[REBOL] Re: What's Up Rebol?
From: scot::ski2die::com at: 6-Mar-2002 12:46
I think the main reason it's not being adopted is that Rebol Tech is
focusing on an area that is, in my opinoin, not a good area for programmers
to generate income using the script (IOS). If RT would take some time to
create a FREE browser plugin out of Rebol View, then even if Rebol cost
money (the EULA is a bit cryptic for me) a lot of Rebol programmers would
start making programs they could sell. For money. And revenue is what makes
the world go around. If you can make money at something, such as Miva
Scripting (which is what I do successfully), programmers will latch on to it
and through them the language will develop.
In the case of Rebol, there is no point at all to even learn how to program
in it because the average Joe on the street can't see what you've
programmed.
As soon as RT figures out that making Rebol scripts as easy to run as Flash
or anything else that requires a simple plugin for popular browsers, I'll
bet the language will take off like a rocket. Revenue will increase for RT,
revenue will increase for rebol programmers, and the people will wonder why
they haven't been able to play tetris on someone's web page before.
I've been using Miva script (miva.com) just about since the inception of it.
In fact, one of my Miva scripting adversaries (um, friends that is), turned
me on to Rebol two years ago. You could see the huge potential. You can
still see the huge potential. Unfortunately, it's not being realized. Miva
on the other hand went ahead and made a product out of their scripting
language, and that product opened up a huge developers market, so people
learned the language in order to be able to customize the product, which in
turn allowed developers to make new products, which in turn makes the whole
Miva experience profitable. Of course, with Miva scripts, you don't have to
pay royalties, and they are interpreted similar to PHP.
Keep in mind I am NOT comparing the miva language to the rebol language- I'm
just comparing business strategies.
Scot
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Richards" <[jrichards--starband--net]>
To: <[rebol-list--rebol--com]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 4:43 AM
Subject: [REBOL] What's Up Rebol?
> Hello to all,
>
> I'm not sure if this is the right place for this but your going to get it
anyway. I feel a real need to vent. I have been tinkering with and
watching the progression of Rebol for approx. two years now. I am a Unix
Systems Administrator/Programming Hack.. I have worked with Perl, Python
and Ruby over the past few years but I keep coming back to Rebol. Why?
Because it is a brilliant work of art. There is nothing out there that can
compare to Rebols' simplicity and uniqueness. So, I am forced to ask
myself a lot of questions.
> Why aren't more programmers adopting the language?
>
> You would think that with all the early adopters of Linux and that
movement, that these same folks would be early adopters of Rebol and it's
greatness. Why? Why hasn't this happened?
> Why is the book "Rebol The Official Guide" called The Official Guide?
>
> I have purchased and read some of the material in it and think that it
should be appropriately named "Database Programming With Rebol". Where's
the official guide part? Did I miss it. Am I illiterate. Oh, and then
there's "Rebol /Core [User Guide] You know the one without the index. The
Index
you know that indispensable thing as technicians that we refer to on
a daily basis.
> Why hasn't there been any news from Rebol in five months?
>
> This is odd, you would think that somebody promoting a product would be
seeking to distribute all kinds of news.
> Should I invest the time and energy in learning Rebol?
>
> God knows I want to, but I just keep getting the impression that this one
will not be long lived. Every few days I fire up View click around and what
do I find, more sites that don't work or sites that just have an email
contact. Wow, now isn't that interesting. There are a few good ones though
Brett at Codeconscious has done a great job. We need more of you Brett.
DocKimbel and his mysql-protocol which I am having a great time with.
> Well it's time to go, I just felt a real need to vent some of my
frustrations. I just get the impression that Rebol is failing at reaching
the real future of Rebol, programmers and innovators.
