The problem as I see it Tony is twofold.

1) By having to pay for something as elemental as language bindings, you
are effectively limiting U2 to already established companies. Why would
a start-up pay to experiment with U2 when there are better supported
*free* development stacks with larger communities? It doesn't make
sense. That's why U2 is limited and won't grow beyond the small
community that already uses it.

2) Is it really that easily fixed without Rocket? How do create a
language binding for U2 without several issues. Firstly, UniObjects is a
bad interface on a security level (really, if I need to call a
subroutine, the port allows them to run ECL commands as well? Is this
1980?), so building a binding on top of that is a horrible idea if you
intend it to be widespread. So if not UniObjects, what? Native phantoms
cannot fork so we cannot have an effective service running without an
external OS dependent multiplexer in between. Yes, I can see people be
lured by a DB that requires you to not only set it up, but also another
service separated (and downloaded separated) just to use their language
of choice when MySQL and brethren are supported out of the box. 

It isn't a matter of what you *can* do, it is how easily and effective
you can do it compared to the other available stacks. When I develop in
my free time where I don't have access to work's systems, why would I
bother with U2 where I have to build not only the tool chain myself, but
also the language bindings (or pay for them) when I can fire up CakePHP
+ MySQL where all already exists, is well documented, large support
communities and it is easy to find other developers already skilled in
it.

Don't get me wrong though, I completely respect that you cannot always
offer the toil of hours for free. It shouldn't be an issue with basic
development tools though, why should we, as a community, build the
toolset for a vendor to ultimately profit from? That's where Rocket's
responsibility comes in. Their product, their prerogative as to whether
they simply support the existing status quo or actively enable new
players to enter the and expand the market space.


-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tony Gravagno
Sent: Thursday, 3 February 2011 7:34 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [U2] What do you do with CallHTTP?

> From: Steve Romanow
> Look at the number of language bindings for most db's.  U2 has
2, and
> they are ok, but only 2.  MongoDB has like 10-20.

That problem is easily fixed technically.  Language bindings don't need
to come from the DBMS vendors.  And let's face it, they aren't that
creative and they don't want to invest too much unless they see tangible
returns in terms of license sales.  So this like other projects will
have to be a community undertaking anyway, as it is with every other
platform out there.  I've already started this project actually, and run
it by some respected community members to validate the concept.

As always, the problem is that projects like this, for the good of
everyone, tend to fall on the few who often can afford it the least.

I'm going to use "I" and "me" below, but this applies to anyone in this
market who does free development as a community service.
There are a lot of us here.

I create things like language bindings because I think it's cool and
because it will help our market.  In the mean time there are people
fearing for loss of their jobs because their platform of choice is too
obscure and missing language bindings (for example) that are common
everywhere else.  Demand/motivation and supply/desire in this market
must learn to meet in the middle.

I know if I solicit donations so that I can pay my mortgage while
providing you (collectively) with something that will increase the value
of your platform, I'll be shunned for trying to sell yet another product
(what a concept *sigh*).  The public outcry will be deafening "but it
should be FREE", implying of course that someone else should do the work
for free for everyone's benefit, like it is (supposedly) in the rest of
the world.  With no motivation, this project that has been in the queue
for about two years, will remain on the bottom of the TODO list, and may
never get finished.

(Personal note:  And for anyone who thinks I only do things for-fee,
look for my name at Codeplex, Sourceforge, github, and elsewhere.  I do
contribute to FOSS, and I contribute freeware to this market as well.
But when my free time translates to someone else's profitability or
continued employment, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for
something in return.  Generous does not equal stupid.)

But if neither I nor anyone else does this (for free or fee), the net
result will be that some years later people will still be lamenting in
forums that such things don't exist and that it should all come from the
DBMS vendors.  Nothing will change.
I've been saying that for years and here we are - nothing has changed.
That fundamental mindset is really what cripples this market.  That's
also what doesn't change.  It's not a lack of communication tools,
language bindings, admin utilities, or other things people mention
occasionally.  If people attach value to things they say are valuable to
them, this market may actually move forward a little.

Tony Gravagno
Nebula Research and Development
TG@ remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com
remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com/blog
Visit PickWiki.com! Contribute!
http://Twitter.com/TonyGravagno

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