[linux-audio-dev] [OT] marketing hype [was: Is ladspa actually la-dsp-a? Is JACK the ultimate solution?}

[Marek Peteraj]

I couldn't resist.

<snip>

>  a UI that is designed
> by people who understand how something works and how it is
> used, rather than by the marketing department. 

<snip>

> marketing, which has been defined
> as 'the art of disturbing rational decision making'.

Let me give you a perfect example.

The line6 variax.
Guitar DSP modelling.

"What if your guitar could be every guitar?"
Pretty well described product, it offers 28 various types of guitars.
Fenders, Gibsons, Martins.

"There's something magical about playing a 50-year-old guitar. Even
better is a guitar that's actually been "played" every day of that
half-century. Those instruments have a sound to them that only comes
from the passing of time, hundreds of sessions, thousands of gigs... The
guitars that are modeled in Variax aren't just showroom pieces. They
have been played to perfection. These guitars have dings, scratches,
and, most importantly, unbelievable tone. With one knob and a 5-way
switch, Variax will take you through this historic collection of
guitars."

In other words, they have taken up to 50 year a old guitar model and
tried to model it as close as possible. And now they're describing it
with positive words.

Are they cheating with this kind of marketing?
Check the sound demos.
They sound great.
True, you can't go better than original, but you can get as close as
possible.


So, in other words - perfect product, perfect marketing - that includes
a perfect site, perfect sound  demos, perfect descriptions(i.e. positive
ones). They're doomed to have success. And i wouldn't mind buying one.

Just as if i said: "There something magical about the sound of pipe
organs. No wonder they're called the kings of all musical instruments.
We have tried to model one such pipe organ as close as possible so that
you can enjoy playing a real church organ at home. Almost - the church
is missing. The sound isn't<link to sound demos>"
Would i cheat if i said that? Judging from the reactions of lots of
people, i'd say not at *all*. And you'd be surprised - your opinion
doesn't matter much to me, Fons. Why? 
Because you'll always be critical and you'll always know what's missing
even if it's 0.1% of it all. Which is good for the DSP part of that
application, not the application as a whole.

Or...
"JACK, the award winning professional audio server that let's you
seamlessly connect each professional audio application and route audio
as you wish in an ultra-low-latency environment."

Is jack an award winning app? It is. (google if you don't believe me ;) 
Is jack professional? It fulfills most conditions, one of them being
ultra-low-latency.
Most of linux audio apps intended for pro usage support jack today.

Is it a lie?

What you guys blatantly underestimate is that in order to bring your
apps to users (= having success, sorry ;) it doesn't suffice if you're a
developer. You have to be a good manager, have a goal that you'd like to
reach(other than fooling around with code, if that's the case, ignore
this email).And that a really good and successful app has got both -
comfort and the underlying technology. What linux audio offers is
technology. No comfort at all. Right now it's all just academic
software.

<rant over>

Marek