2002/09/25

Eddie Kessler describes programming at Napster.

Ray Ozzie has more on platforms. "Finding the 'right' price point for a software platform is critical." To me this sounds like a fancy way of saying, "I groove all that stuff about how platforms need to be cheap and ubiquitous, but I can't bring myself to do it." The price, Ray says, "must be high enough both 1) to maintain a perception of value in the platform, and 2) to create significant margins well before ubiquity is assured so that the ecosystem is assured of the platform's ultimate viability." What he doesn't mention: if you lower the price on the only product you're selling, you have a revenue hit, which will not make your investors happy, and you may run out of money and have to close. But that must be what he's thinking.

Oh, and by the way: My company, Fog Creek Software, has paid internships in software development for qualified college students. They're in New York City. Free housing, lunch, and more. And you get to work on real, shipping software with the smartest developers in the business.

About the Author: I’m your host, Joel Spolsky, a software developer in New York City. Since 2000, I've been writing about software development, management, business, and the Internet on this site. For my day job, I run Fog Creek Software, makers of FogBugz—the smart bug tracking software with the stupid name, and Fog Creek Copilot—the easiest way to provide remote tech support over the Internet, with nothing to install or configure.

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