MC Book-other ideas

[andu]

--On Friday, October 04, 2002 11:36:15 -0500 Karl Becker 
<karl at karlbecker.com> wrote:

> Would a website with a database backend (the guy who made mctools.org,
> this would be a great use of those mad database skills ;-) ) be the best
> way to work this out, or would simply posting to some email list be
> better?  I almost think the email would be easier, since it would be more
> in-my-face instead of requiring me to type in some URL.
>
> I also am willing to forward my problems/solutions, as well.  I tend to
> think I have a pretty good grasp of this crazy English language, so I'd
> be happy to be an editor.  Of course, cutting/editing people's work is
> always a touchy subject, so everyone would have to know that all the
> editors are simply doing their job if they cut/rearrange an article.
> Editing isn't a personal slam, unless you have a mean,
> personally-slamming editor!
>
> Karl
>

This issue keeps coming up every once in a while and the outcome is always 
the same.
The need is obvious, learning from others' experience which is beneficial 
to users of all levels but particularly newbies.
The difficulty I see in moving beyond status quo (qvo in Latin) is the very 
nature of Metacard: close enough to Hypercard which had a huge following 
due to its ease of use and low price but expansive enough to be treated as 
a business investment and have a limited number of users. These users 
although very helpful on the mailing list don't seem to be the kind of 
crowd to invest a lot of time and energy in activities which don't present 
some possibility of profit, unlike the ones using "free" tools who are 
motivated and justified to "give back" since it comes with the territory.
Of course, these are generalities but the fact that after all this time the 
only 2 sources of documentation and/or tutorials on Metacard are whatever 
is built into the product and this mailing list despite requests for more, 
tends to enforce my speculations. I'm not counting tech support which is 
not free.
I believe the only hope for that much desired book or web site or database 
to materialize is for someone to see a profit at the end of hers/his effort.
The wealth of information and tutorials and free code users of perl, php, 
python, etc. enjoy will never be matched by metacarders unless:
a) Raney looses his mind or
b) Raney joins a religious group which is into giving or
c) Metacard becomes so popular (like Photoshop) that documentation for it 
becomes profitable or
d) Somebody puts Java where it belongs (in the garbage) or
e) Some other miracle


Regards, Andu Novac