Andy's comments and positioning...

[Chipp Walters]

I like to think of RR as a *real development tool*, not as a HyperCard clone
or newbie play toy. Unfortunately, I believe Andy thinks of it more as a
HyperCard clone...primarily because of positioning.

What if RR is positioned as the ubiquitous RAD programming environment for
cross platform development -- surpassing in both speed and performance other
tools such as JAVA, QT, VB, etc.? I think this is a valid positioning
statement. Now to turn around and say "and it's only $99" and your Mom can
use it, certainly doesn't seem to back this up.

Which brings us to the real problem...positioning. RR can be positioned as a
'HyperCard clone' for the inventive user OR as a full-featured development
tool for professionals can use to build commercial and enterprise
applications.

There have been a few comments lately about Rev pricing...

I think Rev's pricing is right on the money. Users can download a free
version which they can try out for 30 days. Of course the HyperCard clone
crowd wants a version for $99 bucks. That is where their expectation is set
(just like Andy). After all, Apple used to 'give it away.'

But, developers whose business depends on RR, are used to paying much more
for professional tools. Just look at other cross-platform development
suites. By comparison, RR is a steal.

One of the biggest challenges for Xtalk companies is their ability to stay
funded and alive. I believe in RR as a professional development tool. And,
as a professional developer, I can make money with it, even if it does cost
hundreds of dollars.

Many of you already know this, but it's an interesting story nonetheless.
Last year, I wrote ButtonGadget in about 3 weeks of spare time. I sold in on
my website using PayPal for $20 a copy. In less than one year, I bought two
plasma screen TV's with the profits. The program was written all in native
Transcript. No DLL's nor externals. As a VB programmer, I can tell you there
is NO WAY I could have developed such a product so rapidly, in fact, I
wouldn't have developed ButtonGadget in either VB or C++ as IMO the return
of time vs revenue would've been too risky.

The reason I mention this is to demonstrate the incredible revenue potential
for products developed with this product. I also could mention we're
currently using RR to build a very large Enterprise Application for Homeland
Security. It scales as well - from ButtonGadget to Enterprise Content
Management Systems connected to huge databases. $99 bucks just doesn't cash
in on it's value to me. And I really want to see Revolution do well, so I
continue to be able to write these cool programs!

-Chipp