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<blockquote data-quote="Tom Strickland" data-source="post: 6227494" data-attributes="member: 6753119">I have not yet endeavored to reach a conclusion regarding this.&nbsp; Nevertheless, here are some data points that float in my mind and which I&nbsp; would consider in order to arrive at said conclusion.For this product, considering the nature of it, the history of the manufacturers, the state of the art, and so on: 1. In order to produce two intrinsically related products--arguably,&nbsp; both simultaneously simpler and yet also more complex versions of the&nbsp; same thing--is it more effective to add advanced mechanics (so not just&nbsp; flavor text which increases page counts, but actual rules which must&nbsp; &quot;work&quot; [inter-operate] in diverse configurations) on top of a simpler&nbsp; foundation/framework, or is it better to distill out a (palatable to&nbsp; newcomers) essence from the full construction/offering (the advanced&nbsp; version) which is self-evidently elegant and thus more widely appealing?2. Is the prior release of a simpler version of a widely-known and&nbsp; planned product an example of a &quot;beta test&quot; without calling it such?&nbsp; Numerous software products by as many vendors over the years were&nbsp; released without being officially labeled as betas to the mixed&nbsp; reception by end-users and reviewers.3. Is this simple-then-advanced product release cycle like a&nbsp; recalibration measurement or a &quot;stretch goal&quot;, to see if there are&nbsp; enough sales to warrant all or just some of the further&nbsp; currently-anticipated expenditures (allowing for sunk costs)? Is it a&nbsp; tactic to &quot;buy time&quot;? [Because once the basic version is in the field,&nbsp; there are several plausible explanations that can be floated as reasons&nbsp; for delays of the advanced version.]Note that I have not said I believe any of these to be valid in this specific case, but rather I&nbsp; would consider their relevance and applicability if and when I do&nbsp; choose to decide whether the approach is effective--as a purely outside&nbsp; observer. In any event I am, by default, only interested in the full&nbsp; version of any product regardless of the path followed to arrive at that&nbsp; destination.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tom Strickland, post: 6227494, member: 6753119"] I have not yet endeavored to reach a conclusion regarding this. Nevertheless, here are some data points that float in my mind and which I would consider in order to arrive at said conclusion. For this product, considering the nature of it, the history of the manufacturers, the state of the art, and so on: [B]1.[/B] In order to produce two intrinsically related products--arguably, both simultaneously simpler and yet also more complex versions of the same thing--is it more effective to add advanced mechanics (so not just flavor text which increases page counts, but actual rules which must "work" [inter-operate] in diverse configurations) on top of a simpler foundation/framework, or is it better to distill out a (palatable to newcomers) essence from the full construction/offering (the advanced version) which is self-evidently elegant and thus more widely appealing? [B]2.[/B] Is the prior release of a simpler version of a widely-known and planned product an example of a "beta test" without calling it such? Numerous software products by as many vendors over the years were released without being officially labeled as betas to the mixed reception by end-users and reviewers. [B]3.[/B] Is this simple-then-advanced product release cycle like a recalibration measurement or a "stretch goal", to see if there are enough sales to warrant all or just some of the further currently-anticipated expenditures (allowing for sunk costs)? Is it a tactic to "buy time"? [Because once the basic version is in the field, there are several plausible explanations that can be floated as reasons for delays of the advanced version.] Note that I have not said I believe any of these to be valid in this specific case, but rather I would consider their relevance and applicability if and when I do choose to decide whether the approach is effective--as a purely outside observer. In any event I am, by default, only interested in the full version of any product regardless of the path followed to arrive at that destination. [/QUOTE]

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