if eyetech had no pre-orders, their estimation of the Amiga market would go *up* a notch.
pre-ordering is really a mistake, its not an incentive to produce more, its the opposite. The goal is to make money....pre-ordering suggests that you can get the money without actually producing anything. Strobe correctly pointed out, that pre-ordering suggests ignorance and lack of savvy. Even companies accepting the money don't really have 'respect' for the people who pre-order.
Consider Amiga, Inc. how much respect do they show the club members, when month after month goes by, and they don't produce the t-shirt.
I hope you are not offended, I don't know you personally, and I am not speaking therefore, directly to you personally. It's not an attack on you, in specific, but that is how pre-orders are perceived by many people.
FYI, pre-paying breeds disrespect and contempt, especially by those who are taking the money.
Just think about it, a person.....or a group of people, usually develops a reputation over time. A person can have any type of reputation...'cheap', 'generous', 'tough', 'weak', 'kind', 'cruel', etc.....
It seems that a certain segment of the amiga hobbyists is determined to develop the reputations
'easy mark', 'gullible', 'soon parted with their money'.
Hey, go for it....but its really totally unnecessary...nobody has suggested a good reason yet to pre-order. Does Alan really need the money badly? His business cannot survive without a community loan? The idea, that somehow Alan 'needs' the money as an incentive, seems to be the most common myth presented as a reason for pre-ordering.
If this is really true, that he needs the money, it would be important to know it! Let Alan confirm it. If he's on the virge of bankruptcy, he should tell all his potential investors and pre-order loan friends in the Amiga community, so they can choose (or choose not to) loan him money in the form of a pre-order.....
I'd hate to see people lose their investment....loaning money to someone on the virge of bankruptcy, is *STUPID*.
Now....he's not on the virge of bankruptcy. That was just a discussion about the reasons that were presented. Fact is...he's not going bankrupt and he can conduct business in the usual fashion. There is no need or good reason to pre-order. Prices go down, markets shift. It is wise to wait.
