From: Conrad Schneiker <schneiker@...>
Date: 2001-10-24T06:07:11+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:23092] Re: SmallScript, etc (was: Re: I need some help!!)

Hi,

"Robert Feldt" <feldt@ce.chalmers.se> wrote:

> On Tue, 23 Oct 2001, Conrad Schneiker wrote:
[...]
> > "Phil Tomson" <ptkwt@shell1.aracnet.com> wrote:
> >
> > > In article <j7ZA7.55709$gT6.28530023@news1.rdc1.sfba.home.com>,
> > > David Simmons <pulsar@qks.com> wrote:
> >
> > [Lots of stuff trimmed out.]
> >
> > > >The SmallScript VM (AOS Platform) will be free.
> > >
> > > Will it be 'free' as in the source code will be available?
> > > If not, can you help out with the development of Rite? ;-)
> >
> > Well, this is a real long shot, but how much money would we have to
> > (somehow) raise to make it worthwhile for David to open source his VM?
> >
> Creative idea even though it may be difficult to put a price tag on it
> since the potential is very large (esp. with the .NET coupling) but there
are
> many uncertainties/risks. Doesn't mean one couldn't try though.
>
> > A somewhat related (fundraising/marketing) question is, Would it be
> > substantially advantageous for Perl 6 and Python to use his VM if it
were
> > available as open source?
> >
> Interesting since there is power (and money!) in numbers and the
> Perl/Python user bases are huge.

Exactly. And Perl's OO guru is now funded by user/corporate donations.

> For Perl 6 no one knows of the
> benefits (since its not designed yet)

More correctly, the design is not _completed_ yet. In terms of determining
requirements, they are pretty far along. I think those involved already have
a pretty good idea of what sorts dynamic OO capabilities are needed under
the covers.

> and Python very probable
> (I'm not very with Pythons details though).
>
> Apart from money there might be other incentives (fame etc.).

This would be true (in various ways) for large corporate (or even national)
donors--but not for the original developer and his key business asset
(besides his brain, that is).

> And it would
> probably be a good idea to raise enough funds for the communities to hire
> David to develop and adapt it.

Agreed.

> But dont you think there will be NIH effects to consider?

Sure, but they might be outweighed by the many potential advantages of an
existing, solid, and powerful common platform (including subsequently shared
work on enhancements, porting, and other efforts).

Conrad
(crossposting from comp.lang.ruby)