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]Last updated: 1996-03-12
Nearby terms:
head-strict ♦ heap ♦ heartbeat ♦ heatseeker ♦ heat sink ♦ heat slug ♦ heavy metal
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