heatseeker

person, jargon (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)