Re: Open source WO - offer [Apple WWDC 2006 statement]

On 25/08/2006, at 7:13 AM, Marc Oesch wrote:

> Ok, here is the famous Apple statement...fresh off the Internet:
>
> http://lists.apple.com/archives/webobjects-dev/2006/Aug/msg01144.html

I *am* pleasantly surprised.

> I see two options I mentioned earlier:
>
> #1 The *positive* interpretation: Apple develops a super-duper WO 5.x
> or 6.0, ie. Apple can now focus more resources on WebObjects runtime
> sans tools..and implement support for old wishes (multithreads) and
> new things (AJAX and any upcoming buzzword ) faster.
> Apple is closely working with the community in the future regarding  
> tools etc.

Yes, Apple's decision could be taken positively (and a sensible one)  
since there was no real way they could compete in the Java-space with  
Java IDEs like Eclipse (IMHO).  Even not redeveloping EOModeler in  
Java could be justified because of the great open source effort in  
WOLips.  And I guess one could say the same for WOBuilder - it also  
didn't provide that much (besides nice integration, drag-and-drop,  
object hierarchy browsing etc).

> #2 The *negative* interpretation:  The statement is mostly PR to
> appeal to the community since Xcode is going away. Apple is still
> letting development languish outside of Apple and there is no major
> update coming. Apple can outsource costs without giving too much back
> in return..

Yes, Apple's decision could be taken negatively as just another step  
in their move to deprecate WebObjects itself (you can't do much less  
than they have been doing lately).   Personally, my gut tells me this  
is probably the more likely case.  We haven't seen a major update for  
years, the team it seems is quite small etc.  What has changed now?   
They may save some effort on tools but will they really be applying  
that to pushing WO forward?

> Only time will tell which interpretation is right - which might
> greatly affect the decision to make an opensource effort needed one
> day.

Yes, again, it's unfortunate we can't take Apple at their word.

Cheers,
Ashley.

--
Ashley Aitken
Perth, Western Australia
mrhatken at mac dot com
Skype Name: MrHatken (GMT + 8 Hours!)