Update from REBOL HQ

Greetings REBOLers, We've been really quiet. Sorry. Here's a hint - a rule - to use in the future: When we are quiet, it means we are working seriously on new stuff. This is a good rule of thumb. It was true for Amiga, Apple, Newtek, and others. When the team is hard at work, the silence is deafening. So, what's stealing our cycles? Here's a rough summary: Marketing Plan -------------- You've probably noticed some recent changes on our web site. We've got the big picture up there, but I've got a lot more to write about... What's the plan? "Take REBOL full force into the collaborative computing arena." It makes a lot of sense. REBOL was not created for just programming... it was created to solve a critical problem: the semantic exchange and interpretation of information. That's its root, its founding principle, and one that can be applied very powerfully in that new market. So, that's our war, to conquer real-time collaborative computing (RTCC). This is where we make our stand. If we don't grab it, you-know-who will. And, RTCC is even more personal, relationship- oriented, and social than other forms of computing... so let's not even think about losing this war. Plus, the other side of creating and dominating a marketplace is we can all live off it. You, as REBOL experts, will be able to get a job anywhere... and for good pay. Or, if you want to roll your own collaborative apps... you can do that too, and make good money in the process. Look at the thousands of jobs and new companies Amiga created. RTCC will be even bigger. Think about what you might be able to do to help. Write an article, tell your friends, sell the concept to companies, create useful reblets. Make it happen. Parnterships ------------ Recently, we've been spending a lot of time forging new alliances, and we plan to be making some big announcements over the next few months. A few of these partnerships might just blow your socks off. That's all I can say, for now. Financing --------- Wouldn't it be nice if we could just focus on making and selling products? Yep, would be, but the reality is that we need to grow at light speed to conquer the RTCC market and that takes more than just good software, it takes money. These days, money is difficult to wrestle away from investor's hands. VCs are acting more like bankers than venture capitalists. I expect most VCs will find themselves out of business, because they invested in silly ideas like dogfood.com rather than rebol.com and now they're panicky. I honestly don't understand these guys, but we keep at them, and if you've got contacts, send them our way. Development ----------- A lot is going on here. The team is very busy taking IOS Express from Beta 1 to 1.0. This includes new and improved GUI styles, a new desktop, networking enhancements, vastly improved prefs panel, several new reblets, and perhaps a few new natives for good cause. Of course, most of these improvements will roll over into REBOL/View because it and REBOL/Link will become one and the same. That's right, the same client program will be able to access not only the Reb, but also fully certified and authenticated connections to REBOL/Serve. In addition, REBOL/Encap, the package that lets you build your own REBOL encapsulated programs has been ready for some time now. It seems to take longer to get the legal paperwork correct than it does to write the code. More soon. So, that's our status from the REBOL trenches. We approach a new and undiscovered country. It's been incredibly exciting to use IOS Express over the last nine months. Doing so gives us a taste of the future and helps us dream and invent the applications that are just over the horizon. Onward to RTCC. Keep on REBOLing, -Carl Carl Sassenrath Founder & CTO REBOL Technologies http://www.rebol.com

On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 17:29:44 -0700 Carl Sassenrath <[carl--rebol--com]> wrote:

> When we are quiet, it means we are working seriously > on new stuff.

> Of course, most of these improvements will roll over into > REBOL/View > but also fully certified and authenticated connections to > REBOL/Serve.

On Sun, Sep 30, 2001 at 02:09:41PM +1200, Graham Chiu wrote:

> On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 17:29:44 -0700 > Carl Sassenrath <[carl--rebol--com]> wrote: > > > > > When we are quiet, it means we are working seriously > > on new stuff. > > No news is good news?

> > Of course, most of these improvements will roll over into > > REBOL/View > Does that mean we're wasting our time on working on P2P > stuff if it's going to be obsoleted soon?

Thank you for the update, Carl! Andrew Martin ICQ: 26227169 http://zen.scripterz.org

That's all great and needed. Sometimes it is a shame we have to play policy in our lives, just to make some things happen. But that's the world we live in and we have to face it. The greatest think about current Rebol situation development is, that we have many skilled rebollers here, who could write reblets and live the dream of becoming full-time rebol developers. Let's hope future will allow it ...

> Development > ----------- > panel, several new reblets, and perhaps a few new natives for good > cause.

>Now what you have for another front - technical fanatics? :-) > >- as for networking enhancements - async protocols are planned for 3.0, >which release date is not confirmed, right Holger? :-) So I expect some >"slight" changes/additions in rebol language level - some fixes of >protocols, new ones?

>- hmm, new GUI styles - slightly changed VID? IIRC there was skinning system >promised for later R/View release. Will we see it now? How about some >before next half a year RT silence is turned on us again :-) Am I correct, >Cyphre? :-)

>So, the last question - when the bottle of fine Ukiah wine is gonna be >opened? :-)

> >Now what you have for another front - technical fanatics? :-) > > > Before a 3.0, there's going to be a few other improvements as well... > But, let's not talk 3.0 right now. It's a big subject.

> >- hmm, new GUI styles - slightly changed VID? IIRC there was skinning

> >promised for later R/View release. Will we see it now? How about some > >styles/bug fixes, as mouse wheel support by default, resizing, windowing, > >alpha channel, fixed draw, timers etc., simply to allow some at least

> >media stuff to appear? I think that we need to start at another fronts

> >before next half a year RT silence is turned on us again :-) Am I

> >Cyphre? :-) > > Yes. Many... more, but not all those... yet. > > >So, the last question - when the bottle of fine Ukiah wine is gonna be > >opened? :-) > > It's harvest season right now... so, I'm drinking it directly from the > barrel over the last month.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Graham Chiu" <[gchiu--compkarori--co--nz]> To: <[rebol-list--rebol--com]> Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 7:09 PM Subject: [REBOL] Re: Update from REBOL HQ

> On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 17:29:44 -0700 > Carl Sassenrath <[carl--rebol--com]> wrote: > > > > > When we are quiet, it means we are working seriously > > on new stuff. > > No news is good news? >