[REBOL] Re: REBOL great but flawed => Fw: [Flashcoders] Request for Michael - Fo
From: greggirwin:mindspring at: 26-Jan-2002 14:28
Hi Jason,
Here are some thoughts:
> Rebol is great but it has several fatal flaws.
>
> 1. Lack of 400 Million Plus users
If this is a fatal flaw, REBOL is in good company. :)
> 2. Lack of strong and growing developer base
Hmmm. I suppose we could be insulted by that, but they are probably only
considering the view that strength lies in numbers, which we all know is not
the case. I could be wrong, but I think the developer base *is* growing.
> 3. Large security problem - Rebol applications can access the local
machine.
I have quite a different view than a lot of people here, and elsewhere. I
stayed away from Java for, among other reasons, the *lack* of access to the
local machine. Maybe it's because of my mindset, experience, and target
applications, but when I played with it originally, that frustrated the heck
out of me. I like REBOL's sandbox approach and I think the design choices RT
has made work very well. I imagine they have a slightly different design
target than some other tools but that's their call. If access to the local
machine is a "fatal flaw", REBOL is, again, in good company. Just because
you don't agree with a design decision doesn't mean it's a problem.
> It is a great application, but there is a high barrier to entry to the
> client side without distribution. For Flash, the market for the new
> version market lags 1 year behind the release date, it is a tough sell
> to require the download of a new flash player. To tell a consulting
> customer that an end user has to download and install something is often
> a death nail.
I can tell you why *I* don't want to install a new version of Flash (or any
version for that matter). I'm on a dial-up connection and the main use of
Flash seems to be animated splash screens that, themselves, take time to
download and provide no value to me as a user.
I'm used to building applications that provide a fairly rich user
experience. The effort required, lack of responsiveness and robustness, and
interaction limitations of most "no install required" approaches I've
investigated (and experienced as a user) has kept me very clear of entering
that camp. I don't want to work harder in order to provide a less satisfying
user experience just so I can say "no install required". That's my personal
preference.
Just my opinionated opinions. :)
--Gregg
