Revolution and the Web, feedback wanted, Part 1 of 3

[Brian Yennie]

> This is very much like trying to compare XCode to Visual Studio, or
> MetaCard and RR.  They are nowhere near being similar.

XCode and Visual Studio ARE similar. And MetaCard and RR are as close  
as it gets! Back to the original comparison, Google Web Toolkit and  
Morfik both provide frameworks to write AJAX apps in Java and export  
to HTML/Javascript. They are competing products... it has even been  
rumored that Google secretly stole Morfik's technology and will get  
sued. How can you possibly say they are not similar? How much more  
similar can you get when there is speculation that they are the same  
technology?

Speculation that they might be even closer than we think:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/31/0353229

Google Web Toolkit is also free, no wonder the Morfik guys are  
panicking. Either Google stole from them, or just stole the market  
from them.

> <SNIP>
> As far as Morfik being a startup, and you aren't comfortable with
> that, and you don't like the license, fine.  I understand where you're
> at.  I just don't think your position is typical.  Maybe I'm wrong.
> It wouldn't be the first time.
> </SNIP>

OK, fair enough. I certainly can't certify my normalcy, but I have  
known many other startup owners and they tend to be risk adverse with  
their platform choices. Maybe it's just my circle.

>
>> There's no guarantee that next year will yield 1.5. In fact, anyone
>> who's dealt with startup vendors over the years knows there is a good
>> chance that there won't be any new versions if they don't start
>> selling licenses ASAP. The fact that they are offering heavily
>> discounted licenses tells me that they aren't out of the woods yet.
> So you'd be more comfortable if they didn't have an introductory
> offer?  I don't get this.  Stores and restaurants that have just
> opened offer big discounts to get you in the door.  Automakers offer
> big rebates to sell you the financing.  Every service company on the
> planet from Comcast to Time Warner to Verizon to Vonage to SunRocket
> to NetFlix have introductory offers to get you to try their service
> out.  You think that's a bad thing?

I never said that an intro offer is a bad thing by itself. You are  
twisting my words (which are quoted above). I was just saying that  
it's another indicator that they aren't established yet - which  
implies risk. It tells me they might not be producing enough revenue  
yet to stay in business, which directly affects the chances of  
version 1.5 not happening. Nothing is for sure, I'm just estimating  
risk.

>> The fact that Morfik apparently outputs a custom .exe file with the
>> database and web server embedded sounds truly awful to me. So you're
>> saying I can only run this on Windows, it won't scale, it won't
>> conform to any normal Apache or Firebird documentation, I can't
>> upgrade the web server or database without rebuilding my app, and I
>> can't run this on 99% of the web hosts out there?
> Three words:  Flat.  Out.  False.

I quote, from their website:

"The output of the WebOS AppsBuilder - the WebOS application or XApp  
- refers to the tight integration of an embedded Web Server, Database  
Server, and the business logic of your application, all compiled into  
a single executable."

Or are you arguing that web hosts DO typically allow you to run huge  
custom EXEs with embedded databases and web servers?
Or that custom EXEs that merge web app, database, and web server in  
one file are scalable and/or upgradeable?

What part do you object to and why?

Sorry you are bored with this thread - I find it interesting. You  
seem to know something about Morfik, and so I'm happy to be corrected  
if I don't have some of my facts straight.

- Brian