lurkinglidda said:
:\ I submit this is an unfair assumption. Not revealing our plans should not be taken to mean we are floundering. We simply want to announce our specific plans at a time that maximizes impact (that's a lot of marketing speak for "we want to make our plans known when people are most open to hearing them").
I agree, but to that end, I'm wondering if we can get some clarification.
I am not a computer tech person or web design person, but I have a background in project management. Most of the classes I took were dominated by people in the IT industry, so I picked up a little from them. To me the DI sounds like it will be more ambitious than just slapping a bunch of text articles onto a web page and then having an e-commerce solution to access it. Unless I'm wrong and that is all it will be, I sincerely hope you are past the planning stage and are well into the design stage. I am concerned that, if things are really as unsettled as they appear, the idea of providing this content shortly after the end of Dragon and Dungeon is unrealistic. I think the last thing the DI needs is significant delays in roll-out, or a hasty effort to get it out, resulting in a lower quality product.
So,a couple of questions for Scott or someone else in the know, if you don't mind:
Are there parts of the DI intended to replace the print magazaines that are past the planning stages?
Are you at the point where you know certain content will be included and someone is actually working on that content, along with designs for pages to deliver that content?
Is the plan for a phased roll-out where some content will be ready to go up shortly after the last publications of the magazines, but additional features added as time goes along, or are you going for the big, initial roll out with pretty much everything you plan on right away?
I would like to see this effort succeed. I think, with good planning and execution the potential is there to have something of great value, but with the amount of skepticism that is already out there, you can't afford a half-baked effort. You know what they say about first impressions.
Last question: are there plans for a free trial period?