hhgroup.doc

String Manipulation Routines

     get to participate in the larger ads as well. THHG will handle the
     production, the placing of ads, new product announcements, mailing the
     product to customers, etc. 

     Since you are putting up both the software and the up-front cost, THHG
     takes only a minor part of the profits of the product, in return for its
     efforts. THHG's share amounts to less than 20% of the first $5,000 in
     profit and drops to 15% above $10,000 in profit. 

     I will have to agree that your product is commercially viable and
     adequately tested and documented, and I will also have to agree to your
     ad budget. 

     You will be required to spend a minimum of about $750 on ads, but
     depending on the product and where the ads are placed, it could be
     considerably more. 

     Keep in mind, as you think about whether or not you want to work with me
     to commercialize your product, that it is my absolute intent that THHG
     be as fair as possible to the customer, and not attempt to gouge for as
     much money as possible. THHG is going to have, and be widely recognized
     as having, excellent products at excellent prices and with excellent
     documentation and support, and with reasonable upgrade prices. 

     ========================================================================

     upgrades:
     ---------

     Upgrades are one of the mixed blessings of life. You get a new and
     presubably better product but you also get to pay more money for
     something you've already paid for. It is our intent that upgrades for
     products from THHG carry VERY modest upgrade prices. We insist that when
     you plan your upgrade strategy, you think of the user first and yourself
     second.  Our belief is that this stategy will help build customer
     loyalty and thus in the long run will be more profitable than a strategy
     which gouges customers in the short run but which alienates them in the
     long run. 

     Please re-read the previous paragraph. If it doesn't make sense to you,
     or if you don't agree with it, THHG may not be for you. 

     ========================================================================

     You will be required to meet the THHG standards for source code
     documentation. NOTE: This is not a simple requirement! THHG source code
     requirements are probably as strict as anything you have every imagined
     in your worst nightmare, and this is not a negotiable requirement. 

     I saw a humourous discourse on "real programmers..." recently on some
     BBS or other, along the lines of "real men don't eat quiche", and the
     one that struck me as most relevant was "real programmers don't do
     documentation". Well, to the extent that that's true, THHG programmers
     are not real programmers. THHG programmers are required to go out of
     their way to provide EXTENSIVE documentation for both source code and
     product use. 

     The good news here is that I will provide considerable help to you in
     documenting your code and your product. 

     If you feel that you have the time and energy and money to go it alone,
     I encourage you to do so. I suggest, however, that you VERY CAREFULLY,
     evaluate the amount of time/energy/money that it will take you to
     commercialize your product. It is likely to be considerably more than
     you might think at first. 

     On the side of going it alone, the effort required to stablize and
     document the product will almost certainly be less for you alone than
     what I will require if you choose to join THHG. THHG is intended to be a
     prestigious group with high standards. Take a look at the HHSTRING
     product enclosed in your sample kit, and you'll see what I mean. This is
     a minor product at best but the documentation is FAR more extensive than
     most programmers would bother with and far more than most users would
     expect. THHG members will be expected to do excellent documentation as
     well as to have an excellent product. 

     That's the bad news. The good news is that the other half of the effort,
     the physical production/distribution, will entirely absorbed by THHG,
     which is part of what we do for our share of your profit. Also, THHG
     will help you with documentation of both your code and your product. 

     ========================================================================

     THHG will not under any circumstances advertise prices such as $49.95 or
     $99.95. I'm sure that someone on Madison Avenue has long since proved
     conclusively that such prices are attractive to the general brain-dead
     population, but I have always considered them insulting and I will not
     have any part in their propagation. THHG will absorb tax and shipping
     costs, against a predetermined product sale price. That is, if you want
     to sell your product for $50 and we anticipate tax/production/shipping
     costs of $5, then we will price the product at $55. The customer will be
     presented with a single cost. There will be no tax. There will be no
     "shipping and handling". There will be none of the common bullshit which
     goes under various disguises but amounts to "just for the greed of it
     we're going to charge you a few more bucks". THHG products carry round
     number price tags such as $38, $50, $90, etc. The customer pays one
     simple price and it's up to you and me to see that he/she gets a quality
     product. I simply will not have it any other way. 

