Hypertext for knowledge systems                 <sum05 1 8>
===============================

                   In looking at hypertext opportunities, I'd rank them as:
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              ³  OPPORTUNITY                  COMMENTS                       ³
              ³    Creating PR hypertext        Easy to be successful        ³
              ³    Advertising hypertext        Easy to test success         ³
              ³    Documentation hypertext      Needs larger commitment      ³
              ³    Training hypertext           Is a major step              ³
              ³    Selling knowledge systems    Most difficult - most profit ³
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Perceived          Most people can easily comprehend the processes that
cost               transfer raw material into consumer and industrial goods.
==========         For that reason, most objects have a perceived cost
                   regardless of their benefits <link04>.

Different views:   However, with products consisting primarily of easier access
stealing objects   to knowledge, some people believe this knowledge should be
v. knowledge       free to all.  People who would never steal objects, for
============       example, do not hold the same attitudes toward ownership in
                   information, copyrighted or not -- as evidenced by software
                   duplication or photocopying.

Effort to          Second, if, with great effort. you make the relationships in
organize           complex laws, policies, specifications, or regulations
========           intuitively obvious to others, some people would dismiss the
                   intellectual efforts or cost with, "That's how it should be."

Comprehend only    Consequently, if people feel that knowledge should be
benefit, not       free, they don't comprehend costs, or they dismiss organizing
effort             talents and efforts.  Then, the selling such knowledge
======             systems will be difficult, in spite of the benefits.

                   Hypertext information packages are new.  For that reason,
                   selling pre-packaged information can be difficult because
                   cost comparisons are not available, or more likely the
                   fundamental defects in expert systems <link64> or in
                   online textual databases <link26> are not well understood.

Knowledge          Despite the potential drawbacks, I'm becoming a knowledge
contracting        contractor.  This year, I'll make more money from developing
                   and selling completed knowledge systems <link10 1 4> than I
                   will make from selling my software <link27>.

                   PS: I know people who are making six-figure incomes using my
                   software to create hypertext for others.