An inventory of your toolbox

[Fairlight]

On Fri, Aug 28, 2020 at 01:00:32PM -0400, Jose Lerebours via Filepro-list
thus spoke:
> On 8/28/20 12:14 PM, Fairlight via Filepro-list wrote:
>
> > > While we cannot compare filePro to Python, PHP, JavaScript, C# or
> > > other popular languages out there has fpTech done too little too late
> > > for filePro to see another generation of developers carry it for the
> > > next 10+ years?
> >
> > I think the pool of filePro programmers is well under 300 at this
> > point, and shrinking with each retirement or death.  There is little
> > I think they could do to change the fact that the community size and
> > market share are both dwindling.
>
> http://pypl.github.io/PYPL.html

They're basing popularity by how often tutorials are searched on Google.
Talk about shoddy statistics and correlation.  I've looked up Python,
LiveCode, and Delphi tutorials as pre-research multiple times, and never
adopted any of them.  :b~~~

> What if they go "Open Source"?
>
> Some years ago I suggested a "free" copy of filePro be included with
> every LINUX distro ...  I truly believe that that would had given filePro
> a boost on user base.
>
> I seem to remember you saying that following the open source concept
> would not work because it would rely on donations and most people will
> not donate a dime - you had based this on some personal experience with
> something you tried but I cannot recall exactly what it was (this post
> goes back years).

"Who's going to pay for the developers' time?"

All of us have day jobs.  Jay and I floated the idea of an OSS filePro
years ago, but none of us have the time or energy, and without
remuneration, there is no incentive.  My days of doing things on spec
are -long- gone.

> Of course, it is easy to give away what is not yours!  ;-)

Indeed.

> The way I saw this approach was that may be, just may be, the next Ken
> will be attracted to filePro and look deeper into it and possibly grow a
> community of developers that would take it to the next level.  Of course,
> I am not talking about developers the likes of me, but more of the likes
> of Ken.

You're looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, based on
an emotional bias for your preference.  "How can we prolong the life of
filePro and its community?"

Here's the harsh truth:  If it's worth surviving, it will survive
naturally, without extreme measures.  It's natural selection in action.  If
fP Tech can't/won't make it happen from their end, it's nobody else's job
to make that happen.  If so many people drifted away, then it wasn't worth
staying with, in anything more than a subjective, emotional context.

It's the free market in action.  Pure Darwinism at work.

m->
-- 
Audio panton, cogito singularis.