Business Application Framework

[Richmond]

Kevin Miller wrote:

"The Business Application Framework is a framework for writing more 
serious applications in LiveCode."

Am I the only one who feels a wee bit insulted?

OK, OK, I know that I am a very small frog in the relatively large 
LiveCode pond . . . but I consider my /Devawriter /serious, even if 
nobody else does.

Is this statement to be taken to imply that only applications built for 
business are to be taken seriously?

Now a very large number of people who contribute [Hey, there's a word 
which might well be shouted around a bit; 'contribute' along with
'community'] to the Use-List and the Forums are involved in far more 
serious programming exercises than I am, if by
'serious' we mean programs that go in for really 'heavy lifting' - I wonder?

"If you want features for free then you can make them, or look to see if 
they are part of our extensive crowd-funded road map
and thus either being provided or coming shortly. If you want us to 
provide things outside of that then yes,
it costs money for us to make them."

Well, I am sure "it costs money for us to make them", but then, I don't 
live in Britain any longer and am out of the loop where everybody talks 
to everybody as if they are blithering idiots (saw a load more of this 
in England 2 weeks ago: hence this being written on the back of
a jar of peanut butter: "May contain nuts").

Now how are we simple folk to tell what are 'features' (i.e stuff that 
is to be "bolted on"), and what are just standard parts of LiveCode?

As far as I understood all the hype surrounding the Open Source drive 
for the Kickstarter the whole idea was that we would put money into a pot,
and then both that and any subsequent contributions, whether money, code 
snippets, or 'features' we authored would be rolled into
LiveCode for the common good of 'the community'.

"coming shortly" . . . um, Ms Gay . . . so NOT all of the items on the 
road map are ready yet; no need to look at the roadmap - Kevin has told us.

"Options like this framework, together with things like the technical 
support options,
might be a big help in getting additional value and productivity 
advantages from the platform."

"additional value" and "productivity advantages" are just ad-man-speak: 
we can all walk the walk and talk the talk if we need to, but those phrases
are ethereal and almost semantically empty. What the heck is a 
"productivity advantage" when it is at home? Do you mean things will 
move more quickly, be easier to program??? Well, if so, say so.

"might": first rule of reading stuff: never trust a modal verb.

"for now, they are aimed carefully at the needs of our more serious 
business customers."

Aha . . . so, presumably, LiveCode (the company formerly known as 
RunRev) held an open, and above board consultation session that was
properly documented with its/their "more serious" business customers???

Where does that leave the other business customers? The ones that, by 
implication, LiveCode considers foolish and lacking in the level
of seriousness to warrant consultation.

VCS has already been pointed out by Richard Gaskin . . .

"out there" . . . why do I feel that somebody somewhere is being played 
for a fool?

That fool is not me; I'm already the unofficial LiveCode court jester, 
and I am doing my "happy dance" here with my stick with a pig's bladder
on the end of it.

Oh, and I real wonder how "serious business customers" are going to 
seriously consider a message that uses such an infantile phrase
as a "happy dance" in it?

------------------------

However, I do realise that there are several things quite seriously 
wrong with me:

1. Every time condescending, arrogant puff comes out of the mothership I 
am incapable of keeping my mouth shut.

2. I am, as Andrew Kluth mentioned just now, a "fanboy" insofar as I 
think LiveCode is just about the best programming/coding IDE/RAD? 
whateveryoucallit there is, and it is a fantastic tool to introduce 
programming to children.

3. I don't have 25 million pounds so I can buy out LiveCode and boss 
them around instead.

4. I think LiveCode have seriously [hey, there's that word again] lost 
the plot in several important ways.

Richmond.