[REBOL] Re: The future of Rebol - achieving critical mass
From: geoff:productivity at: 21-May-2001 15:16
Holger
Thanks for responding in so much detail...
> /Command is primarily a server product targetted at companies, ISPs etc.,
not
> a consumer application. The consumer applications are /Core and /View for
> basic functionality, and both are free. Extended functionality for both is
> available using a shareware-like model (View/Pro and later Core/Pro), for
> hobbyists. /Pro products include the /Library component and are therefore
> "open" systems that can be arbitrarily expanded by users.
So what are the plans for Core/Pro? Is there a release date in view?
> The basics (/Core and /View) ARE free.
>
Agreed, but unless you have access to external libraries and persistent data
they are of limited use. I would suggest the following as basic free
components if Rebol is to take off:
- Fast-cgi and/or mod_rebol (after all, the web is going to be the main
internet API for some time to come... so an internet messaging language must
surely offer an efficient web platform)
- APIs to MySQL, Postgres, Berkeley DB
- C/C++ Library access
I wonder how far Sun would have got with Java if they had charged for the
basics?
> It is not so much a matter of commercial courage, but rather of resources.
> RT is a corporation with full-time employees...
> In a commercial setting it is pretty much impossible these days to develop
> a product for years without any revenues.
>
I would hope that everyone understands this, but the question is what is the
quickest route to those revenues? It's only my opinion, but I would have
thought that the future of the company is in high-end applications like
/Express, not in selling the basic functionality that other languages offer
for free. And if there is is a large and dynamic community creating a rich
environment of libraries and applications, this is surely the environment
where sales of /Express and related consulting would take off.
>> than they will
> > ever generate selling /Core to a tiny community.
> We are not selling /Core at all. /Core is distributed free of charge,
> as is /View, in order to build a community, as you suggest.
Slip of the pen - I meant /Command, of course.
I certainly understand what you are saying, but I have a nasty feeling that
Rebol will not build the community it deserves unless the free offering
allows people to get serious work done. The word is going to be spread by
enthusiasts doing personal projects and home or off-budget projects at work
and then evangelising to their managers. With so many free options
available, they won't pay out of their own pockets to take this first step.
Geoff Caplan
