LiveCodeOnline [Was: Re: Rev Online]

[Richard Gaskin]

Richmond wrote:

 > Mark Wieder wrote:
 >> (notice that I succeeded in not mentioning web deployment, on-rev,
 >> RevMedia, DreamCard, etc by name)
 >
 > That list does seem a bit long.

Not so much when you look at the details:

RevMedia and DreamCard were just different names for the same 
experiment, an effort to answer the question of whether it could be 
profitable to give away a loss-leader on the low-end to drive higher-end 
sales.  After a couple of years it became clear that it wasn't, so the 
low-end product is now the Personal edition, and carries a license fee.

AFAIK RevWeb isn't dead per se, but hampered by some browsers' 
requirement to have plugins running in 64-bit mode.  The team has 
expressed an interest in making a 64-bit version of the engine, but 
given the product's long history and complex code base it's not going to 
happen immediately.  Whether the world will still find a browser plugin 
an acceptable solution by the time the engine migrates to include a 
64-bit version is anyone's guess, but in the meantime net-savvy 
standalones are a great alternative (arguably better in many respects), 
perfectly suitable for every rational organization in a position to use 
RevWeb.

On-Rev is still in business as a shared hosting alternative with 
RevServer preinstalled, and RevServer itself is kinda nifty and also 
remains available, currently at v5.0.1 (understandable that it's not 
using 5.5 since most of the additions are for the field object and 
mobile, neither of which is particularly useful on a server).


 > I wonder if those are not failures so much as good ideas that
 > were not maintained because people became so enthusiastic about
 > putting all their effort towards the next thing that they lost
 > track of the fact that once you start something (remember the
 > vast bally-hoo about Free RevMedia?) you need to maintain it.

Like HyperCard, where the last official public statement about it was 
from Steve Jobs at CAUSE '98 where he said that rumors of its demise 
were "bullsh*t"?  ;)

The free RevMedia was EOL'd, as companies do with products from time to 
time, hardware, software, cars, clothes, and everything else.  At this 
time that's the only item on that list that's been EOL'd.

You keep bringing RevMedia up here (four times this month?), but all the 
while Python and Quickly remain free, open, and widely available.

While the number of free software packages is growing radically, no 
creator of any work is required to give their work away for free.

When software is given away it's a gift, and if the creator of the 
software finds that they can't afford to keep giving it away that's 
their call to make.

Would it have been better to have never tried a free product like 
RevMedia?  Given the fallout here, arguably "yes", but then folks would 
be arguing that "you'll never know if you don't try!" :)

Kevin runs his company, and I run mine.  I don't presume to know what's 
best for RunRev Ltd., and he doesn't attempt to run Fourth World 
Systems.  I think all of our respective customers like it this way.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com