Anything to promote Aware IM is good Ben and encouraging the existing Developer base to engage in spreading the word around is always positive.
However, as I have seen with other great but niche products, many developers seem to take the view "I need to keep this quite because it gives me an edge over my competitors that I don't want them to know about"
I struggle with that mindset. To my mind, the bigger the Developer base then better the product becomes, the more accepted the product becomes and the most valuable the skill set of someone who is competent in the product becomes.
The sharing of ideas, knowledge and being part of the Aware IM Tribe is a fundamental part of the success of the product. The upcoming Aware IM Developers International Conference is being held purely for this reason. Is is not JUST for experienced Aware Developers. It is not JUST for beginning Aware Developers. The program is for ALL Aware Developers and is designed to bring Aware Developers from all over the World together for the sole purpose of helping everyone to make better use of their time by learning how to do things which otherwise they might struggle with back home by themselves.
In fact, there are quite a few people who have never used Aware IM before that I am encouraging to attend just so they can gain an understanding first hand of what the product is about, how good it is and the level of Aware community support there is available.
You will notice that there are a large number of people on this forum that are using Aware but never ask a question. I am sure they have many question but maybe are to shy to ask. So they struggle away by themselves and run the risk of not getting the best out of the product.
There are currently 682 registered users on this forum.
258 of those people have never posted a single question.
77 has only ever posted a single question
156 have posted between 2 and 10 questions
The question that springs to my mind is, are all those people still using the product or did we lose them? If we lost them, why was that? I am sure there are a huge number of reasons why someone would try it out and not continue but I am guessing but would think that if they immediately felt part of a supportive community in those first few weeks after they download the trial... then they would continue. If they don't, then they leave and look for something else never realising that they just missed a fabulous opportunity to be involved with probably the best tool they will ever come across.
I always find it interesting how private many developers like to be. I am always interested in what others are doing, how are they using the product, where are they from, what successes have they had, how did they overcome problems when they arose..... to me, hearing and seeing what others have done and are doing is inspiring.
Have a look at the Member List on this forum and see how many people choose not to include where they live, not to include even their first name. While I can understand people want to maintain a level on anonymity, surely knowing that your name is Jeff from Idaho in us USA rather than devman1 from nowhere is not an invasion of privacy and provides others an opportunity to answer you courteously with a Hi Jeff!
Just my two bob's worth.
