"The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey"

A Man and his son were once going to sell their Donkey at the market. As they were walking along by the donkey's side a countryman passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: "Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son?"

The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought and finally decided to carry the donkey themselves, so they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

The son turned to his father and said, "All this work and we have nothing." The father answers, "No, we have learned a valuable lesson – you can't please all the people, so you must please yourself."

So what has this got to do with a Software Company, you might ask - well the answer is simple; "Everybody needs and expects something different from their software, I don't see anybody complaining to Microsoft about Windows and the way it works - everybody just accepts it and lives with it.

So the moral of the story is this: If you need something different; we might consider it; just as long as we don't drop the donkey over the bridge in the process, and if another piece of software does things differently or better, then what are you doing talking to us; why not just buy it instead? - After all; its your Money and your Business.