     ========================================================================

     Membership Requirements:
     ========================

     1) Meet the Group standards for excellence of both product and
	documentation

     2) support your product

	As the developer of your product, you are ultimately responsible for
	the support of your product, and you are required to respond to user
	queries and problem reports.  Enquires to THHG will be dealt with
	directly if possible, and if we can't handle it, we'll find out when
	you can call the customer to attempt resolution of the problem.  We
	understand that the Group developers are likely to have "day jobs",
	so we will do our best to mediate between you and the customer so that
	neither of you is unduly torqued.

	We will, when necessary, explain to customers as gently as possible
	that instantaneous response is not always available. We require you,
	on the other hand, to recognize that a "customer" is, by definition,
	someone who has paid money for your product. It is our point of view
	that by doing so, they have, whether you like it or not, obtained a
	lien on the life of both yourself and your firstborn child. This is
	exaggeration for effect, but if you do not agree with the thrust of
	the argument, we cannot market your product. A customer who has paid
	money for a product deserves adequate support and if you are not
	willing to provide it then there cannot be any workable arrangement
	between yourself and THHG.


     3) act as a beta tester for products developed by other members of the
	group. Obviously, other members will beta test your products. This
	will not be an absolute rule, as some products may be specialized and
	require beta testers with special knowledge which some of us may not
	have.

     4) make suggestions about improvements in the other products developed
	by the group members

     5) You will be responsible for responding to inquiries by potential
	members. People who are thinking about joining THHG may want to talk
	to current members. As a member it is your duty to take the time to
	talk to people who are referred to you by THHG. Every attempt will be
	made to spread this out over all members so that no one member has to
	deal with more such conversations than any other member. As part of
	such discussions, it is your duty as a member of THHG to explore the
	desirability of allowing the prospective member to join THHG. If we
	take on a product that ends up being a "dog", the group overhead
	suffers and we all lose.


     ========================================================================

     Questions about your product:
     -----------------------------

     Please answer EVERY question, even if it's just to put it "none", "no
     answer", "not relevant" or whatever. I want to be sure you didn't FORGET
     to answer one of them. 

     Please copy this portion of this file into whatever word processor or
     text editor you plan to use for answering it. Handwritten answers will
     not be accepted. If you can't type well enough to answer this
     questionnaire easily and quickly, you have no hope of doing the
     documentation which will be required with your code and your product
     should you become a member of THHG. 


     Your return submission to us may be on a disk or a printout:
     ------------------------------------------------------------ 

     Describe your product

     Describe the job/background of the typical user of your product

     How far along are you towards each of the following steps

     code

	  documentation of code

	  documentation of product (user manual)

	  alpha/beta testing

     Will the source code be included as part of your product? Will it be an
     option and if so, how much do you want to charge for it? What is a
     reasonable price for the purchase of both the product and the source
     code at the same time? 

     Describe your mix of on-line help and printed document support. Is a
     printed manual necessary? Could it be an option, with a copy of it being
     supplied on disk (in ASCII form) to allow a lower price for those who
     either hate manuals or love lower prices? If the hardcopy manual is to
     be an option, how much do you think we should charge for it? 

     What do you see as the main competition to your product? In what ways is
     your product superior to the competition? In what ways is it inferior? I
     will not, in general, mention inferiority in ads, but I MUST know the
     state of your product relative to the competition in order to deal with
     user response and in order to structure an accurate but appealing ad. 

     What do you think your product should sell for? (BE REALISTIC! Tell me
     what people WILL pay, not what would you LIKE them to pay!). What do
     competing products sell for? THHG will not deal with developers who have
     no idea what the competition is like for their product, in terms of both
     quality/features and price. 

     Where do you think is the best place to advertise your product?

     Is your product particularly amenable to LAN installations and if so how
     do you think the pricing should be structured for networked
     installations? 

     Are site licences and/or volumn discounts appropriate for your product?
     If so, how do you think the pricing should be structured? 

     Do you have any absolute requirements regarding the marketing of your
     product? For example you may feel that your product MUST be advertised
     in a particular journal. 

     How should we deal with people who just ask for information on the
     product? A demo disk? Printed literature? 

     How many disks, and of what size, will be required to distribute all of
     the files for your product, 1) in demo form, 2) in commercial form ?
     Keep in mind here that THHG will provide a compaction program which is
     at least comparable to the commercial packages (PKZIP, etc). Although
     not quite as good as the commercial packages, it has the advantage that
     it does NOT cost us the $2+ per disk that PKZIP and others want (it is
     free to THHG members). 


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     Miscellaneous notes: