Carsten Levin wrote:
> But we forgot to ask about one important issue: How strong are the MetaCard
> organisation, how is the financial backing and are there a good and solid
> group of people behind the development - or is it a pure one man/woman
> product?
Of course Scott can answer that better than anyone, but here's my
observation as an outsider who's worked with just about every xTalk ever
released:
- Some xTalk vendors have been larger, but size is no indication
of product viability.
Sybase invested heavily in Gain Momentum, but it lived only a
couple years before they sold it off. Oracle made OMO, with
the same fate. And of course there's HyperCard.
- Privately held companies can be more responsive to the market.
If we look at Allegiant and Apple as examples, we find Scott
Raney able to turn out new features faster, even though he
has fewer development resources at his disposal. By keeping
his company well focused, he's been able to deliver more value
to his customer than even the largest xTalk vendor.
- MetaCard has survived longer than any other xTalk under a single
vendor.
HyperCard is dead, SuperCard has changed hands many time, ToolBook
is in peril, OMO is dead, Gain is almost dead, etc. MetaCard
Corp has been delivering MetaCard longer than any single company,
larger or smaller, has been delivering its xTalk.
- Price positioning enhances profits.
Most xTalk vendors have gone for market share, but viability
requires that the product be profitable in addition to popular.
If one has to choose, profitability must win over popularity,
as even a popular tool can die if it's not making money (eg HC).
Raney charges a professional price for a world-class tool,
which eliminates the hobbyist and other submarkets, but those
markets are also the most expensive to support. Lowering MC's
price would attract more customers, but mostly of a more
expensive type than a professionally-priced tool. By focusing
on delivering for the professional developer, MC keeps its
revenue-per-customer high and its cost-per-customer low.
- Code escrow is a unique MetaCard option.
If a client is considering a hefty investment in a MetaCard-based
product, for the reasons cited above they should already have
greater confidence in MC Corp than any other 4GL vendor. But
if they still have concerns, MC Corp is the only company I've
worked with which allows an option for code escrow. While it
ain't cheap, it should be sufficient to provide a confidence-
building answer to the question, "What do we do if Raney gets
hit by falling space junk?"
It would be nice if some of this were provided in the MC FAQ, as this is
certainly asked very frequently in an environment where many folks discover
MC only after their favorite product proves inviable.
Scott: When is/was MetaCard's 10-year anniversary? If it hasn't passed, I
think we should throw a party. :)
--
Richard Gaskin
Fourth World Media Corporation
Multimedia Design and Development for Mac, Windows, UNIX, and the Web
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