I wonder if this is a variation on a business anti-pattern we see in a lot of other places:
"It's better to acquire a new customer at any cost, versus retaining an existing one."
There are plenty of verticals where if you develop a piece of software that's blunt, direct, and full of power-user features, it won't take off because it gets panned as "too hard to use."
Tricks like abstracting where and how the data is stored tend to be appealing to non-skilled users. They see "look how easy, I don't have to figure out which files are in the cloud and which are on disc, and can't accidentally try to open a spreadsheet in the photo editor." New users buy into it, the developers get their hockey-stick growth chart and everyone declares victory. After a few months, a small percentage of users end up dropping the product with a migraine because they can't break out of the jails and abstractions that are clearly standing in the way of improved productivity.
No real point in satisfying those users anyway-- they've already paid, so there's no further value they can provide to your ecosystem.
"It's better to acquire a new customer at any cost, versus retaining an existing one."
There are plenty of verticals where if you develop a piece of software that's blunt, direct, and full of power-user features, it won't take off because it gets panned as "too hard to use."
Tricks like abstracting where and how the data is stored tend to be appealing to non-skilled users. They see "look how easy, I don't have to figure out which files are in the cloud and which are on disc, and can't accidentally try to open a spreadsheet in the photo editor." New users buy into it, the developers get their hockey-stick growth chart and everyone declares victory. After a few months, a small percentage of users end up dropping the product with a migraine because they can't break out of the jails and abstractions that are clearly standing in the way of improved productivity.
No real point in satisfying those users anyway-- they've already paid, so there's no further value they can provide to your ecosystem.