A fork can be done in a friendly way or a hostile way. A friendly fork would provide something (perhaps some niche feature) that Jsoftware themselves cannot, and would actively help Jsoftware benefit from the added use (perhaps niche publicity, perhaps core bug fixes).
There are a million ways to do a hostile fork as well -- not all of them intentionally hostile. I think their stance would have to depend entirely on how the fork is presented to them -- a simple neutral question isn't adequate to unveil the complexities of forking. This is my opinion, not Jsoftware's. On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 8:30 AM Dan Bron <[email protected]> wrote: > Are there any current plans to enhance the language proper, as opposed to > the environment, tools, and apps built on top of the language? > > Also, what's JSoftware's stance on a proper language fork: including > forking the dictionary, the source code, and possibly creating a site > parallel to jsoftware.com as a hub for this language fork? > > Please note, I have no plans in this vein; I'm simply looking for the > official position with respect to letting the community move the language > forward independent of JSoftware. > > -Dan > > ----- Original Message --------------- > > Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] home page update and Jd release > From: Eric Iverson <[email protected]> > Date: Tue, 12 May 2015 10:04:05 -0400 > To: Programming forum <[email protected]> > > Never occured to me people were reluctant to donate to Jsoftware > because they feared we were an evil-empire-mega-corp that used > donations to buy extra yachts for the owners! > > *** > The donate page tries to keep things simple: > > Jsoftware provides J across platforms and technologies, with a range > of support materials, and a web site and forums, all at no cost. > > In addition, the J community makes significant contributions in the > form of addons, wiki pages, and lively forum discussion. > > Jsoftware donations are a highly leveraged way to continue and expand > these efforts. If you are interested in J's future, please donate! > > *** > Jsoftware is a privately held company that has been in business for 25 > years. Roger Hui, Chris Burke, and Eric Iverson are equal > shareholders. Ken Iverson was an equal shareholder until his shares > devolved to the others on his death in 2004. J is a labour of love for > us, and I think that holds true for most of the people who make up the > J community. Donations are used exactly as the page says. > > Making money from developing free software is not an easy or lucrative > business. J is a niche and will never have the eyeballs to make a > living from advertising clicks. And we wouldn't want Ken rolling over > in his grave would we? > > *** > Is it relevant if Jsoftware folk are starving in a garret or smothering in > cash? > > If J gives you pleasure and enhances your work/career/hobby, then > isn't there an obligation, in this free software world, to pay a > little bit back? > > *** > I may steal some time from Jsoftware work I'd rather be doing in order > to enhance the web site donation page along lines sketched out above. > In the end it is just more unaudited words. You either trust Jsoftware > to be good and true or you don't. > > *** > This is probably enough discussion, but if there is more it should > move to general. > > *** > I enjoyed my little rant, so thanks for the poke. Always good to be stirred > up. > > On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 8:18 AM, Joe Bogner <[email protected]> wrote: > > I'll contribute a few cents of agreement to Jan-Pieter's comments. I > > agree with the questions in the context of donations. In my few years > > of using J, I've seen most of the development go towards the free IDE > > and the commercial (free for personal use) jd product. It's a bit > > unclear what is commercially supported and what is community supported > > because the key contributors (chris, bill, eric, and other I'm sure) > > all use personal email addresses. > > > > I'm sure everyone has something that they are passionate supporting > > J's continued success. For me, the most essential item is server > > hosting of the wiki and addons. I also appreciate and would be > > willing to support the android improvements. If we ran the risk of > > losing server hosting because of funding, then I think many of us > > would feel that call to action for donations. > > > > > > On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 6:33 AM, Jan-Pieter Jacobs > > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Very nice update, good to have some more accessible info on Jd. > >> > >> I do have a comment about the donation though. Myself, I would surely > >> consider donating, as I really enjoy J and it's little ecosystem. > >> But I imagine there are a lot of people reluctant to donate to an > >> organization which does not give any information about itself. > >> And a more visible "Donate" button is not going to solve this issue. > >> Some questions that might be useful to answer to convince people to > donate: > >> > >> - Who are the people behind Jsoftware? > >> - What's the organization's history? > >> - What do donations go to concretely (infrastructure, developer cost, > >> serving cost, development of new features, ...)? Especially because > >> Jsoftware does not seem to be a non-profit organization, clarity on this > >> part would be highly appreciated. > >> - Who are representative customers of jsoftware (of course with > consent)? > >> - What's the roadmap for the future? > >> - Does jsoftware have a mission? Values? > >> > >> A nice example I ran into is > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/FAQ/en . > >> Of course, Jsoftware is not such a big organization ( is it?) and not as > >> widely known, but it's a very nice example which lists most of the > answers > >> on the above list. > >> > >> Another thing I saw elsewhere is a "hall of fame" for donators like > here: > >> http://winscp.net/eng/donate.php . Maybe some companies / people would > like > >> some advertisement in change for a donation? > >> > >> Just my two cents > >> > >> Best regards, > >> > >> Jan-Pieter > >> > >> 2015-05-12 0:56 GMT+02:00 Eric Iverson <[email protected]>: > >> > >>> J home and help pages have been updated to include Jd (J database). > >>> > >>> Please take a look (you may need refresh to see new versions). > >>> > >>> Docs for the latest Jd release are now at the web site. > >>> > >>> Web searches for just J are problematic and other phrases have been > >>> used inconsistently. We'd like to encourage the use of the following > >>> terms for all things J: > >>> J language > >>> J database > >>> Jsoftware > >>> in context use abbreviations J and Jd > >>> > >>> We think it might be better to consistently use J language (rather > >>> than J programming or J programming language). > >>> > >>> A new Jd release was just announced in the database forum. > >>> > >>> Also note the ever so slightly more visible DONATE. Now would be a good > >>> time! > >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > >>> > >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
