I think that over the last 12 years there has been a change in people's perception of computers and what can be done by them.
Certainly, in Bulgaria there is the perception that: 1. The ability to use Microsoft Word and connect to the internet is all that anybody needs to know except for: 2. Computer experts - who need to know the full nine-yards. In England my mother (who is in her middle 70s) attended a course entitled "Computers for the terrified" - it said, in its prospectus, that it would make all attendees 'fully computer literate' - did it hell? - it taught Mother how to type a letter in MSWord, print it out, open Internet Explorer, browse the internet and sign up for a Yahoo e-mail account. Unfortunately, the gum-chewing peasantry that constitute the generality of the spending public have been fed the idea that this is what constitutes computer literacy: it is the same mentality that makes next-door neighbours of mine expect me to spend hours trying to sort out their Piles of Crap (I know that PC had to stand for something!) for the price of a cup of coffee - because "Uncle Ivan knows how to do it, but unfortunately he is in Kazanluk at the moment - and I know that he could sort the whole thing out in 2 minutes" - of course f@@@ing Uncle Ivan is a braggart who can write a letter in MSWord. Even teachers (pace my children's Primary school in St Andrews, Scotland) now teach kids MSWord and Paint - when once (in the UK at least) they taught them rudimentary programming (shock, horror) techniques in BASIC on the BBC/RISC machine. Of course, in Bulgaria, most schools don't have computers - those that do generally work with a "P" copy of WIN 95 and are used by the school secretary for records and/or looking at 'you know what" on the internet. When Hypercard came out it was intended for the excluded middle, and it filled it very well. I believe that that excluded middle either no longer exists (members of that excluded middle have either died, become members of class 2, or can't be bothered any more [little support from educational authorities and so on]). Runtime Revolution has done little to either court the excluded middle, or stimulate a new class of users who will fill the gap that has now developed. For instance - Apple used to bunlde HC with everu Mac they sold; later on they bundled a cut-down version. If RR were to come to some arrangement with Apple (and other OS manufacturers) to bundle a cut-down version of DC - this might have the same affect as HC once had. The other point is that once upon a time desktop computers were a novelty - now they are as common as fridges. The novelty factor has gone - and that is a powerful factor. In my Master's degree thesis (see website) I pointed out that a 'promise' made by earlier PC developers had got lost - the promise of real empowerment. Now, RR is exactly the RAD that can empower millions (however corny that sounds) but if RR sit around with one website and a few specialist events nothing will happen - except that RR's revenue will flatline and types like me will get even more sour than we are already. Back to my Chestnut . . . A Dead Cheap Limited Version of RR/DC for the masses might bring in more bucks (c.f. Henry Ford, King Camp Gillette) than a few highly priced All-Singing, All-Dancing copies of RR Extra-Super-Whammo. sincerely, Richmond __________________________________________________ See Mathewson's software at: http://members.maclaunch.com/richmond/default.html _______________________________________ --------------------------------------------------------------- The Think Different Store http://www.thinkdifferentstore.com/ For All Your Mac Gear --------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [email protected] Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
