Heather Nagey on xCards
Current Occupation: Customer Support manager for Runtime Revolution. Been doing this for the last 8 years.
How did you get into this job
Was asked to do part time customer support early on by Kevin Miller. By an odd coincidence he is my brother.
How is/was working on Revolution?
I love doing customer support. I've learned an incredible amount from the customers over the years, and they are a great bunch of people. I have contact with folks from all walks of life, from all over the world, and its been an eye-opener. Also got me a fantastic husband in Ro Nagey1, who I would never have met otherwise.
What was your first job, ever?
Building fibreglass boats.
Who was your hero/idol at that time?
Er. Don't really go in for heros... I admired Kevin very much for his determination and optimism in the face of the odds, and at a very young age. Still admire him for his success in the face of the odds and ongoing determination to make Revolution the best.
Who is your hero/idol now?
um. My husband? A wonderful person who has faced up to difficulties that many people would not overcome.
What is the most important thing in life for you?
Family. (that was an easy one!)
How, when and by whom did you get introduced to Revolution?
Introduced by Kevin Miller, who had the idea of creating it.
What impressed you most about it?
How easy it is to use for non programmers, combined with how geeky one can get with it.
What do you consider your main contribution to Revolution?
Supporting customers... Great bunch of people, its a pleasure to work with them.
Please describe Revolution in one sentence
The most powerful crossplatform user friendly programming application available today.
If you could add one more feature to Revolution, what would it be?
(No features that have already been announced, please)Well, we have a whole raft of exciting new features planned, but I'm not allowed to tell you about any of them that have not been already announced. A time machine would be nice tho. Or a cloning stack applicable to key members of the team... Think what we could achieve with unlimited Mark Waddinghams...
When did you first hear about HyperCard?
I was introduced to HyperCard first by our user community. I'm afraid I'd never come across it before starting on the customer support for Revolution.
What impressed you most about HyperCard?
Simplicity.
Please describe HyperCard in one sentence
A brilliant concept, now rather dated in execution, replaced by Revolution which has all the features Apple should have added if they'd continued to support it.
If you could have added one feature to HyperCard, what would it have been?
(Apart from color - we all wanted that)Cross platform.
Do you think there is a new HyperCard today?
Yes :). You can guess my answer to that but I'll spell it out for you...
R E V O L U T I O N.
Do you think there is still a need for a new HyperCard?
No. There is one.
What do you think the competing products did better than you?
My honest, unbiased opinion is that there are no competing products better than Revolution available to developers who liked the HyperCard concept. Perhaps SuperCard has some limited advantages in that it only has to support one platform, so it can afford to be more closely adherent to that platforms eccentricities.
What single thing do you think Revolution did better than the other clones?
Sold.
Did you ever get to meet any of the competing clone developers?
Hmmm. I'm not sure if I've met any of them in person. I've certainly corresponded with many of them. I think I briefly met Dan2 who was working on Serf.
Why did you start writing a HyperCard clone?
I can answer this on behalf of the original team I think. It was clear that we could create a fantastic product which would empower users who weren't currently enabled by the programming products then available. The concept of empowering people was what excited the original creators of Revolution.
Do you think HyperCard clones are/were a good thing? Why?
I think Revolution is a good thing, because it is successful and thriving, and has a large base of installed users being empowered by it on all major computer platforms (and some minor ones). I think SuperCard has a place in the scheme of things, for users who never want to move beyond Mac OS X. To be frank, I don't think any other clones are now required, and it is very unlikely they will be able to succeed as the niche has now been filled.
Is there anything else you'd like to say?
Well, I'd like to invite you to download and try out the latest free trial of Revolution ;)
Thank you Heather, and all my best wishes to you, your husband and your brother.
1) Editor's note: Ro Nagey may be known to some of you as one of the people behind Royal Software, fka Heizer Software, the company who sold the HyperTalk/SuperTalk compiler CompileIt! and Double-XX by Tom Pittman, MegaWindows by Dan Gelder and other well-known HyperCard add-ons.
2) Editor's note: She is referring to Dan Gelder, author of Serf, MegaWindows and several other HyperCard games, as well as one of the people behind boredgamer, a board-gaming website.