The vast majority of users buy the software that does what they want it to do right from the start. If you reflect on it, you will likely find that this is also what you do. That behavior is not just normal for software, though, it's the standard for almost any product. You have a certain problem or need, look around until you find something that solves the problem or satisfies the need, and then you might buy it.
Think about cars for comparison. Some people like tinkering with them and tuning them. However, most people look for the features they need or desire and buy the car that satisfies their requirements and budget best.
Sometimes extensibility is part of the requirements to solve a problem or fulfill a desire but normally it isn't.
I think people who don't tune their cars also have some very specific requests on what they miss. It's just they never articulate their requests, because the only way to satisfy them would be to spend lot's of time and resources on tinkering.
However, I can see another counter-argument to my claim: not every consumer has specific requests for the product they're buying! Sometimes people are just not sure what they want. In that case, yes, I can agree that customization doesn't help. Moreover, having a limited set of pre-defined products helps to educate a consumer on what their options even are.
So, if a large part of consumers are the ones that don't know exactly what they want, then yes, you're right. I guess the distribution of “know-what-they-want” vs. “don't” depends on the product, although I think generally it tends to be that most people usually don't know.
Anyway, thanks for the good argument! Thinking about other products and industries, as cars, really helped, I missed that.
Comments
The vast majority of users buy the software that does what they want it to do right from the start. If you reflect on it, you will likely find that this is also what you do. That behavior is not just normal for software, though, it's the standard for almost any product. You have a certain problem or need, look around until you find something that solves the problem or satisfies the need, and then you might buy it.
Think about cars for comparison. Some people like tinkering with them and tuning them. However, most people look for the features they need or desire and buy the car that satisfies their requirements and budget best.
Sometimes extensibility is part of the requirements to solve a problem or fulfill a desire but normally it isn't.
I think people who don't tune their cars also have some very specific requests on what they miss. It's just they never articulate their requests, because the only way to satisfy them would be to spend lot's of time and resources on tinkering.
However, I can see another counter-argument to my claim: not every consumer has specific requests for the product they're buying! Sometimes people are just not sure what they want. In that case, yes, I can agree that customization doesn't help. Moreover, having a limited set of pre-defined products helps to educate a consumer on what their options even are.
So, if a large part of consumers are the ones that don't know exactly what they want, then yes, you're right. I guess the distribution of “know-what-they-want” vs. “don't” depends on the product, although I think generally it tends to be that most people usually don't know.
Anyway, thanks for the good argument! Thinking about other products and industries, as cars, really helped, I missed that.