Marketing (Was: Will Free Axiom change our world?)

Hi,

 I do not entirely agree, so let me reply. :)

"Scientific professionals" is a rather broad category if you're
including all physicists in academia and industry.  The fellow who
teaches Physics 1 in a teacher's college in Jakarta presumably has
different needs and different resources from the chief scientist of
General Motors' materials science lab.  And I'm not sure if you intend
to include "technical" professionals in that category (e.g. engineers in
industry).

Let's consider technical and scientific professionals in industry in the
developed world.  It seems to me that this is precisely the audience
that we should NOT be targetting.  Let me lay out my reasoning so that
you can present counterarguments.

* These are exactly the people I'm talking about.

  -- Scientific and technical professionals are the core market for
Mathematica and Maple.  M&M have a strong, established position in those
markets, they have been tuning their product for it for years, they have
effective marketing campaigns addressing it, and they will not let it go
without a fight.

  -- The license fee for commercial users of Mathematica is $1900.
Though that is not trivial, for those whose *primary* activity is
scientific and technical, it doesn't seem exorbitant when you compare to
current prices for office software, technical books, journal
subscriptions (which are a *recurring* expense), conferences, travel,
and even office furniture -- not to mention lab equipment.

* I do not agree at all.  I work in a small R&D firm.  It is very difficult
at best to get any money for any of the above; I'm not complaining, just
stating a fact.  You're implicitly assuming - if I'm not mistaken - "large"
(in whatever sense) commerical users.  Anyway from the point of view of a
small R&D firm, open source programs like Maxima are exactly what is needed.
When I've told colleagues and managers about Maxima (and things like
Octave), they become quite interested.  They do balk at a few thousand $CDN
for Maple and Mathmetica.

  -- Technical professionals expect richer functionality than Maxima
currently offers:  More special functions.  More plotting options.  More
special-purpose libraries.  Less configuration hassle (how do I hook up
Maxima to TeX or gnuplot?).  You mention the extant Macsyma/Maxima code
in the literature -- how do I find it?  Is there any sort of catalog?
Is there any sort of systematic documentation and testing?  Do different
packages follow consistent conventions so I can use them together?

* From my point of view, Maxima offers the functionality I need in terms of
plotting, special functions, and the like.  I find that only rarely does one
have to go beyond this.  For comments on Maxima code in the literature
(books in particular), follow this mailing list!  This was discussed about a
month or two ago, as I recall.

  -- Professionals in general expect professional support services.
Though I think we do a good job with the email list and the usenet
group, I think most professionals will not want to wade through all that
material.  That said, I do not know what M&M's reputation is in customer
support and bug fixing.

* Maxima has a respectable manual (I know that this will generate howls of
outrage from some, but it is passably useful).  With other programs, I have
been able to find out what I need from on-line manuals, and I understand
that others have similar experiences.

 More generally, you should understand that Maxima provides a free way into
the world of symbolic computing for many people, so that they *don't* have
to commit a significant fraction of a small research budget to something
that they find they may not use after all.

 Dave Holmgren