Comments on: Knowing When to Break a Commitment

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 17:16:03 +0000

Hey. Steve doesn’t claim he’s a superior being. He is, however, a successful shareware author and publisher, so I’m interested in hearing what he has to say (which doesn’t imply I’ll accept it blindly – his view on things is another opinion to consider). He likes to write these things he wants to say and post it in public. We both benefit. If it doesn’t benefit YOU, that’s OK too, just don’t read his blog. What’s so difficult to understand?

By: Roger Jack

Roger Jack — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 21:52:45 +0000

I think we should meet up at Steve’s house, take him out back, and beat the snot out of him. Just kidding.

Really, anyone that is unhappy can vote with his Blog Reader. You don’t have to subscribe anymore. I orginally started monitoring this blog because Steve was known as a shareware marketing expert. I wish he had written his book, but it is not the end of the world. Here is another book that you may want to consider:

http://www.aegis-resources.com/product_marketing_handbook_fou.htm

It is very good!

Personally, I have been pleased with the direction that Steve has taken this blog. His insights have been useful to me.

Keep up the good work Steve!

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 21:19:13 +0000

The way some people are talking you’d think Steve just ran over a fresh litter of kittens.

And all the talk about “commitment” from a Bush blogger is deliciously ironic. Perhaps we should all bash Steve for failing to properly fund his “No indie game developer left behind” program?

By: Eric W. Lund

Eric W. Lund — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 14:45:36 +0000

What the hell’s wrong with you people? He didn’t ditch anyone at the altar. He made a commitment to himself and how he would spend his time, but he made no promises to any of us. Steve changed his mind, that’s it. God bless him and good luck. He’s given a tremendous amount of his time, energy and even money to the indie game development community, and anyone in the business who says different is an ungrateful wretch.

By: TesTeq

TesTeq — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 12:04:47 +0000

To “No Such Person”:
You are missing the whole point. It’s about keeping commitments, not about a book which was a “vapourbook”. Several years ago Bill Gates said that OS/2 is a personal computing future. Many people invested their time and skills to develop applications for this operating system. And then Microsoft re-evaluated their commitments . Of course only few people are affected by Steve’s refocusing (Steve is not Bill) but …
You can also see that credibility is not on the Steve’s values list.

By: No Such Person

No Such Person — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 09:30:50 +0000

Understand that when people get upset about this, and they are directing it at you, it’s more an issue of someone who seemed to be on our side appears to be abandoning us.

How has Steve abandoned anyone? Did I accidentally delete the voicemail where Steve called and told me he was “on my side?”

I’d characterize the situation somewhat less generously.

A few people were envious of Steve’s success and desirous of the wealth they imagined his knowledge would bring them. They became attached to the images of their new life, so they feel afflicted by the cancellation of the book.

For everyone who is authentically angry about the book cancellation, there is already a book for you! I think it was called, “Who Moved My Cheese?” And it’s probably available right now in your local bookstore!

Okay, enough negative energy from me…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 07:41:12 +0000

While i believe in keeping commitments, i also know that there are times when you have to reconsider. If you believe that following through on a commitment is no longer the right thing to do then you shouldnt. It’s as easy as that.
Although some commitments should not be broken easily, you are the only one you are truly accountable to and if you can live with the consequences your actions might cause you should not let you be tied down by commitments made.

I stumbled upon Steves articles a few days ago and would have liked a book, but as other posters and Steve already pointed out: You shouldnt read only one book and hope for all your answers, you should read lots. And the ones that wont be written will probably be missed, but you probably read most of it in other forms elsewhere.

By: TesTeq

TesTeq — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 06:39:31 +0000

What’s interesting to me is that the individuals that talk about “Anonymous” seem to all be named “Joseph A. Young”.

By: Bill Keller

Bill Keller — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 05:30:50 +0000

Personally, I’d rather see Steve’s reading list than his book anyway. I like his writing a lot, but I’d rather read ten books on the subject than just his.

By: Joseph A. Young

Joseph A. Young — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 03:15:46 +0000

What’s interesting to me is that the individuals that want to bash Steve for his decision seem to all be named “Anonymous”.

More power to you, Steve. I’ve been there and I know the awareness factor. It has nothing to do with being selfish. If I was incredible at mowing lawns, but it simply didn’t make me happy, I would find a different way to give to the world that would be more rewarding for me. This blog seems to be your way. Nobody can doubt your charity. You have submitted more free knowledge to the world than all these Anonymouses put together. You could call it all quits, right now, and your contributions would be placed easily in the top 1% of honorables. Bah to those who get upset because you only mowed their lawn 5+ years for free. To them I say, how dare you? Learn to accept the gift you have been given graciously and without greed. Watch the lawnmower while he shows you the way. Put forth the effort into applying what you’ve learned. Use your own brain. That way, when the lawnmower needs to walk away from something, you won’t say, “I can’t believe you’re walking away from my lawn!”. Instead, you’ll simply say, “Whatever you need to do, I’m behind you. And hey… thanks.”