Calling all fish!

[David Bovill]

Don’t go , we love you :)

The open source version, is alive. It just needs maintainers. Personally I think this move by LiveCode is healthy. We now have two choices a free open source edition maintained by the community, and a closed source version maintained by LiveCode LTD. If you want to use the commercial wizz-bang extras LiveCode LTD adds - then you can upgrade.

In the meantime the language should go it’s own way. The language I believe has always wanted to be a free and open literate language, that enables anyone to code in an English like syntax. That vision was the foundation of the Kickstarter Campaign and was called Open Language.

I believe the community should maintain that vision. I for one am going to dive in :) I see this in two parts.

The first is preserving and maintaining the current code base. The LiveCode engine is rich and powerful. Using the current community edition you can create pretty well anything you want. Preserving this and strengthening the existing sharing of code, and documentation gets us a long way.

Second I feel we should aspire to something meaningful and motivating for the future of the language. This would be a long term vision, with a lot of learning on the road there. This is how I see it for myself personally, and of course I would love it if I had some company on the way :)

Open Language is something I know that is close to LiveCode Ltd’s heart, but it is hampered by the need to preserve the legacy  of maintaining complex and user-friendly IDE. That with the perceived commercial need to provide all the present abilities of the standalone builder mean that it is not a realistic proposition. However we can simplify by focussing only on the pure language as used by the server - this is a manageable task.

Freeing Open Language from this legacy is a good thing. When it is truly free it can join on equal footing the other great languages out there, and still hopefully remain compatible with LiveCode Ltd’s commercial offering. For me my journey is about mastering the tools that enable the creation of modern languages, and these tools have come a long way.

I’m heading on a family holiday now - but over the next two weeks - in discussion and with the advice of whoever is interested - Ill get a web site up for the project.

📆    Schedule a call with me
On 2 Sep 2021, 02:29 +0100, Bob Sneidar via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com>, wrote:
> It’s, “So long, and thanks for all the fish!” And unless you can do a double 360 back flip while passing through a smallish ring suspended above the pool, I remain unimpressed.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Sep 1, 2021, at 17:53, Neville Smythe via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > > On 1 Sep 2021, at 11:36 pm, use-livecode-request at lists.runrev.com wrote:
> > >
> > > i am not sure, if everyone is aware of it, but standalones that were created with the Starter Plan license will expire as soon as the Startert Plan subscription expires.
> >
> > Not even Apple is that rapacious.
> >
> > I used to have a commercial licence back when I was selling stuff (although the economics of software never made sense). Since retiring I have been “freeloading" with the Community edition as a hobbyist, my only LC uses being for personal use, and maintaining admin and operating software I wrote for a not-for-profit sporting organisation, and occasionally contributing bug reports. I can well understand the need for LC to move to a profitable basis, and I would be happy buy a plan if it made sense for our use, but there is no way my NFP association can afford US$1000 every year - or even one year (we would use 3 platforms, and not even the Server is thrown in with the desktop platforms). And a Starter Kit that means the app would stop working when I pass on (I have been around since Hypercard day 1) is an insult. Seems to me the hobbyist use of LC has come to an end. A great pity, but I guess times move on.
> >
> > I have greatly enjoyed being part of this (mostly) friendly and generous community for many years.
> >
> > Neville Smythe
> >
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