Quote:
Originally Posted by wallcraft
I agree, and the general point is that all ebook files will eventually fail to work if you keep them long enough. The fix is to be DRM-free, as here, and convert them to a newer format (in this case a newer MOBI).
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You make a good argument for someone to write an open source, multi-platform reader app that works with as many ebook formats as possible, where support for an old format won't be dropped because it's no longer fashionable.
We shouldn't *have* to repeatedly convert and convert again or depend on publishers to convert old ebooks to the latest shiny new format.
I have several hundred ebooks in PalmDoc and TealDoc format as well as all the older Baen freebies from the CD-ROMs. It would take me a very large amount of time to convert them all to other formats.
Amazon deliberately, or accidentally, breaking support for the older Mobi format in their reader app for Android doesn't make good business sense because it pisses off a not insignificant portion of their customer base.
If it's an "oops", then not getting a fix out ASAP is simply really bad public relations. Most companies would stop distribution of a program with such a bad bug and work fast on a fix for the next release. That's what most people who write software do, especially those who depend on their software for making a living.
I run my own small business and one of the top rules is NEVER irritate your customers because that's the fastest way to convert them to *former* customers.
I'm not like you "Oh well. That's how things go." types who just accept whatever a company does that causes you inconvenience.
I prefer to do business with companies that appreciate it when customers point out things they're doing that are or may cause them problems or inconvenience their customers, and take steps to make changes. They know that every customer that goes elsewhere is MONEY GOING ELSEWHERE.
In business, you have to look upon *every income source* as money flowing in. It matters not how little or how much. It's income, it's profit, the lifeblood of the company. When a company begins to not care about ALL its customers, that's when it begins going downhill. History is littered with defunct companies that stopped caring what anyone thought about their products.
The absolute pinnacle of customer service I've ever experienced was when Western Digital had a BBS and automated FAX-back system to get documentation on nearly every product they'd ever made, including product lines they'd sold off to other companies. You'd dialup the BBS, find the document number then call a number to enter the document numbers you wanted FAXed to you. A few minutes later you'd have your documents. When the WWW came along they put all of that on their website. Western Digital was a company that knew that helping people use some old product of theirs was highly likely to encourage them to buy new WD products because they'd know those products would always be supported with information and if required the software to use them.
Then there are companies that almost the instant a product is discontinued destroy all information they have about it and sometimes will deny ever making it, even though it has their name, logo and address printed on it. Yes, I have encountered such companies. One even told me they didn't put specifications and manuals for their discontinued products online "because someone might want to buy them" I replied "Well I don't want to buy your current products because if I lose the manual and need it six months from now, you'll just expect me to buy your latest thing, which shortly thereafter you'll no longer support in any way." Another was US Robotics trying to claim they never made the PC Card modem I had in my hand, with their name on it. The person on the phone was very snide and snippy about it too. What happened to US Robotics, formerly one of the biggest modem and networking products companies? Out of business and bought up by 3Com, not just because of one instance, but a whole bunch of wrong things they did.
Every failure in a business, no matter how small it appears, is a *failure*. What makes it worse is when that failure turns into a failure to make a correction and a failure to learn from it.