Where do we want LiveCode to go? (was "Re: Where LiveCode is Now")

[Richard Gaskin]

The question was: Where is LiveCode now?

It's in the 21st century, where proprietary software continues to thrive 
in consumer segments, but nearly all infrastructure and dev tools are 
Free and Open Source.

Compare and contrast:

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Python in the third most popular language in the world.

Python is a language engine only. It has no IDE of its own, relying on 
third-party tools.  It has no packaging tools built in for mobile, and 
third-party offerings are so scarce that there are fewer Python apps in 
the mobile app stores than there are made with LiveCode.  Even things we 
take for granted like having any user interface at all are treated like 
an afterthought, achievable only with your research into the various 
third-party options for such things, and your willingness to learn and 
integrate those add-on frameworks.

Python has many major players funding it:
https://www.python.org/psf/sponsorship/sponsors/

Python has a very active community, with few on payroll and most pull 
requests coming from the community.

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LiveCode has made it into TIOBE's Top 100 languages list, but currently 
in the lower 50.

LiveCode has similar platform coverage, but with a rich IDE, built-in 
mobile packaging, and GUI support that's not merely included but an 
integral part of the language.

While LC has thousands of subscribers for the proprietary editions, it 
has no sponsors as big as Facebook, CapitalOne, AWS, or Google funding 
it. Even among the many companies deriving significant value from LC, 
some of the most successful businesses using LC for internal tools often 
use the Community edition and make few if any donations.

The LC community has only about half a dozen community members 
submitting pull requests with any regularity (big THANK YOU to those who 
do), despite half the project, the IDE, being written in the scripting 
language everyone in the community knows and loves.

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In short, LiveCode delivers more, and does so with fewer resources.

In too many ways to count, comparisons between languages will always be 
unfair, and this oversimplified summary is no exception.  Details about 
history, shifting markets over time, and more than a little random luck 
play a role in adoption as much as anything else.

So I mean no disrespect to our scripting cousins using Python when I 
note how much LC delivers.

But I do mean to illustrate how much LC Ltd accomplishes with the 
resources at their disposal.

Rather than rebut the wealth of Dunning-Kruger inspired kvetching that 
has come to characterize a small corner of this community, or to 
contribute any kvetching of my own, I believe it's more productive to 
make choices about how we use our time which support productive outcomes.

To reorient, rather than ask, "Where is LiveCode now?", we might ask:

"Where would we like LiveCode to be?"

And when we have the luxury to choose how we spend our time, maybe we 
could choose to spend that time making what we want to have.

I would like to propose this forked thread be used to brainstorm ideas 
for how we can use time that might be spent on less productive outcomes 
toward having what we want with LC.

As good ideas emerge, I will do what I can in the role of Community 
Laison to help steward such things along.

But please, I forked this thread for a reason:  this is for initiatives 
to move things forward, to have what we want.  Please use other threads 
for other purposes.  I find across much of life that when I spend too 
much time focused on things I don't want, it stifles awareness of 
opportunities to have what I do want.

Lets have what we want.

"Make it so, Number One."


-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  LiveCode Community Laison