Geoff Canyon wrote: > In short, (putting it bluntly) why would anyone want to spend effort > maintaining/updating MetaCard's development environment when the > Revolution environment is also customizable?
Very different levels of customizability. For example the Rev license expressly forbids modification of the Distribution Builder, but modifying MC's has let me make a simple automated system that works exactly as I want it to. When it comes to customizability, nothing is more open than Open Source. So maybe a better question might be to ask "Why not?" There is a perception among many here that the MC IDE is useful. Let it be. It costs RunRev nothing to have three (Rev, MC, FreeGUI) or a million IDEs; they all require a licence key to get past the script limits. As Scott used to say, "Let a thousand flowers bloom." There are many benefits to the multi-IDE world we find ourselves in, for everyone involved: - Just as Linux has multiple window managers, the MC engine is powerful enough to drive an unlimited number of IDEs. Let people choose the one they feel most comfortable with. - Since RunRev only provides support for their own IDE, they stand to save money on support costs to the degree that folks use non-Rev-supported IDEs. - Open IDEs allow a level of design experimentation that benefits the entire community, but benefits Rev most of all. The alternative for Rev would be extensive user testing on multiple prototypes, which would be costly and likely yield less useful data than field-tested implementations. All IDEs have the opportunity to learn from one another, and as the owner of the technology Rev is the only one that can borrow from the others; they get free R&D. ;) So putting it just as bluntly, that there is a perception of MC's value is reason enough. If that perception changes over time the MC engine will whither away naturally. There should be no need to force change, and doing so would not have the liberating feeling of a choice. The current plan as announced seems to wisely take these factors into account, taking nothing from anyone and only adding new opportunities for all. -- Richard Gaskin Fourth World Media Corporation Developer of WebMerge 2.2: Publish any database on any site ___________________________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.FourthWorld.com Tel: 323-225-3717 AIM: FourthWorldInc _______________________________________________ metacard mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/metacard
