Losing the amateur

[Thomas J McGrath III]

John,

This is the best letter I have ever read in my entire life. I am not 
kidding. I almost cried and that does not happen that often.
I want both!!!!  I want a tool that works as expected and also to be 
apart of a family, I want to use it to make money but also just for fun 
and hobbies, I want to contribute freely and have others do the same. 
That is actually the reason I don't like Director. Yes I bought it and 
paid the $$$$ for it (cross platform) but I would rather use REV. This 
is because of the mentality of it's users. In the Director community 
everything costs money. No one shares.(some do) I liked 
HC,SC,AT,Frontier etc. The people taught me what I know and are still 
teaching me. I try to give that back.  The people are selfless and want 
to give. I think the two can co-exist. I will do my part.

Thanks John,

Tom

On Monday, November 3, 2003, at 09:09 AM, John Tenny wrote:

> Grandpa that I am, I was around when the first 'revolution' was taking 
> place - Tandy computers, Apples, basic, hypercard, when even mid sized 
> cities only had one or two 'computer' stores to hang around in. There 
> was an atmosphere of belonging to a club of sorts, much like the early 
> Volkswagon owners who all honked and waved at each other.
>
> There are two sentiments bouncing around here - one of a personal 
> ownership of the 'revolution', which includes a commitment to 
> contributing to the group, to make the community better as a whole, to 
> in a mini-way save the world. That comes with an expectation that  if 
> I, the loyalist, am devoted to the movement, then my partner, the 
> company, is also devoted to me, and has made a like commitment to me. 
> It's a bit of a shock then to find that after being loyal, giving all 
> your good ideas and solutions and bugreports freely to the company, 
> and proudly watching the Revolution mature and grow as one would a 
> child, that an idea turned into a product starts going off in ways  
> you didn't expect. The revolution becomes The Revolution, and those 
> involved are abandoned and disappointed.
>
> The other group, fondly referred to here as the profit motive group, 
> sees this all as a software tool whose purpose is to enable one to 
> generate income. Those folks, with a sense of fairness, don't have any 
> problem with paying for the potential to make their own money by using 
> this tool. They also are less forgiving, with the attitude that since 
> I paid what you asked, the product damn will better work. They are 
> less understanding of the loss of the sense of family, of community. 
> While they also contribute to the improvement of the product, it's for 
> a different purpose - to improve the money making tool - a perfectly 
> worthwhile goal.
>
> Some of those here have a foot in both camps, as does the company. On 
> the good side, this is a natural stage of progression of any movement 
> where it starts to become institutionalized and is not longer a grass 
> roots, seat of the pants operation. On the bad side, this is where 
> many movements and companies fail, either abandoning their support 
> group too abruptly or not being ready to deliver a fully developed 
> product to the new 'customer base'. The current pricing structure is a 
> clear attempt to bridge this gap, and the only thing missing is an 
> equally clear and consistent message to the core supports who have 
> given their support for free that they are an appreciated and valued 
> entity; that while the company wishes it could continue to give it 
> away in appreciation of their efforts, the new level of complexity of 
> everything makes that impossible; that because the company does 
> recognize the critical role these supporters have played will meet 
> them halfway with a substantial gift of half the price; that while no 
> longer free  it's going to get way better really quickly for the 
> benefit of everyone.
>
> Peace,
>
>    John
>
> Flowing Thought Educational Solutions
> =======================================
> On Nov 2, 2003, at 10:20 PM, SteelWeaver52 at aol.com wrote:
>
>>
>> A user said:
>>
>>> And, I believe, contrary to what most of us supporting and
>>> promoting MC over the years thought we were supporting and promoting.
>>> Like Ryno Swart, ``I am just a bit disappointed.''  Forget that: I am
>>> totally disappointed.
>>
>> Frankly, I can't get into this sentiment.  I really can't.
>>
>> The only thing RunRev can do is make you an offer of a software
>> product in exchange for pieces of paper with pictures of Presidents
>> on them (or the Queen, or whatever).   This offer essentially 
>> increases
>> the number of options currently available to you.
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> use-revolution mailing list
> use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
>
>

Thomas J McGrath III
Advanced Media Group

220 Drake Rd.
Bethel Park, PA 15102
3mcgrath at adelphia.net




Thomas J McGrath III
Advanced Media Group

220 Drake Rd.
Bethel Park, PA 15102
3mcgrath at adelphia.net