Why is Konfabulator 'Pretty?'

Chipp Walters chipp at chipp.com
Fri Dec 9 16:05:48 EST 2005


Marielle Lange wrote:
> Professionals like Richard, Chipp and Ken and  others 
> are worried about keeping their competitive advantage and have  the tool 
> remain expensive and relatively unknown (at the very least  maintain the 
> existence of a cost of switching via the license fee and  time to learn).

Marielle,

First, great post. I pretty much agree with all you say, but as both 
Richard and Ken have chimed in their 2 cents-- I'll do too.

I don't think if Richard, Ken or I wanted RR to remain relatively 
unknown we wouldn't be sharing so much about it on our collective 
websites, newsletters, conferences, free plugins and tools, or building 
externals for it.

Richard, Ken and I have been around for awhile (as have many) and we all 
have seen the various X-talks be dismissed, passed over, and go out of 
business. So, for those of us who's business depends on Rev, we're happy 
to see more revenue come into the company.

While I can't speak for Ken or Richard, I do believe they probably share 
the following sentiment with me. One main reason for a 'branded 
professional version' is to not be confused with a 'non pro version.' 
This is not to say we're any better programmers than those using a 
non-pro version, (as many have already shown) but more importantly, to 
differentiate the two to the outside world. Many of us have been burned 
by the 'Made with Macromedia Director' logo, which spelled doom for any 
professional multimedia/game developers back in 90's. This was because 
of the poor Director applications which had been developed by 'newer' 
programmers.

Also, professional developers do have different support needs than 
casual users.

All that said, I'm for giving away DreamCard with no support. So that 
students, inventive users, hobbyists, novices, and professionals can use 
it and learn how absolutely great Transcript and the message path really 
is. I believe many will eventually upgrade to Revolution. But, making a 
decision to give away DreamCard without a good understanding of the 
market dynamics and RunRev financials, is just guesswork and speculation.

best,

Chipp




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