Script Limits and solid IDE evolution!

[revolution at knowledgeworks.plus.com]

Without the Starter Kit's features I would never have adopted and advocated Revolution.  I had tried Metacard a few years ago, and just didn't 'get it'.  It seemed like a toy (I know I was way off the mark).  The Rev IDE is what made me look at it again.  But to anyone who didn't use a Mac 10 years ago, the whole 'Hypercard - xTalk - Revolution' RAD-with-persistence paradigm is strange and requires some time to appreciate.

For Runrev to acquire new users there are two things they have to do: 1) the users need to understand the above paradigm; 2) they need to see that they can easily build real, useful, working applications.

Maybe there are a few highly-talented, highly-determined developers who would bypass the 10-line limit using frontscripts etc, but they are obviously in a minority, and Runrev should be aiming to bring on board the legions of people who are not in this minority, rather than reducing the power that is available to their paid-up customers.  The license is quite clear that people are in breach of it if they attempt to bypass the script limits.

I'm not sure if these 'skinflint-but-talented' programmers aren't mythical.  I don't believe it is their existence that was holding back the increased market penetration of Metacard.  I believe it was that the users that understood the xCard paradigm (Mac users) had a multiplicity of choices for xCard development.  And Metacard's presentation of itself was, well, not as professional as Revolution's.  To those who were unfamiliar with xCard, it was hard to 'get' Metacard.  

Runrev should instead be publicising Revolution.  And this means attending other than Mac-only events - unfortunate as it may be to Mac and Linux users, Win32 still massively dominates the desktop.  The whole xCard/xTalk paradigm is virtually unknown to Win32 users/developers.  This is where they need to market, and it is precisely the people in this market who need the opportunity to understand the xCard paradigm that the Starter Kit provided.

If it hadn't been for the Starter Kit philosophy, I would certainly not have bought a full license.  Maybe I'm just too stupid or too busy, but it was 3 months of using the Starter Kit before I bought a license.  If I had been tied to 30 days (of unlimited script lengths) I don't believe I would have seen or understood enough to buy into Runrev.  Another customer would have been lost.

As far as I can see, this removal of the script limits is negative marketing.  I'm glad I can still use Rev 1.1.1 - and if this change goes through it is a reason to not renew my license when it comes up in a few months.

I'd prefer to see Runrev helping existing users by holding to their delivery schedules, removing bugs, improving documentation and tutorials, contributing to this forum, and openly discussing their plans with the people in this forum.  

They should be conducting positive marketing by enhancing their website, attending non-Mac events, contributing to relevant debates across the internet, producing demo software, etc.

Regards
Bernard