If you want to be provocative: What I think would be really interesting is for _another_ commercial company to step in and support some OpenLaszlo development. The things you want to do can probably be accomplished by the open source community, but they would be achieved much faster if a commercial company contributed money or resources to OpenLaszlo development in the directions you propose.
On 2010-06-08, at 08:00, Raju Bitter wrote: > Thanks, Tucker. And I hope my provocative posts show that I care about about > the technology as I do, and about the work of the whole OpenLaszlo team as > well. Of course, I'm not trying to "fork OpenLaszlo" here, or create a > competition to the work the OpenLaszlo team is doing. Turning the vision of > building mobile applications with OpenLaszlo into reality should be > community effort, where each community member who supports the cause should > profit from the work they do. And yes, it comes down to the idea of being > more independent of the Laszlo Webtop product development cycle as well. I > don't want to see another chance passing for mobile OpenLaszlo, just because > you don't have a Webtop customer paying Laszlo - and in effect you - to get > OpenLaszlo apps onto phones. > > With the launch of Android 2.2 - containing the Flash Player 10.1 for > Android - there's a lot of media and market attention on mobile Flash > applications. Due to the excellent work of the OpenLaszlo team and community > members it is possible to build advanced Flash 10 application with > OpenLaszo. I'm aware of the fact that everyone on the OpenLaszlo team would > be happy to have a mobile runtime for OpenLaszlo. There have been more > opportunities than just the Orbit Project in the past. I know there have > been discussion, maybe projects and opportunities I don't know off for > Laszlo to come up with a mobile story - but we as the community members > don't see anything happening. A simple example: Do a search on > OpenLaszlo.org for "mobile", and you get this: > >> Search results > > "Orbit" Project Frequently Asked Questions > > ... The explosion of information services delivered to mobile and other >> communications devices. This joint effort will result ... applications >> running on a broad range of devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs, TV set-top >> boxes, and printers. Applications based on Java ... > > >> OpenLaszlo Showcase > > ... and develops IT solutions that are both web-based and mobile. Their CMS >> platform (Platinum®) is built entirely with OpenLaszlo ... > > >> OpenLaszlo: The Advanced Ajax Application Platform > > ... include embedded runtimes in consumer devices, such as mobile phones and >> TV set-tops. Adopt OpenLaszlo today and open a new world of ... > > >> Sun / Laszlo Project "Orbit" > > ... applications running on a broad range of devices, such as mobile phones, >> PDAs, TV set-top boxes, and printers. Applications based on Java ... > > > Try a search for "mobile" on the LaszloSystems.com website: > http://www.laszlosystems.com/search/node/mobile > Check for yourself, one search result, dated Sept 24 2007. > > There is the iPhone app Bret and Ben built in 2007, the last "visible" > activity of anyone at Laszlo to try to build a proof-of-concept for a mobile > app: http://weblog.openlaszlo.org/archives/2007/07/our-first-iphone-app/ > > Yes, I saw some code for a mobile version of the weather app, but I never > saw any announcement that the app was released or on which devices it will > work. > > We still have the old white paper for download on the LaszloSystems.com > website, and there is this nice diagram in there (attached a screenshot of > the image). Current - in that image - is 2005. 2006 list the DHTML runtime > as beta, and embedded runtimes for mobile phones and TVs are shown as well. > When was that created, probably in 2005? Ok, 5 years later, where's the > mobile runtime, embedded runtime for TVs? I guess you get my message, and I > have to say: Laszlo as a company has failed to come up with a convincing > story for building mobile apps in the past 4-5 years - although I believe > it's possible to build OpenLaszlo applications with the current system and a > few add-ons (PhoneGap integration, Adobe AIR integration, good tutorials for > building and deploying mobile apps). > > At the same time I feel that the Laszlo management team has cut down on any > marketing for the OpenLaszlo platform, you haven't been presenting at any > conference in Europe in the past 3 years besides the the work I've done > unpaid in my free time here. And I haven't heard of activities in Asia, but > can't judge on that. I think it's mistake TO NOT tell AND SHOW people that > it's possible to build mobile apps with OpenLaszlo, and if the company > doesn't have the financial resources or willingness to spread that message, > someone else has to do it - unless we all give up on using OpenLaszlo for > browser AND mobile development. I've been working on a project for one of > the largest telecommunication companies in Europe, using Laszlo Webtop for > the project. I don't have any presentation material from either Laszlo or > the OpenLaszlo team that helps me sell OpenLaszlo as a both desktop browser > and mobile RIA solution. I'm not willing to create proof-of-concepts for > mobile apps for Laszlo unpaid, and then upload the content and code I create > to the OpenLaszlo.org or Laszlo homepage, in a way making up for the > marketing Laszlo is not doing. > > The best way for me out of this is to launch a separate project cooperating > with other community members - who have equally invested time, money and > maybe have build products based on OpenLaszlo - and turn the vision of using > OpenLaszlo for mobile apps into reality. > > But Laszlo as a company has lost and is still loosing a lot of credibility > in my eyes as a relevant player in the RIA space. 10 years, $ 35.9 million > of funding (according to CrunchBase > http://www.crunchbase.com/company/laszlosystems), no story for mobile > OpenLaszlo that is communicated in any way - would you call that a "success > story"? > > Technically OpenLaszlo, the compiler and the multiple runtimes are great. > The work you - the OpenLaszlo team - are doing is great, the mindset of all > the OpenLaszlo team members when it comes to cooperating with the community, > is really convincing. But you need to get the mobile story straight, ASAP. > If you think that it doesn't help you sell Webtop, well I can tell you: It > will! Create the ability to run Webtop apps, or views within apps as mobile > apps on smartphones. > > - Raju
