I am one of those free HC to paid HC to paid SC crossgrade to paid
Rev enterprise crossgrade to paid Studio downgrade to paid DC to paid
DC upgrade. My gosh, I have owned one of every license! Personal
circumstances kept me from ever using the first Enterprise license,
and I would never have purchased it for $1K. I first purchased it at
$300 with an early SC crossgrade promotion. I dare say that I would
never have gotten going with RR if they had not changed their pricing
policy. I think they have the right basic set of products/prices
now. A bit of tweaking might make a few more people happy. If
someone can not afford even the $100 for DC, let them use the $1K MC
that is now free, then buy DC or studio if they want the latest IDE
and features. The price of DC is right. The price of Studio is
right. The price of Enterprise is right. Having the full spectrum
is right. Get a great hobby product with little personalized support
from RR for low cost --on par with the entry level consumer products
of major companies like Adobe. Want expensive professional support,
pay for a professional license. Totally fair! I am a happy camper,
and very happy with RR product policy. However, I must point out
that without this list RR would likely die. This list is the life
blood that makes it possible for them to sell any cost product
without impossible support problems. Value of this list --Priceless!
I don't want this to be taken the wrong way (it is not meant to
slight any of the truly appreciated professionals on this list), but
if I were a professional programmer that was happy to pay $1K
initially and upgrade my support every year (because it saved me
money in my business), I would frown on RR offering a lower cost
version to hobbyists. My reasons would be selfish --I don't want RR
to get distracted with another market segment and possibly lesson
their focus and support of my needs, or worse go out of business
because they misjudged the other market.
However, I don't think this is the likely case. I think that they
are more likely to stay in business with the current model --it is
the model being used by the most successful companies today. They
are growing (I assume) slowly as the product matures. At some point
I expect this model is going to propel them forward into a larger
company that can offer better general support and product bug fixes
(I think bugs cost more to fix than adding minor new features), while
continuing to support the professionals needs.
I expect to continue upgrading my DC every year and perhaps upgrade
my Studio if I find I need to make a stand alone (which I have never
needed to do). My needs are met by DC for now, but I want to support
RR so that they continue to fix bugs and add useful features.
My two cents.
Dennis
On Nov 26, 2005, at 5:03 AM, Kay C Lan wrote:
I am a hobbiest and from my perspective I am thankful Runrev are
trying to
cater to both ends of the market. I have been critical of Runrev's
pricing
strategy before and have not agreed with it, but they seem to be
doing a
good job because I have paid for license renewals over the years
and have
never let my license lapse. I must stress though that I have done
so in
small steps, and to me this is the key to Runrev extracting more
and more
money out of me. I started out free, went to Express, then
DreamCard, and
now Studio, which I have renewed. If Rev was ala ParcSystem,
Enterprise
option only, they'd have none of my money. They are currently
extracting
more money out of me than a Digitalk strategy because I have been
basically
evaluating Rev for the last 4 years, and when I've discovered a 'new'
feature that I'd like to take advantage of, but can't because it is
in a
'higher' edition, I've eventually concluded that I need to forked
over the
money...
I'm wondering if Dan has a feel for how many people got into scripting
because of the FREE HyperCard that came with your Mac back in the
late 80's.
Sure you eventually had to buy the later editions (2.1 was free if
I can
remember, but after that if you wanted to create stacks you needed
to buy
the Developer Tool - about U$120 I think). I still remember the MUG I
belonged too suddenly sending out floppies with public domain
stacks. Then
it was multiple floppies. There were stacks everywhere.
I am still amazed at how many HyperCard refugees I see seeking a
new life
here. I thought I was slow at coming to grips with the fact that
HyperCard
is dead, but obviously some are still applying CPR;-) How many
people got
hooked on the Free HyperCard, discovered that they could do
something useful
with it, and then convinced themselves that they needed to buy the
Developer
Pack so they could take advantage of the larger feature set of the
later
editions. How many people made a living out of HyperCard based on
their free
introduction (not a 30 day trial, but unlimited use free).
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