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stxopher · 08-04-2010, 03:02 PM

One of my office coworkers asked my why I was chuckling while reading this thread so I explained what what I found so funny to him.

He just looked at me and said "Well, that's kind of a jerk reaction. The guy asked a legitimate question and everyone just mocked him. It's not like he asked something silly." This stopped my humor dead as my coworker may not be cutting edge anything but is definitely more competent than most people. I did the only reasonable thing to do and asked for his viewpoint.

"You want to know the best word processor, you ask the people who use them, who would know. The same for spreadsheets, photo editors, audio programs, any programs really. That's really what that guys was asking wasn't it?"

Duh, I understand the problem now. Something that, quite honestly, never occurred to me as a long time user and wouldn't be known to those just starting.

While there are tons of different word processors, spread sheets, mail, audio editors...heck, there's a myriad of almost every type of program. Well, every type except one.

I honestly can't name another collection\conversion program out there. As far as I can tell, most of us just consider Calibre to be "it". It's been around for ages, steadily getting better, adapting to whatever new reader or format that comes out, always seeming to be the program you just go to.

I explained that there really isn't any other program that does what Calibre does and he asked why no one else had made one. I opened up the library, showed and explained what everything did and why. He asked, I answered. Again, he asked why no one else had made something similar.

So he got the most basic answer: Anything new would have to compete against Calibre. That's just not worth it for most people. If you can't make a product that does something better for the money you plan to charge, why waste the time and resources to do so?

So he compromised his opinion. I'm still a jerk for chuckling at someone asking for a better version of Calibre but he understands that I'm a jerk that meant no ill will.

08-04-2010, 03:02 PM	#32
stxopher Nameless Being	One of my office coworkers asked my why I was chuckling while reading this thread so I explained what what I found so funny to him. He just looked at me and said "Well, that's kind of a jerk reaction. The guy asked a legitimate question and everyone just mocked him. It's not like he asked something silly." This stopped my humor dead as my coworker may not be cutting edge anything but is definitely more competent than most people. I did the only reasonable thing to do and asked for his viewpoint. "You want to know the best word processor, you ask the people who use them, who would know. The same for spreadsheets, photo editors, audio programs, any programs really. That's really what that guys was asking wasn't it?" Duh, I understand the problem now. Something that, quite honestly, never occurred to me as a long time user and wouldn't be known to those just starting. While there are tons of different word processors, spread sheets, mail, audio editors...heck, there's a myriad of almost every type of program. Well, every type except one. I honestly can't name another collection\conversion program out there. As far as I can tell, most of us just consider Calibre to be "it". It's been around for ages, steadily getting better, adapting to whatever new reader or format that comes out, always seeming to be the program you just go to. I explained that there really isn't any other program that does what Calibre does and he asked why no one else had made one. I opened up the library, showed and explained what everything did and why. He asked, I answered. Again, he asked why no one else had made something similar. So he got the most basic answer: Anything new would have to compete against Calibre. That's just not worth it for most people. If you can't make a product that does something better for the money you plan to charge, why waste the time and resources to do so? So he compromised his opinion. I'm still a jerk for chuckling at someone asking for a better version of Calibre but he understands that I'm a jerk that meant no ill will.