How Else to Interact with Browser (was Re:RevolutionWebBrowserPlugin)

[Marielle Lange]

> The forum frontend (http://forums.runrev.com/) is available for any  
> passerby to see, and it is a very quiet place... Hence the 'sadest  
> Forum I've seen' comment.

Many have used these forums to make the same comments :-).

> I'm evaluating several development options, some of which track  
> differently because the nature of some projects doesn't require  
> full blown coding which is easily covered by other apps. Other  
> projects do have that requirement, and I'm looking at least cost  
> (both in software and development time) and then plough through  
> with whatever options I have chosen.

Then your "fishing" for information/causing reaction behaviour makes  
sense. The different areas you poked are indeed important ones to  
consider when evaluating a technology to use in future projects (to  
depend on for possibly years to come).

As you are probably well aware of, the tricky question to answer with  
revolution is to guess where the product would be in 3-5 years time.  
Sure it is relatively easy to learn and rapid to program... but it  
also tend to isolate you, getting you loose your flexibility. Reduced  
costs now and possibly huge cost if you need to change your approach  
later on. Similarly, without a good components approach, you could  
get stuff out rapidly... but the cost of getting something out will  
remain about the same over the years. With a components approach, you  
pay a higher cost early on... but the cost progressively decreases.

> There will come a point, if that environment has not evolved into  
> what I reckon it should (call this bug fixes, features, take your  
> pick) I will drop it. This is my personal opinion, no better or  
> worse than anyone else's.

Six months ago, I expressed my concerns...

The old direction (heads, top guys) replied to these concerns in a  
way that got me to think that revolution will stay for the next 5  
years at about at the same place it has been for the last 10 years  
(including the various precursors) and despite having had a huge head  
start being taken over by other technologies.

The new direction avoided promises and asked me to wait. Not used  
revolution for 6 months.... Learned other technologies, other  
frameworks. I am now in the process of evaluating it again.

Nothing wrong with the questions you try to answer.... The problem is  
that I cannot answer your questions today... I have some elements but  
that I sworn to keep private. There are other answers I simply don't  
have. That's the same for most persons on this list.

If you have some serious business project in mind and a few features  
are essential to your projects, why not contact revolution's  
management directly and ask them whether there is any chance to have  
these features implemented within 1-5 years?

Marielle