RE: Wanted: oil pan upgrade for I5???

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

> Now, how much is really in it for me?  Maybe, and I stress, MAYBE a 
> hundred bucks.  Now my hourly is $75.00 to my clients.  Tell me 
> please why I should have to take half and hour to justify myself to 
> you?
> 
> > We'd love some more input from you, but I think we also want you to give
> > away your "secrets" for free! 
> 
> None of the above touches on the R&D time it took to develop a 
> solution that works.  As long as you think I should pass on my 
> "secrets" for free, why not ask Ned at IA to give away his services 
> for free also.  But why stop there?  Give Mr. Gates a call and ask 
> him to send him the latest copy of NT.  All of his R&D is done.  All 
> he is releasing is a 35 cent piece of plastic for an incredible mark 
> up to $850.00.
> 
> But your right.  It is simply not worth $850.00.  So why not just 
> write your own network operating system?  What?  It would take some 
> time?  Well then, it will take seam a bit prohibitive then, wouldn't 
> it?  If you feel that the hundred bucks that I "MIGHT" make seems 
> like to much, then voice your opinion as a consumer and don't pay.  
> Just spend some time and figure it out for yourself.
> 
... with such a response I question why I'm taking the time to reply ...
comparing baffles in an oil pan to a network operating system sounds like a
bit of a stretch to me ... or should I have said that I find the logic to be
baffling ... ?

Did you develop your oil pan solely to be sold as a product?  I wouldn't be
surprised if you really spent those $75 hours doing it for yourself ...
independent of if anyone else in the world would even be interested.
Providing it as a product provides you a means to recoup some of the
development cost ... which would have been written off in any case.  If you
were trying to develop it as a product you would have done some market
research that showed that you wouldn't be able to recoup the development
cost because noone would spend $300 for a modified oil pan ...

Might I propose another methodolgy that might have flown well with the
members of the q-list.  Go ahead and do your development, but rather than
offering the finished product offer it in the form of a kit.  Provide a list
of those expensive off the shelf parts with the installation instructions
and your proprietary baffle(s) for some amount that covers your cost with a
good markup ... I bet you _would have_ sold bunches of them.  This technique
is not unlike what others have done on the list.  While I might have been
one of those who signed up for an oil pan baffle kit at one time, I don't
think I'd be interested now ...

... to reply to one of your other statements ... while I doubt that Ned
would be very forthcoming with the exact details about what he does to
create his product, I can tell you that he is very forthcoming with help for
those who have problems with their cars ... even people who have not
purchased his product ...

... no charge for my consultation ... that may in fact be all of the value I
have provided ...

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)

While I'll bet you use that oil pan most every day, I wonder how many copies
of that $850 CD are running @ Chez Gates ...