> I think these concepts--Rev Express, Dreamcard, Rev > Media--are fairly creative, neat, fun, etc. I'm sure they > have lots of good points. The junior product keeps changing > frequently, but I guess that's okay. I haven't tried these in > depth, so this is just my opinion about basic stated features > and limitations.
I accept full responsibility for this recent change. > But I think there are a few drawbacks in the model. One is > not being able to create a standalone. At the old Dreamcard > price (I think it was about $100--I'm going to round off the > prices to be easier on the eye), that could be a bit of a > downer. RealBasic Standard at about $100, for example, does > create standalones. The new price of about $49 for Rev Media > is one approach of helping with that issue. And I think it's > probably a good approach. REALbasic Standard also only compiles to a single platform. To get multi-platform compilation/deployment, you have to spend $399.95 to get RB Pro. $49 RevMedia with its player had multi-platform. > (However, why make the backdrop an issue? If it doesn't > create standalones then there's already a big incentive to > upgrade. I suppose it would tend to limit what is distributed > with it--you don't usually see utilities with mandatory > backdrops, for example. Then again, you don't usually see > utilities that require a player to run, either!) This is an additional form of differentiation which won't limit the usefulness of the product for its intended audience. > The other major drawback is how far up you have to go in > order to get a Rev product that does make standalones. > Minimum is $300 for Studio, which is developing on one > platform, although deploying on all. That is true, unless you are an academic - then you also have licensing restrictions on commercializing the result. > Between $50 for a product that requires a player, and $300 > for one that builds standalones, that's a considerable empty > space. And suddenly with the first product that builds > standalones, you already have one that deploys on all > platforms. There's nothing gradual. What if someone just > wants to develop on one platform and doesn't need the rest? > Or wants to get into Rev gradually, and work on his or her > preferred platform first before expanding, but wants > standalones? Or the person that wants more than one platform > but would prefer to debug and compile from each platform and > doesn't need the cross-build feature and some other advanced > features such as database access? These are very good questions. Ive sold a huge number of different types of products -- from fairly vertical market 3D applications to clip art to database servers to games - the ones that do well are those that have a target customer, give that target customer what they need, then create upsell opportunties based on some manner of growth (customer's company, deployment, extended pleasure, etc). A common, dumb mistake is to open up "Bob's All You Can Eat Technology Buffet" and then dump technology into different heaping plate sizes and say "come and get it". I have found that only really works in selling the big box o' clip art and not much else. > So, right now it seems to me that there's a large unfilled > gap in the product line--something similar to the RealBasic > Standard I mentioned, a product that would run on one > platform per license, but would make standalones for that platform. > > (To differentiate from Studio, some advanced features could > also be limited. Currently, judging from the Tools Overview > page, that would include the learning pack and SQL database > access. Some additional adjustments might be needed--the > "intermediate" Rev product should not be too crippled, and > should be sufficient for most normal uses, so these should be > considered carefully, advanced or new features that create > considerable incentive for Studio and Enterprise rather than > cut too much from the intermediate product. There's a good > balance to be found.) Who do you see as the target customer for this product? Also -- how about telling us a little about how you are using Revolution? Best regards, Lynn Fredricks Worldwide Business Operations Runtime Revolution, Ltd _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
