Just yesterday, I was chatting with a non-techie, but otherwise a very savvy guy who uses IM, email, surfs the web a lot, watches online movies, etc. And I pasted a link to my new web site over IM - and he asked me how to visit the web site - whether he should copy and paste it into a browser.
If he can do that, forget about people like my parents or my father-in-law. They already don't understand anything other than a browser!
Until recently, on one of my outdated sites, I used to get so many emails through my contact-us form from people who put in "www.joe@hotmail.com" or something similar as their email address!
People are clueless. If Linux can't cater to the lowest common denominator, they will never get into the household market, and will remain in enterprises and geek-households only.
You're right - people could get invitations elsewhere too. It is the same as "ask friends, if not, friends of friends". Ultimately, slashdot members are part of your "extended" friends, so to speak. You could still not get into Gmail without knowing someone who had an invitation, whether you got that through your own friends, family or "community" (like slashdot).
Somehow, a "closed door" event (even if it's free) is still more "exclusive" than a "free for all, everyone and their dog invited".
I was speaking to a non-web-savvy, very smart, very accomplished in his career (he's a builder) friend, who did not know of gmail. I told him I would send him an invitation. Guess how differently he would treat that versus going to say hotmail and signing up for an account.
A referral (without ulterior motives) will always be valued. Just my $0.02.
In the beginning, "scarcity" ("only xx invites per user") was a great marketing tactic to get people excited and involved. In fact, I remember, Gmail invites were even being sold on eBay for $500 a pop!
Once past the "scarcity", it is now "exclusivity". You have to be invited to be part of the "club". "Not everyone is allowed, only those with 'friends'".
I doubt if it is a ploy to throw spam bots off, because Google does not employ clueless, newbie developers who don't know how to handle spoof/spam attacks:-)
Slashdot Mirror
Just yesterday, I was chatting with a non-techie, but otherwise a very savvy guy who uses IM, email, surfs the web a lot, watches online movies, etc. And I pasted a link to my new web site over IM - and he asked me how to visit the web site - whether he should copy and paste it into a browser.
If he can do that, forget about people like my parents or my father-in-law. They already don't understand anything other than a browser!
Until recently, on one of my outdated sites, I used to get so many emails through my contact-us form from people who put in "www.joe@hotmail.com" or something similar as their email address!
People are clueless. If Linux can't cater to the lowest common denominator, they will never get into the household market, and will remain in enterprises and geek-households only.
- Ravi Jayagopal
LinkOverLoad.com
You're right - people could get invitations elsewhere too. It is the same as "ask friends, if not, friends of friends". Ultimately, slashdot members are part of your "extended" friends, so to speak. You could still not get into Gmail without knowing someone who had an invitation, whether you got that through your own friends, family or "community" (like slashdot).
Somehow, a "closed door" event (even if it's free) is still more "exclusive" than a "free for all, everyone and their dog invited".
I was speaking to a non-web-savvy, very smart, very accomplished in his career (he's a builder) friend, who did not know of gmail. I told him I would send him an invitation. Guess how differently he would treat that versus going to say hotmail and signing up for an account.
A referral (without ulterior motives) will always be valued. Just my $0.02.
Ravi
http://www.linkoverload.com/
In the beginning, "scarcity" ("only xx invites per user") was a great marketing tactic to get people excited and involved. In fact, I remember, Gmail invites were even being sold on eBay for $500 a pop!
:-)
Once past the "scarcity", it is now "exclusivity". You have to be invited to be part of the "club". "Not everyone is allowed, only those with 'friends'".
I doubt if it is a ploy to throw spam bots off, because Google does not employ clueless, newbie developers who don't know how to handle spoof/spam attacks
Ravi
http://www.linkoverload.com/