Dear Julian,

Thanks for you mail of clarification. I am sure you are genuinely searching
for a partner. However, it is still a commercial deal and therefore my
comments about the best approach for museums still stand. I want to ensure
that the listers are well-aware of the potential implications of such deals.
I am not tarring you with the same brush, but I have seen things like this
go wrong before (including projects in a multinational insurance company, a
huge publishing organisation and a national museum in the UK) and I am keen
that museums enter it with their eyes open. If you are a reputable supplier
(as I am sure you are), then you and they have no worries.

But, I should also point out that you are contradicting yourself: you have
said that the software is fully operational, yet you are looking for someone
to beta test it/help product development. This implies it is not bug-free
and it also implies that it is incomplete in some areas. Nothing wrong with
this - partnering is a good way to develop systems and there are deals like
this going on all the time. Again, I just think it is important that people
understand the implications of such arrangements.

For example, who owns the rights to any product ideas that the partner gives
you? If their input gives you a product that is more saleable, who benefits
from this arrangement? Are you asking the partner to act as a reference
site? If so, what level of commitment are they going to have to make (e.g.
are you going to ask them to demonstrate/talk to potential future
customers - which will be a cost to their organisation)? How are you going
to reflect this in their payments? What happens to the partnership once you
have got two or three customers on board and don't need the original partner
so much? If the software is still in beta testing, what service levels are
you going to provide to ensure that they have continuous access? Will the
partner benefit from other customers' input into the software's development
or do they end up with the prototype? Do you have an escrow agreement in the
event that you cease trading (for whatever reason)? Is the software fully
documented?

As a general rule, my advice to any museum entering a partnership
arrangement (not just this opportunity) is to ensure that you get a good
contract in place and seek some legal advice before committing. I know this
may be beyond many smaller museums' means and may sound like overkill, but
in my experience it is very worthwhile considering. The insurance company to
which I referred earlier spent a lot of effort feeding into software
development for an organisation and handed over the IPR, to their ideas
which left them with a prototype that the software company refined and sold
on at *great* profit to their competitors; when the insurer complained they
offered to sell them the same (but much improved) general version of the
software for a 6-figure sum!!! The national museum put a lot of effort into
developing a software company's product and ended up as just another
customer, the interest in them waned and they became frustrated with the
lack of support. In both cases, neither organisation still use the original
software.

As for my *misconceptions*, well you are a commercial provider looking to
offer a free web-site for 6 months and then you will charge people. This
sounds like a commercial deal to me, unless I am missing something??? Also,
as outlined above, your *fully operational software* is in beta and seeking
development input. Again, perhaps I am missing something?

Regards

Chris Meaney
Managing Director

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-----Original Message-----
From: Julian Jackson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 14 July 2003 09:43
Subject: Re: Free website design: Pilot Project Offer to MCG subscribers


Dear MCG listers.

I wish to clear up some misconceptions circulated by Mr Chris Meaney.

I discussed the Pilot Project Offer of a free website with Neil Beagrie of
JISC before mailing it out to you to ensure it did contravene any of your
rules.  It is *not* a disguised sales pitch, but a *genuine search for a
partner organisation for mutual benefit*.  I hope you will bear this in
mind.  Contrary to Mr Meaney's speculations, the software is fully
operational.

Any queries you have, please direct them to me.

Regards

Julian Jackson

Julian Jackson
Internet consultancy
information, knowledge, software
http://www.julianjackson.co.uk
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