
>
> I think it might be better to let this dog lie for now.  I probably
> should not have commented in the first place.
> Apologies and best of luck.
> -Aaron


Not so fast there, slick. :)  Wishing luck on the busiest CoCo developer
around just doesn't sound right.  With a customer list of 900+ and
counting, which may not seem high, but that's about 800+ CoCo users you
don't know, and I do.  They're out there all around the world.  Maybe by
luck they just happen to come to my front door.

Aaron, you're already in a difficult position by making it overly obvious
that you like making negative comments about all of my efforts.  You've
made it clear that you're a Cloud-9'er, and that's fine, but I've already
got 2 of them on my back so why put another foot on my head when you think
I'm "down" ?

The fact is that luck has played no part in what I've done for the CoCo
world.  Another fact is that anytime somebody appears to be weak, a foot
comes out of nowhere and steps on the guy's head.  Perhaps it gives a
feeling of power to be able to kill sales by coming on the list and
spewing nonsense about products you don't even use.  But then, I'm quite
used to it and have survived a long time offering CoCo services with this
kind of practice from various members of the groups.

The position *I'm* in demands that I take heat from anybody on any given
day and answer to hundreds of people, some who do nothing but complain. 
I'm still there to listen but am expected to not have an opinion.

Also, I've become used to at least 3 people who know each other well
posting stuff like this then when it comes time to explain, they suddenly
have nothing else to say.  I learned a long time ago that getting the last
word doesn't make you right.


Here's the only facts that matter to me right now:

I've got a lot of Drive Pak users and no complaints yet (maybe yours), and
have yet to have to repair a pak.  The Drive Pak gives 2GB of storage to
any CoCo and is the most compact of any cartridge you can buy.  CoCoNet
offers a multi-drive system that is unmatched by any other DOS variation. 
The included card has lots of ready to boot OS-9 games/images, partition
management from DOS commands, and many other cool features that people
were looking for.

Because the Drive Pak is slower than the SuperIDE pak, my device has been
categorized as a piece of garbage by at least 3 people who know each other
well.

While the Drive Pak hardware is limited in speed, the firmware is not
fully optimized yet to take advantage of the way the uDrive module works. 
DOS has to read 512 bytes per CoCo sector, so the device is currently
running twice as slow as it could.  I'll work around this, but not to
compete with anybody else.  That's not why I'm here.

So, thanks for listening to ME for a change.

Roger Taylor