Rev Media and the product line gap

[Lynn Fredricks]

> Maybe I'm just stubborn. (Naw, couldn't be!) :-)
> 
> But, dammit Lynn, I believe I'm not being too immodest when I 
> say that I'm the inventor of the term "inventive user" and 
> that that gives me *some* standing in defining it.

Its okay if we have one inventive user, but invective users have to go :-)

> Chipp and I talked about this a bit on the phone earlier. My 
> view is that if you are a trained programmer (even if 
> self-taught, you've studied
> *programming*) and/or your *primary* job function is 
> programming, then you are a professional programmer. Anyone 
> who hasn't been trained as a programmer OR who programs only 
> as a relatively small part of their job or strictly as a 
> hobby is what I call an Inventive User

Sure - but still too broad -

1. Professional programmer (subclassifications for trained, non-trained, or
primary purpose of being a programmer)
2. Inventive user
3. Unwashed masses of the earth

> Chipp, by that standard, is a self-described Inventive User. 
> So am I. So, I think, is Jerry Daniels. I suspect Richard 
> Gaskin falls into that category as do all of the educational 
> folks here and.... You get the idea. I think the "sweet spot" 
> for Rev *is* the Inventive User. in fact, I think very few 
> professional programmers will adopt Rev for a host of reasons 
> I've gone into before.
> 
> So while the Inventive User market may be a tad elusive and 
> hard to define precisely, I don't think that should relegate 
> them to a "D) None of the Above" category on your list. (BTW, 
> you've never given us A through C!)

Almost infinite varieties there - what is really important is to really
understand the target customer, and then create the product that target
customers want to buy.

Some kaiju-class software companies go into extreme detail to understand who
they are selling to - to the point that it's a character study, or a few
nearly related character studies. Some go to the point that its almost --
creepy. But if you get to the point where you are creating sack puppets like
on the Fandango commercials, well, that's close enough :-)

Best regards,


Lynn Fredricks
Worldwide Business Operations
Runtime Revolution, Ltd