Despite the way the industry may look at times, software is big business. And businesses need cash flow. For example, let’s say you’ve written the greatest program since the spreadsheet, got it out there, and sold a million copies. Then what?

Companies hate that part. You have a product to support, but no further income. The result is that businesses do everything they can to freshen things up, to keep the public buying. Cars look a little different from year to year, as do fashions. New packaging, logos, and advertising make the ‘next’ version that much more enticing. And software adds features.

Many companies I’ve worked with/for are quick to emphasize a feature as something that will entice the customer to buy. Often, I found a new option or setting was for a single customer, with the hope that others would eventually find it useful. In the end, the features were added not because they were good, but because the sales force thought it would improve the bottom line.

Is that bad? I certainly want the business I buy software from to stay in business (although I am annoyed by obscenely high profits), but in marketing one of the first things they teach over and over is that you sell benefits, not features. And it has to be reemphasized simply because sales people think features rather than benefits. How many times have you seen a shopping list for a new product, listing features but not explaining why you should care about them?

As an example, I recently downloaded and upgraded my mail program, and then went back to the earlier version – the ‘features’ gave me no ‘benefit’. But they no doubt help attract some sales, which justifies their existence to the company. And whether we want or need them, or that they are easy to use, is therefore immaterial.

So the next time you see a ‘new and improved version’ with mostly fluff added, remember – that poor software company is just trying to make a living…