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Is Haptek actually still alive?

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Dr.Benway:
This is what I am wondering about for some time now: how come there seems to be no community of Haptek-developers on the Internet?

And if you visit the website of Haptek, not to mention the support forum, you get the impression that nothing much has happened there for the last few years.

How is that possible?

KnyteTrypper:
Haptek is still alive. If you look around here, you'll see that there's an upcoming Haptek easter egg of some sort which Robert intends for inclusion in the next version (or possibly the update) of Hal, and people here have been in touch with them about dev tools and licensing. A recent manifestation of their current activities seems to be Robot-Hosting. The problem with them seems to be that unlike MS Agents, which you can create entirely using freeware, their tools mostly average a couple thou' apiece, pricing them right out of range of 90% of their prospective customer base. Custom-made agents from them run in that same price range. Even the People Putty program is a $50 download. Apparently they prefer to make a lot of money from a few customers and remain relatively obscure, rather than make a little money from a lot of people and become a new industry standard.

Bill819:
Hello Dr. Benway
Your analogy of sales reminds me of a software developer that I had known of a decade or so ago. He had written a complete accounting package and had been selling each module for about $700 or $800 each.
He just managed to earn enough to stay in business but never got rich. One day he was approached by an marketing expert who convinced him to market his programs differently. He advertised and sold the entire package, ie. all the modules for only $49.95. While in the past the developer had made maybe $50,000 to $100,000 a year, the first year of the new release for $49.95 he made over $6,000,000 the first year alone. Mass marketing can make a big difference. You have any idea how much money the Kinsu knives have brought in?
Bill [:D]

KnyteTrypper:
The Ginsu knives did pretty well, too.

Dr.Benway:
Hi Bill819, I guess your analogy of sales is a reference to the comment of KnyteTrypper.

KnyteTrypper says: quote:If you look around here, you'll see that there's an upcoming Haptek easter egg of some sort which Robert intends for inclusion in the next version ...

I really had no idea, I have missed that information completely.

And also:quote:Even the People Putty program is a $50 download.

I thought that $50 for People Putty was a bargain. It has many features for that price. It is just a bit more expensive than an average game in my country.

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