Interesting blog post - comments anyone?

[Bill Marriott]

Hi Randall,

My intent in replying is not to say you're "wrong" or even to disagree with 
you... just to point out that Heather's only request was if one felt like 
posting to "keep it positive" -- in the sense of being respectful toward the 
*blog author*, not being positive about Revolution.

Heather wrote:

> If you feel the urge to post a
> comment, the blogger is inviting debate - just keep it positive...
> it's probably best not to wade in guns blazing if you disagree with
> his view. I think there is an interesting debate to be had here.

There's surely a diversity of opinions about Rev in the use-list; the posts 
are not 100% rosy. Some current and former customers have mentioned their 
dislikes, skepticism of our bold productivity claim, etc. Heather certainly 
invited that.

I would hope there could be some way of posting notice here of a prominent 
article about us that would be regarded appropriate by everyone. Perhaps it 
was the wording that turned you off? What would you like to see happen in 
the future? Should news of such articles come only from customers?

As a marketing guy (who did *not* request Heather's posting), I will say the 
guerilla effect is welcomed. Between this article and the coverage on 
Slashdot, our site traffic surged. It garnered us many new visitors... more 
in the space of a couple days than we usually get in a month. I certainly 
don't see the articles as fluff. They are controversial; the comments raise 
many points, good and bad, about us. The Slashdot threads being almost 
brutal. Yet we've seen thousands of fresh faces give our products a look-see 
for themselves.

It's easy to forget how small we really are. The vast majority of people 
making software today have never heard of us. We are a tiny fraction of the 
former HyperCard user base. Yet, we are arguably the most successful, 
usable, and capable implementation of that vision around. We see ourselves 
as stewards of that legacy. Our major investments this past year, including 
the Web plugin and free revMedia, are designed not only to deliver more 
value to customers, but also to expose orders of magnitude more people to 
our unique philosophy of software construction.

As fans of xTalk (a heritage we've reinforced and given homage to by naming 
our language "revTalk"), I would wish all of us would have a stake in the 
vitality of our efforts -- getting the word out and reminding people there 
is indeed still such a thing as "programming for the rest of us." I, for 
one, wouldn't be coding at all these days if it weren't for Rev.

- Bill, RunRev marketing guy