A Philosophical Point

[Bill]

I thought John's comments were interesting. His upload of files is nice too
but I wish there was some descriptions both so you would know what file to
download and so search engines could find them.

In addition to the coding examples and help I also enjoy the various
conversations (Rev related) that occur on this list.


On 4/28/05 2:55 PM, "Jim Carwardine" <jcarwardine at hfx.eastlink.ca> wrote:

> I don't need to know this, John.  How is RunRev to stay in business if they
> don't charge for their product?  You of all people should know how much
> overhead is required to produce bug-free code.  RunRev could not sustain
> itself unless it turned open source and that's not the business model they
> are running on.  For my sake, please stay off the list... Jim
> 
> on 4/26/05 6:05 PM, Mathewson wrote:
> 
>> I recently completed a Master's thesis at the University of
>> Abertay, Dundee.
>> It was mainly concerned with designing a new Graphic User
>> Interface for computers (and may be read, in its entirety,
>> on my website at http://members.maclaunch.com/richmond),
>> and had at its heart a prototype developed using a version
>> of Runtime Revolution. The reason I chose to use Runtime
>> Revolution was based largely on the fact that I have 12
>> years of experience using what has come to be called
>> 'xTalk' but when I started was called 'HyperTalk'.
>> 
>> While I believe that Runtime Revolution produce an
>> extremely good programming interface that uses a dialect of
>> 'xTalk' I have a major philosophical disagreement with
>> them, of which many people who work with Runtime Revolution
>> are aware, but may not realise the reasons for.
>> 
>> On Friday 22 April I went to Sofia to the Webtech
>> conference and listened to Richard Stallman for close on
>> two hours. Dr Stallman's message was clear (and is well
>> known in programming circles), and for the first time I
>> heard somebody else say things that echoed, to a large
>> extent, my own ideas.
>> 
>> About 4 years ago I downloaded Runtime Revolution 1 and
>> started to play with it; over a period of time I developed
>> a wide variety of 'widgets' that I either uploaded to their
>> user site or made available through my own website.
>> 
>> During this time I developed a complete interactive CD-ROM
>> for an educational company based in St Andrews (Scotland);
>> my employer bought me the Runtime Revolution 1.1.1 manuals.
>> In working on this CD-ROM I developed various bits-and-bobs
>> that I spun off as 'widgets' made freely available via the
>> internet.
>> 
>> This culminated in my designing a complex extended toolbar
>> for Runtime Revolution 2. At no time did I ask for any
>> money for these contributions, and never tried to exercise
>> any copyright control. This was based on the fact that
>> Runtime Revolution was available as a free download that
>> could be used in a relatively unrestricted way without
>> having to pay for it. When Runtime Revolution released
>> version 2.0.3 the company suddenly removed that freedom and
>> beyond a 30 day 'trial license' expected payment. I felt
>> betrayed and said so, forcefully; for which I was slammed,
>> forcefully.  I subsequently stopped making widgets I
>> developed available via my website.
>> 
>> I expect there are a large number of people who felt sad
>> about the end of a free version of Runtime Revolution ?
>> although nobody else went so far as to state that.
>> 
>> What Runtime Revolution has done has ensured that their
>> product will only be used by commercial developers (i.e.
>> those who can pay), and stifled a whole section of the
>> programming community who would otherwise have contributed
>> to the growth of the product.
>> 
>> For my masters thesis I used Runtime Revolution 2.0.1 ? the
>> last free version. None of the free versions are available
>> for download any more.
>> 
>> John Richmond Mathewson. 27 April 2005
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>> The Think Different Store
>> http://www.thinkdifferentstore.com/
>> For All Your Mac Gear
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>> _______________________________________________
>> use-revolution mailing list
>> use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
>> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution

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