Rev Media and the product line gap

[Dennis Brown]

Dan,

You being a writer, most likely never have your fingers far from the  
keyboard.  It makes sense to me that you would operate in that way.

However, I being a very image oriented person, never have my fingers  
far from the mouse, and dislike having to go to the keyboard for  
anything I can point and click.  I rarely use cmd-key alternatives  
except for the occasional qspazxcv --which are the basic common set  
for all apps.  For instance, when I am copying and pasting between  
two applications, I put one window on one screen and the other on the  
second screen.  I then start clicking on the two windows to go  
between them.  I often don't even use the copy/paste, but just drag  
the selections between the windows.  I don't think of them as two  
applications accessed from the intermediary of their Icons, but  
rather as two windows of data that I am moving.  They don't have  
names for me (like the Excel doc and the TextWrangler doc, or the Rev  
doc and the Safari doc), they are the left side data window and the  
right side data window.

I switch apps hundreds of times a day and usually have a dozen or  
more open at a time, spread across two 19 inch monitors.  I usually  
size my windows so that I can see pertinent bits of data from  
partially hidden windows (that are updating in the background).  My  
browser open windows are set as a cascade of multi tab windows.  One  
window per subject, and tabs for different search result pages.  My  
desk top really is a desk top!

To me the enforced backdrop is the same thing as a nag screen.  A  
complete annoyance, and not to be expected in a product that one  
charges for.  Leaving out a major feature, like making stand-alones,  
built-in database access, I can understand.  Major advanced  
capabilities that define a whole class of developers or project scope  
and delivery.  Mandatory painting out my desktop, is like an insult  
that I take personally.  I can't help it, that is just the feeling I  
get from it.  It may be irrational, but should be taken note of,  
because RunRev does not need to make a product that people do not  
feel good about.

So count me in with Dr. Miller on this one.

Dennis

On Mar 26, 2006, at 7:43 PM, Dan Shafer wrote:

> I'm probably missing something here, but I *never* click on a  
> window from
> another app to make it active (OS X 10.4.5). I always use the Dock  
> shortcut
> Command-Tab to bring up the list of current apps in the center of the
> screen, then tab or click on the app I want. I assume that still  
> works in
> Rev Media with the backdrop on, so the impact on me -- and on  
> others who use
> the same model -- is nil.
>
> It feels like this inconvenience is pretty minor unless the user  
> actually
> moves the mouse to the dock, moves around to find the app s/he  
> wants to use
> and clicks on it. But, again, I've been doing this so long I have  
> ingrained
> habits that may be saving me from experiencing the inconvenience you
> describe.
>
> That said, I too am puzzled by the decision that leaving the  
> backdrop on all
> the time somehow makes Rev Media a differentiated, less capable  
> product. And
> that in turn may explain why I'm not in marketing.
>
> :-)
>
> On 3/26/06, Timothy Miller <gandalf at doctortimothymiller.com> wrote:
>
> With the backdrop turned off, I can just click on a
> window from another application to make it active. With the backdrop
> turned on, I have to fiddle around with the dock. It's just one extra
> step, but repeated several hundred times per day, it's annoying.
>
>
>
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Dan Shafer, Information Product Consultant and Author
> http://www.shafermedia.com
> Get my book, "Revolution: Software at the Speed of Thought"
>> From http://www.shafermediastore.com/tech_main.html
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