"Just in case...": a suggestion

[David Bovill]

Adopting a core technology such as a programming language is a major
investment. Most people qualify the risk of this investment by going
with the big-boys - just in case.


On Thu, 2003-07-10 at 05:12, Chipp Walters wrote:

> Dan, most excellent point! This is and should be a huge concern for those of
> us out there using RR technology as a basis for our products. And,
> subsequently one of the main reasons I decided to invest in RR. In fact, I
> encourage others to do the same, because being a shareholder does give you a
> level of access to the management team. Not that I'm involved in any
> decision making, but it's nice to know where things are heading ;-)
> 
> >
> > 2. When big companies acquire small ones for their technology,
> > they most often botch it up or bury it. OracleCard, which is what
> > Oracle turned PLUS into, was a fantastic, dynamite product. But
> > its price tag was necessarily low, profit margins modest, and
> > demand for it anemic. Eventually, Oracle cut it loose. I spent a
> > lot of time developing OracleCard apps and writing about it. All
> > that time went down the toilet except for what I learned that
> > turns out to be useful elsewhere.
> 
> Yes, agreed. My hope is that such a deal would involve creating some support
> for legacy users. In fact, I would hope RR makes some sort of public
> statement about the future of the technology 'just in case.'
> 

Spot on mate :)   How about this for a suggestion from the "community"
to the new dynasty?


	Just in case the little guys go bust: agree to open source the engine.


Better still:  

	Just in case the little guys are acquired by the big guys: agree to
open source the engine.


If anyone followed what happen to the Blender 3D community - you'd have
seen the first time an online community "bought out" the core technology
- raising $100,000 in a few months to open source the engine.

Such a guarantee would instill confidence. It would be a first. It would
be a real revolution :)