Re: [Caml-list] Smoke Vector Graphics: source code licenses for sale

[Gerd Stolpmann <info@gerd-stolpmann.de>]

Am Donnerstag, den 08.11.2007, 23:08 +0000 schrieb Richard Jones:
> On Thu, Nov 08, 2007 at 07:28:11PM +0100, Alexandre Pilkiewicz wrote:
> > Don't you think the worst problem for the industry is the lack of 
> > retro-compatibility ? 
> > 
> > Between 3.09 and 3.10 (a *minor* version number change), a lot of program 
> > using camlp4 stopped compiling. If a company has a 100 000 lines code (or 
> > more) to revise just for that, it could be kind of a problem.
> 
> Granted, it wasn't OCaml's finest moment, but both Debian & Fedora/
> RHEL are shipping the 'old' camlp4 (now called camlp5) along with the
> new one.  So commercial enterprises depending on camlp4 from 3.09, if
> there are any, shouldn't have problems.

There is another solution: continue to use 3.09 (that's what we are
doing at Wink) and wait until the problems in the external libraries are
solved. There's no real disadvantage (for us) - 3.09 is one of the best
versions that ever existed.

If the new camlp4 was really a problem for enterprises they could also
invest time in upgrading the code. I don't see any problem here since
they got the code for free. I've already upgraded stuff to 3.10 - it's
not really that much time, very affordable for companies. Actually, this
is the type of development that tends to be boring, and companies would
be very welcome improving the motivation with money.

Before this thread continues in this style: There is nothing wrong with
O'Caml in industry - all languages have their good and bad sides, and
industry knows this. We are currently seeing a very slow adoption by
industrial pioneers. All in all this is encouraging. For speeding this
process up, the most urgent things we need are people who convince their
bosses to try this "new" technology out. Where are all the companies
that jump at every trend, and that want to present themselves as the
earliest adopters of any stuff that is ever released to mankind? - I
think it is the right moment to advertise O'Caml in this way. Make a
trend of it. A trend does not need real arguments (this can come later),
it lives for some time by itself because people don't want to miss it.

I think we should stop throwing at every O'Caml error with the
industrial argument ("this and this prevents O'Caml from being used in
industry"). We wouldn't have pioneering companies if that were true in
any way. And saying this argument too loud could really prevent possible
uses in industry - evaluations are often not based on facts, but on
reputation.

Gerd
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