FreeLists / 4d_rad / [4d_rad] Re: questions/licensing/analogies

[Michael Ginsberg <lists@xxxxxxx>]

> Unless I'm confusing you with someone else, I've noticed that you've been
> exploring RealBasic and Valentina? Any luck with either? Valentina sorely
> needs a decent front end. As for RB, I gave up on RB when it was not able
> to even count text lengths properly for text with Japanese in it. Might
> have worked if I'd used byte count, but if that's a sign of what was to
> come, it was enough for me to delay working with RB until a later version
> comes out.

Yes, I have been exploring other tools and RealBasic is one of them. 
I am very impressed with what RealBasic has to offer now, and what 
they will offer in the next few months.  If you have a specific issue 
with RB, be sure to bring it up to the support guys or send a bug 
using RealBUGs (an application), the support that Real Software 
provides is incredible.  I started looking at RealBasic as a way to 
make an API to Web Server 4D.  Basically, to have an inexpensive 
development system, that people can afford and use to write some 
simple code to calculate shipping charges within the eCommerce 
module.  Again, I am very impressed, what RealBasic has to offer.


> Incidentally, you were the Mike who wrote the Halloween letter?
> Hilarious, I thought. And when I saw all the humorless responses come
> flying in, I decided to sign off of the users group for a while. Waste of
> download time....

Yes, I am the guy who wrote the Halloween letter.  It was meant 
entirely as a joke.  As soon as I saw the responses coming in, I 
realized this was going to be a huge waste of bandwidth and people 
just didn't get it as a joke, so I posted a note letting people know 
that I did it and that it was a joke.

> PS: It would be really interesting to know what percentage of 4D users
> are severely affected by this. Is 4D really missing the boat, or is the
> gamble that well calculated? It seems to me that if there new products
> were not so full of bugs, people wouldn't hesitate to buy the upgrades,
> and they would make a lot more money, not to mention impress enough other
> people to earn themselves are larger customer base. Something about the
> company tells me that you might really get burned if you "turn to them
> for all your Halloween candy." As you put it, there are other houses in
> the neighborhood.

I think we can all agree, that 4D is an awesome development platform. 
Many of us have issues with 4DInc as a company.  Only time will tell, 
if 4D is really missing the boat or if this was a calculated gamble.

My only concern, is that I am guessing, I will never see a press 
release that says "4DInc reverses Engine/Internet Licensing 
Policies", I think that once they go down this road, they are going 
to stay on this road.  That is unfortunate (but I really hope that I 
am wrong).
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Michael Ginsberg                Internet:    MAILTO:mike@xxxxxxx
MDG Computer Services, Inc.     Web:         http://www.mdg.com/

Developers of WS4D/eCommerce, which includes:  shopping carts,
real-time credit card authorization, order and customer tracking.
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