[REBOL] Re: Language Popularity & Network Effects; Ruby & Mongrel
From: carl::cybercraft::co::nz at: 21-Nov-2007 12:28
On Wednesday, 21-Novenber-2007 at 9:00:33 Petr Krenzelok wrote,
>Carl Read napsal(a):
>> >From the fashion industry one...
>>
>> "Trained staff in a minority language are going to be rare. This does not
>necessarily make them more expensive (nobody else wants them), but it does
>make recruitment much harder and more uncertain. Alternatively you have to
>train all your existing people in the new language. And for Functional
>Languages its not just another syntax, its a whole new way of thinking."
>>
>> Two marks against REBOL there.
>>
>> Still, he did suggest a road to popularity - find a niche and own it.
>What's a niche REBOL could create/take over?
>>
>
>Flash/Flex area - small, agile, distributed self-served PLATFORM, not
>just a language. There is long term plan - Altissimo - mixture of
>ViewTop, IOS, Altme, platform for small distributed apps.
An online desktop then, but with no need of a central server owned by others?
A Google for "online desktop" turns up plenty of attempts, but I suspect all of them
are based on central-servers. In other words, designed for lock-in. (No time to test
them. I looked at the offerings a year or so back, and some looked promising in that
they were relatively responsive, while others were horribly slow.)
But won't those who don't like the central server approach also be the ones who expect
the alternative to be completely open-source? (REBOL would also be great for a distributed
social network, except those who don't like the current social networks being central-server
based are not going to accept an alternative with software that isn't open-source.)
But yes, technically, REBOL would be great in both those areas. And ought to able to
attract those who would like an online desktop/platform and don't care about how it's
done. (I'm pretty sure a distributed social-network's a non-starter though.)
-- Carl Read.
