[REBOL] Re: Encap/Distributions
From: jasonic:nomadics at: 21-Oct-2001 3:00
> > > BTW: Carl, Holger, dudes... I believe that both Larry
> > > Wall
> > > and Guido von Rossum have jobs for life.
> > > JMTCW
> >
> > Hmm. I'd rather own the company the gives them their jobs
> > for the rest of their lives.
> That would be O'Reilly (I believe) for Wall, and
> some arm of the Educational Community for Guido.
job for life? ...ouch not so fast...
Last year was a pretty rocky year for the Python core crew:
They left the CNRI ship when it became clear those hearts/heads were not
into the spirit of Python. Found a refuge in a hillside camp at the
hideously named 'BeOpen' while patiently dodging a series of energy-zapping
ugly licensing-related mortar attacks from CNRI and elsewhere.
The Python website even was in question www.python.org -- and was in limbo
for ages while a snapshot clone was erected >8-((
Meanwhile Guido got married, and with his crew valiantly released new
versions, although the naming and web site support was confusing for many,
especially newbies. During this period, the majority of links to Python were
demi-obsolete. The BeOpen web site sucked royally. ActivePython was released
in the midst of this - basically good news but was greeted with enormous
suspicion and paranoia by the otherwise positive and generous Python online
community. Installations got pretty mangled for Win32 since ActiveState was
sort of sync and presented a forked Python path.
The good news was that more people grokked to Python, but on the whole it
lost a very crucial years focus, during which time PHP especially came to
the respectable fore. Some good python books appeared and Guido and team
continued to follow their solid pragmatism. But they announced the CP4E
[Computer Programming for Everyone], the ARPA-edu grant project was a
casualty. Noble and echoes of that initiative live on Edu-Sig mailing list
which tracks the good work on VisualPython, PythonCard, PyGeo and the
curriculum work of Kirby Urner and others.
The Python-based Zope community grew and after hard work adn an very anxious
time, Digital Creations [Zope]landed another $19million VC money to carry
them 18 months max. This was when almost everyone else was losing their VC
support and dot.bomb became a household name. Then the happy surprise news
cam: Guido + crew left the BeOpen ship and signed with Digital Creations
[now Zope Corporation]! People were pretty happy about this, feeling it
would be good thing for zope and hopefully a better home for Python, but
concern still about the long-term status []nobody dared intimate anything
about job for life... but the title BDFL {benevolent dictator for live is
openly assumed to Guido}.
Since then technically things have gone quite well for Python, and we hope
personally for the its core team. Good decisions appear to have been made.
New releases have introduced good advances and consolidated the mans to
allow easy distribution. Though standalone executables is still a big issue
for many developers and makes an interesting back-story to the mysterious
REBOL/Encap strategy/pricing/news_vacuum. The quality and scope of online
coverage of Python has been very good thanks to some key tech journalists at
IBM, OReilly and elsewhere. The community grows along with its terrific
array of applications modules and super packages.
encap: next encap
REBOL presently lacks suitable hands-on evangelists in the press. Most
stories are old. REBOL/Encap is not articulated anywhere that I can see
except by reference and advice to send an email. If Encap is 'shipping' then
why not post some demos on rebol.com so people can try it out?
This parallels closely again the Zope story where Digital Creations kept
_very_ quiet about some major commercial uses of Zope, even as the on-line
developer community was clamoring for high-profile commercial examples to
help sell their bosses and potential clients with. DC were not making money
from Zope, [free+openSource] but they do make money with Zope, from
consulting contracts.
The lack of clarity, even a few well thought out paragraphs upfront- may do
some real damage I fear towards the commercial acceptance of REBOL. If the
strategy is not to promote Encap or to hide Rebol [Trojan horse?], then why
not directly address the needs of developers and their clients about
security/delivery/distribution etc.
Suppose one does not need REBOL/Encap but does need to protect code adn have
a clear installation?
Where is that scenario played out.. What does anyone suggest?
So what are the lessons for REBOL in this saga?
I believe REBOL/View is a killer toolkit in itself.
It is almost a killer app. But that is only the way designers and
enthisuastic developers look at it. The rest of the workld need books and
demos, and ones which are really simple to install. For some this means one
click, single executables, especially on Win32.
To bring wider spread public attention and gain some valuable evangelists it
still lacks more turnkey apps [Rebol/IOS??] and/or encap executables to
accompany.
If encap is NOT the a strategy and design philosophy then say so and say it
well. If it is crucial then make it accessible and promote it.
Rebol and RT are obviously a small smart dedicated group of people with a
wonderful technology. Time and resources are scarce for everyone and
hopefully in the coming months REBOL/IOS will make things clearer.
- Jason