I meant Richmond - though I do think the two of you would make a fine team of good cop - bad cop :)
On Sunday, May 10, 2015, David Bovill <david@viral.academy> wrote: > Thanks for taking the time to air this Richard. I generally agree with the > sentiment. I'd see much of this being resolved by redefining the nature of > the interface between LiveCode Ltd and the community. The diaogue is not > there suficiently. It's not there with regard to roadmaps, the on-rev > server outage, and the Kickstarter goals. > > You have my vote to be sent to Edinburgh to investigate and report back? > You speak the same language after all :) > > > On Sunday, May 10, 2015, Richmond <richmondmathew...@gmail.com > <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','richmondmathew...@gmail.com');>> wrote: > >> So, it is now some 2 and a half years since the Kickstarter >> which launched Runtime Revolution LiveCode as an Open Source >> project. >> >> Very many people contributed to that Kickstarter campaign. >> >> So it might be instructive to look at the following things: >> >> 1. How many of the goals have been achieved? >> >> 2. How many of the goals have not materialised? >> >> 3. How many of the goals have not materialised because they have been >> conveniently forgotten? >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> Let me pause for a moment to have a few thoughts about the nature of >> contracts: >> >> a. A contract is where a group of people undertake to fulfil certain >> promises in return for something else. >> >> b. A contract can be a formal agreement, often written down and witnessed >> by others. It can, however, be informal and >> mutually understood - based on trust. >> >> c. A contract is normally understood to contain several items or events >> that are to be delivered within a stipulated amount of time. >> Normally if those items or events are not delivered within the time >> stipulated there are penalties to pay. >> >> d. I would like to characterise the LiveCode Kickstarter campaign as >> setting up a number of contracts between Runtime Revolution >> and the donors to the campaign. >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> The best place to check on the goals would seem to be here: >> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1755283828/open-source-edition-of-livecode/posts/439754 >> >> where there is a hyperlink "Visit it now" - but that takes the user to >> the LiveCode blog. >> >> Here: >> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1755283828/open-source-edition-of-livecode/posts/415346 >> >> We can read this: >> >> "Delivery Estimate >> >> Reaching these totals means that we will start work on these items in >> parallel. Some of these items do have dependencies on other items being >> completed first (Pluggable Themes & Cocoa is essential before Windows RT >> for example). We'll work to deliver those items with dependencies as >> quickly as we can. We expect to be able to deliver everything within a few >> months of the main release." >> >> Which is, either intentionally or not, untrue. >> >> One of the Kickstarter goals was a new GUI: we still do not have that. >> >> Importing SVG files does not seem to work (LC 7.0.0). >> >> "Windows/Phone 8 with Theme": where is that? >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> Several times I have stated that I think RunRev are so busy racing >> towards "the bright new future" they are forgetting about >> a lot of other things. >> >> If a contract based on trust is broken, then one wonders whether >> participants in that contract should go on trusting the participant(s) >> who betrayed that trust. >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> I did not donate to the HTML5 kickstarter campaign for 2 reasons: >> >> 1. My funds are extremely limited. >> >> 2. Why should I donate to a kickstarter when the terms of the previous >> one were very far from being honoured? >> >> Had things been different I would have found money to donate to the HTML5 >> campaign. >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Anecdotal breathing space --------------------- >> >> Every 2 or 3 months the parents of children I teach English to pay me >> money in advance for teaching and ancillary goods and services >> [textbooks, pencils, fruit tea, and so on]. >> >> If I then didn't turn up to teach those kids, very quickly I would be out >> of a job and my reputation would be mud; as it would also be if >> I didn't take very great pains to make sure that my teaching is focussed >> and of a high quality. >> >> The parents of the children who teach me take a risk every time they pay >> me: however, it is a calculated risk based on my previous >> performance (after 10 years it is reasonably good). It would, however, >> only take one "cock up" to ruin that reputation instantly. >> >> Not very long ago I was walking along the river here in Plovdiv, and I >> saw a notice for a new EFL school, and wandered in. The only person there >> was a woman who I remembered seeing before in a similar situation 3 years >> before. I asked her how business was going, to which she replied that >> it wasn't. Subsequent "sniffing around" turned up that that woman had >> closed a previous school owing parents chunks of money two years before: >> she had, as one of my Mum's friends says "shat on her own doorstep". >> >> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> I am also tired of those who "sing from the RunRev choir" [RG, JLG, and >> so on] who endlessly seem to defend the indefensible at >> no obvious profit to themselves. >> >> What is needed is an itemised list of all the Kickstarter goals and >> stretch goals; when those that have been reached were reached, >> a realistic chart of when those that haven't been reached will be >> reached, and an explanation of exactly why RunRev have engaged in >> other projects before they have completed all those goals. >> >> I suspect that some of the Kickstarter goals have been quietly dropped; >> either because they have turned out, on closer examination, >> to be unreasonably difficult to implement, or because RunRev have got >> distracted by objects just over the horizon. These points >> also need to be addressed. >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> http://lists.runrev.com/pipermail/use-livecode/2014-April/200290.html >> >> http://lists.runrev.com/pipermail/use-livecode/2014-April/200853.html >> >> >> http://runtime-revolution.278305.n4.nabble.com/New-Visual-Editor-td4678215.html >> >> This last one is interesting as it contains a link to a page that DID >> contain the mockup for a new GUI, but RunRev have silently changed that >> so it is no longer there. >> >> It seems amazing to me that having received quite a sum of money from the >> 2 kickstarter campaigns RunRev seems not to >> feel some sort of accountability to the donors - a tee shirt is not >> accountability (especially if what is written on that tee-shirt >> is only a broken promise). >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> I have taken quite some time to write this, and the reason that I have >> taken the trouble is that, oddly enough, I both believe in Runtime >> Revolution, and have put a very significant amount of time and effort >> into learning how to get the thing to do things over the last 14 years. >> >> Had I come to it just before the Open Source Kickstarter campaign I don't >> think I would have bothered, and I don't think I would be working >> with LiveCode just now. >> >> Richmond. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> use-livecode mailing list >> use-livecode@lists.runrev.com >> Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your >> subscription preferences: >> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode >> > _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
