Why isn't Rev more popular?

[Mathewson]

I think that over the last 12 years there has been a change
in people's perception of computers and what can be done by
them.

Certainly, in Bulgaria there is the perception that:

1. The ability to use Microsoft Word and connect to the
internet is all that anybody needs to know except for:

2. Computer experts - who need to know the full nine-yards.

In England my mother (who is in her middle 70s) attended a
course entitled "Computers for the terrified" - it said, in
its prospectus, that it would make all attendees 'fully
computer literate' - did it hell? - it taught Mother how to
type a letter in MSWord, print it out, open Internet
Explorer, browse the internet and sign up for a Yahoo
e-mail account. Unfortunately, the gum-chewing peasantry
that constitute the generality of the spending public have
been fed the idea that this is what constitutes computer
literacy: it is the same mentality that makes next-door
neighbours of mine expect me to spend hours trying to sort
out their Piles of Crap (I know that PC had to stand for
something!) for the price of a cup of coffee - because
"Uncle Ivan knows how to do it, but unfortunately he is in
Kazanluk at the moment - and I know that he could sort the
whole thing out in 2 minutes" - of course f@@@ing Uncle
Ivan is a braggart who can write a letter in MSWord.

Even teachers (pace my children's Primary school in St
Andrews, Scotland) now teach kids MSWord and Paint - when
once (in the UK at least) they taught them rudimentary
programming (shock, horror) techniques in BASIC on the
BBC/RISC machine. Of course, in Bulgaria, most schools
don't have computers - those that do generally work with a
"P" copy of WIN 95 and are used by the school secretary for
records and/or looking at 'you know what" on the internet.

When Hypercard came out it was intended for the excluded
middle, and it filled it very well.

I believe that that excluded middle either no longer exists
(members of that excluded middle have either died, become
members of class 2, or can't be bothered any more [little
support from educational authorities and so on]).

Runtime Revolution has done little to either court the
excluded middle, or stimulate a new class of users who will
fill the gap that has now developed.

For instance - Apple used to bunlde HC with everu Mac they
sold; later on they bundled a cut-down version. If RR were
to come to some arrangement with Apple (and other OS
manufacturers) to bundle a cut-down version of DC - this
might have the same affect as HC once had.

The other point is that once upon a time desktop computers
were a novelty - now they are as common as fridges. The
novelty factor has gone - and that is a powerful factor.

In my Master's degree thesis (see website) I pointed out
that a 'promise' made by earlier PC developers had got lost
- the promise of real empowerment. Now, RR is exactly the
RAD that can empower millions (however corny that sounds)
but if RR sit around with one website and a few specialist
events nothing will happen - except that RR's revenue will
flatline and types like me will get even more sour than we
are already.

Back to my Chestnut . . .

A Dead Cheap Limited Version of RR/DC for the masses might
bring in more bucks (c.f. Henry Ford, King Camp Gillette)
than a few highly priced All-Singing, All-Dancing copies of
RR Extra-Super-Whammo.

sincerely, Richmond
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See Mathewson's software at:

http://members.maclaunch.com/richmond/default.html
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