Curry Kenworthy 22/8/01 10:11 pm [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>In the thread about documentation (on both the regular and improvements
>mailing lists) several people have mentioned that documentation could affect
>bringing other users to Revolution besides the niche market of users coming
>from other card-scripting languages. At the same time, I think quite a few
>people are using Revolution and MetaCard, which is very good, but at the
>same time, I think Revolution deserves a bigger user base, so I thought a
>thread about that might be worthwhile.
>
>My first thought is that this niche market of ex-xCard users wouldn't be at
>all bad if you really got a big piece of it. There were a lot of
>disenfrachised HyperCard users, including teachers and hobbyists, and many
>of them went to HyperStudio, which was in about the same price range (and
>still is if you buy from the cheaper online store rather than the more
>expensive one).
>
Believe me, we're addressing it :)
<snip>
>So, I would try to reach teachers and show them how much Revolution offers,
>compared to other systems or just looking at what it can do, and pointing
>out that if they came from HyperCard and were looking for a replacement,
>here it is and then some, and stressing the free trial and low site license
>cost. I see that Revolution is planning an education section, so maybe some
>teacher-centered materials and introductions, with effective promotion,
>could be worth a higher priority than additions to existing documentation.
>
As you say, we're working on it. We've just taken on Rod, whose job at
the moment is to work in this area, we see the education market as a big
opportunity for us.
>I would also try to reach general ex-HyperCard users, and try to get listed
>on HyperCard sites and web directories, because people will still be looking
>at these pages if they are searching for a similar product.
>
>Then, there are those outside that big "niche" that need to be informed that
>a product like this is available. BASICs are doing very well. Products
>following QBasic and Visual Basic have lots of users, and so do other ones
>with different features. People know to look for "Basic" for a range of
>simple but powerful languages, and every dialect is still "Basic". However,
>xTalk languages don't have a simple all-inclusive term like that. They are
>"English-like scripting languages" or "HyperCard compatible", etc.
>
<snip>
Watch out for some developments on this front! We are very well aware of
this potential market and actively working on it.
>
>DarkBasic, on the other hand, is a good example of a product which attracts
>a lot of game producers and youngsters as well as some other types of
>traditional developers. There are several similar 2D and 3D products like
>this for Windows, and they are all very community oriented, with message
>boards (which people sometimes seem to find more exciting than mailing
>lists), most recent news always right there on entering the site, and
>frequent user contests. Perhaps Revolution could learn something useful from
>the way RB and DB get people involved, and sponsor their own contests (no
>cash prize is necessary, just for recognition and free software) and add
>some community-oriented features. And reaching out to kids and game makers
>(MC/Rev seems good for certain types of games) would be worthwhile and
>really add to the user base.
I totally agree. Contests would be a great way forward. Speaking of
which, is anyone entering that MacTech challenge?
<snip>
>
>This psychology is very important to consider in selling, since it all
>happens in just a few seconds or couple of minutes when a potential user
>visits your site. I would suggest the possibility of one more pricing
>option: a registration of the Starter Kit itself, either purely for peace of
>mind, or perhaps with some added value such as slightly increased script
>limits. If this licensing option were offered for anything less than 100
>dollars, Revolution might find itself with twice as many users.
>
>Also, I'm betting that all those Revolution hobbyists would shell out 50 or
>75 without blinking--providing you a whole new stream of revenue from your
>existing users. I'm sure they would be overjoyed to contribute some even if
>the limitations stayed the same, and if there was a bit of extra feature
>included, all the better. So, this option would bring in new users and allow
>your existing starter-kit users to contribute.
It's an interesting thought, but I can't really comment on this.
>
>(At the same time, if there are any small edits that will make the Starter
>Kit itself even more compelling as a free download, that wouldn't hurt
>either.)
>
>Now, the very obvious--why isn't Revolution Starter Kit in download.com?
:) Watch out for our advertising campaign on Download.com...
>MetaCard isn't either. A lot of people go looking at download sites like
>that, and if the description included Mac, Windows, and Unix/Linux--people
>go crazy about anything like that. Not posting Revolution at download
>centers is just passing people up at will! (If there's some technical
>reason, like wanting people to visit the site, solve the technical
>difficulty one way or the other and get the download out there rather than
>losing such a big opportunity for a relatively minor reason.)
>
>Also, Revolution doesn't seem to be in Yahoo--and many people browse the
>programming languages section looking for a new tool. MetaCard is, but only
>in the Multimedia section. There might be another good section for
>Revolution (and maybe for MC) which would show up for people looking for a
>more general type language and not under just Multimedia. Big sites can have
>an alternative listing directory, I thought, and also, there can be separate
>related sites such as user sites or specialty sites about Revolution for a
>particular group, which could be set up by third parties or separate sites
>put up by Revolution.
>
>I think Revolution has taken some good steps already in reaching people, but
>I think it could be improved. I'm sure that the various professional people
>who use Revolution could also give some tips and let Revolution know about
>opportunities and ways of promoting that they have access to. Well, "enough
>said"--literally in this case! I'm sorry to write such a long post, but I
>think this issue needs to be addressed, because Revolution deserves more
>attention for its great features and because more attention will mean more
>revenue and more features, so it will come back to benefit us all.
Thank you for taking the time and trouble to write it. I hope you will
see that we are actively addressing many of these issues already, this
will become a lot more visible as time goes on,
Regards,
Heather
>
>Thanks,
>
>Curry Kenworthy
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Heather Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.runrev.com/>
Runtime Revolution Ltd, formerly Cross Worlds Computing,
Tel: +44 (0)131 7184333. Fax: +44 (0)1639 830 707.
Please quote all previous correspondance when replying to email.
