New offtopic suggestion

[Zeroth]

I was thinking, that for most programmers, they have little to no idea how business/management works. Statistically, if every member on this forum is currently in, or will join the programming/IT workforce, then about 700 of the members will eventually either start a start-up, or be promoted to a managerial position. It would be quite helpful to have a subsection perhaps, discussing business topics, like marketing, word of mouth, long tail, copyright, etc. It also gives regular members of the forum a bit of a wider exposure and experience with business practices and ideas, making them more valuable overall.

[apomb]

What about an option about tacos?

on a more serious note, I am currently experiencing a large corporation setting here at the OLG. And am glad to share my knowledge of the work environment with the people of this site. I am, however unaware of this "long tail" you speak of... and marketing, im not too big on marketing.

[Zeroth]

The Long Tail is the concept that due to the changed economics of the internet, it becomes profitable to offer stuff that only 2 or 3 people buy. In its aggregate, the long tail is worth more than the "blockbuster" hits are, that sell 10,000 or even 100,000 copies. Think of it this way, Blockbuster vs Netflix. Netflix has 3 million videos, and well over 70% of its rentals are on the least popular 90% of the videos. Basically, netflix only makes 30% of its income from the videos Blockbuster would carry. Blockbuster could not afford to carry all 3 million videos in every store, as that takes up valuable shelf space. Netflix however, can afford to do so. If you remember your high school statistics, if you look at a normal distribution, and cut off the first half, with the graph starting at the peak, and the long curve. Online, its possible to make more money off of the stuff that is one or more standard deviations away from the popular hits, than the popular hits.

Besides any posts here are an implicit post for a Tacos.

[apomb]

Ah, the long tail... i get it.