Rev's Web-centricity (was: Rev's Mac-Centricity (Was: Plea to sell Dan's book widely))

MisterX b.xavier at internet.lu
Mon Aug 9 04:09:01 EDT 2004


Richard,

> Beyond that, what other things might help make the value of choosing Rev
> more self-evident?
>
> The value's there.  The problem isn't the tool, it's communicating what
> the tool has already accomplished.

RR is like a cult - much like ska music - it has a worldwide following,
it's extremely popular if not fanatic following, it's clearly a superb
idea that moves and jostles your motivation to do better, offers an
incredible resourcefullness in variety of styles.

But compared to trendy things like Disco, House, Rap/HipHop, and Techno
today, it will never get the spotlight - except for a exceptional songs/
stacks. There is a question of getting a big publishing/recording label
behind you.

I bought the PC studio license because - 1) I have potentially 10X more
users (and note that this ratio doesn't really justify buying a license
for another platform - but Im sure this is not a real issue once a soft
is successful, 2) Im have this hobby of creating/designing/writing and
RunRev is the digital tool that does it ALL.

I find the lack of Made-in-RR applications around the web to be probably
the biggest loss in show of commercial capability, marketing visibility
power (any one has the potential Moft look on the net) is needed - like
an article or banner on Slashdot. After that, continued articles (one a
month eg) would keep the flow in... Good old marketing wave function.

A few how-tos with graphics on the web would be cool to demonstrate the
disparate advantages of RR.

If you look at niche products like Satelite decoders (my dreambox in
particular but others as well), PHPNuke, FruityLoops and countless others,
the show of force that brings the crowd to the website is the web Forum.
Not only it serves as a live FAQ and an organized place for things like
release announcements, Plat-x issues, Heather news, etc...

Today, if that moves to the RevOnline, you will loose that visibility. I
really suggest you look at FruityLoops forums and excellent website at
www.flstudio.com. They have a tool much like RR but for music and their
user crowd is amazing in display of help, samples, songs, you name it.
If RR had this, we wouldn't be having this talk. And note that FL is
PC only - made with Delphi. Delphi's web site is not bad either BTW.

Since HyperCard met the net, this forum visibility has been moved mostly
from maillist to maillist. But this form is not well exposed IMOHO to either
new comers or visitors and is severly limited by its text-only appearance
which is not a good example of the platform. The web presence of RR is far
from what HC was... But HC was, well, a 32K BW Apple-limited tool. It was
well marketed in the beginning.

An interesting question/comparison is Filemaker today on PCs... Media
marketing over info-world and pc world didn't do much... But repeat
marketing is known to have a bigger effect over long-term. It has worked
on the Mac I believe. How many of us found RunRev while seeing a web ad?

So there, without getting into the tech details of RR, just looking at
the client's web view, the visibility is still a handful of webs with a
handful of links - which are not even complete - few have externals, HC
libraries (infomac or hyperarchive.mit, not to mention my own) <:(

Would Google ads do better than Slashdot's? Why not try both. Again, Fruity
Loops Studio is available on Tucows - Wouldn't that be part of its success?
No, they had magazines include them on CDs, make articles on them and they
make IMPRESSIVE demos of the capabilities of their products. Try their
demo, it's spectacular and not as expensive as RR. Which is the source of
their success? It certainly is not the features which we could compare as
powerful as RR's.

This thread is a definitely good marketing tutor, thinktank!

cheers
Xavier




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