Heatseeker

2 definitions found

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  heatseeker n. [IBM] A customer who can be relied upon to buy, without
     fail, the latest version of an existing product (not quite the same as a
     member of the {lunatic fringe}). A 1993 example of a heatseeker was
     someone who, owning a 286 PC and Windows 3.0, went out and bought
     Windows 3.1 (which offers no worthwhile benefits unless you have a 386).
     If all customers were heatseekers, vast amounts of money could be made


     by just fixing some of the bugs in each release (n) and selling it to
     them as release (n+1). Microsoft in fact seems to have mastered this
     technique.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  heatseeker
       
           (IBM) A customer who can be relied upon to
          buy, without fail, the latest version of an existing product
          (not quite the same as a member of the {lunatic fringe}).  A
          1993 example of a heatseeker is someone who, owning a 286 PC
          and Windows 3.0, goes out and buys {Windows 3.1} (which offers
          no worthwhile benefits unless you have a 386).  If all
          customers were heatseekers, vast amounts of money could be
          made by just fixing the bugs in each release (n) and selling
          it to them as release (n+1).
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1996-03-12)