Rev Media and the product line gap

[curry at pair.com]

I'm a bit late to the recent discussions on Rev Media--just got a chance
to browse the archive. Here's my view, and an additional idea.

I think these concepts--Rev Express, Dreamcard, Rev Media--are fairly
creative, neat, fun, etc. I'm sure they have lots of good points. The
junior product keeps changing frequently, but I guess that's okay. I
haven't tried these in depth, so this is just my opinion about basic
stated features and limitations.

But I think there are a few drawbacks in the model. One is not being able
to create a standalone. At the old Dreamcard price (I think it was about
$100--I'm going to round off the prices to be easier on the eye), that
could be a bit of a downer. RealBasic Standard at about $100, for example,
does create standalones. The new price of about $50 for Rev Media is one
approach of helping with that issue. And I think it's probably a good
approach.

(However, why make the backdrop an issue? If it doesn't create standalones
then there's already a big incentive to upgrade. I suppose it would tend
to limit what is distributed with it--you don't usually see utilities with
mandatory backdrops, for example. Then again, you don't usually see
utilities that require a player to run, either!)

The other major drawback is how far up you have to go in order to get a
Rev product that does make standalones. Minimum is $300 for Studio, which
is developing on one platform, although deploying on all.

Between $50 for a product that requires a player, and $300 for one that
builds standalones, that's a considerable empty space. And suddenly with
the first product that builds standalones, you already have one that
deploys on all platforms. There's nothing gradual. What if someone just
wants to develop on one platform and doesn't need the rest? Or wants to
get into Rev gradually, and work on his or her preferred platform first
before expanding, but wants standalones? Or the person that wants more
than one platform but would prefer to debug and compile from each platform
and doesn't need the cross-build feature and some other advanced features
such as database access?

So, right now it seems to me that there's a large unfilled gap in the
product line--something similar to the RealBasic Standard I mentioned, a
product that would run on one platform per license, but would make
standalones for that platform.

(To differentiate from Studio, some advanced features could also be
limited. Currently, judging from the Tools Overview page, that would
include the learning pack and SQL database access. Some additional
adjustments might be needed--the "intermediate" Rev product should not be
too crippled, and should be sufficient for most normal uses, so these
should be considered carefully, advanced or new features that create
considerable incentive for Studio and Enterprise rather than cut too much
from the intermediate product. There's a good balance to be found.)

The Rev Media type of product is covering a whole range of interesting
uses and interested users, but I seriously bet there is also a whole range
of people that Rev is missing out on because of that product gap in
comparison to other offerings. That could be a large group that is missing
out on Rev and vice versa! If they want standalones but need a lower entry
price, then they may look over the product line options and quickly decide
to look elsewhere. Besides the cross-platform crowd, that would also open
up the door to attract more of those who are currently developing on one
platform using tools in that price range. I believe that represents a lot
of potential users out there.

I would recommend introducing something with similar benefits and
pricing/updates, to be competitive in that area and get another whole set
of users into the Rev world.

But also keep the Rev Media type product, to appeal to its own set of
users, which is a different set and should be considered separately in its
own right.

That's my suggestion. :-)

Curry