Re: What would happen if...

"JShrager@xxxxxxxxx" <JShrager@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

Someone paid to have one of the commercial Lisps open sourced?
How much would this cost?
Then someone paid to have the Lisp libraries modernized to CPAN(etc)
standards?
How much would this cost?
Then someone paid to do something like Rails in the foregoing new
modernized OS Lisp?
How muh would this cost?


Well, how long is a piece of string....

I don't quite understand the motivation/thoughts underlying this question. What
would be the advantage of paying (probably a lot) to have a commercial lisp
made into open source compared to putting that money into developing/expanding
an existing open source version?

If the objective is just to try and have a rails like app, why not just do that
with one of the existing open source lisps?

Rails has obtained quite a lot of interest and having looked at it, its quite
nice. There are some aspects of it that I don't think quite work, at least not
for the way I like to design and build web apps, but it does feel better to use
than other web development frameworks I've used. In particular, it does show
how easily you can build quite sophisticated web apps without having the
complexities associated with other models, such as Java beans etc, which seem
to have way to much overhead for all but the most complex of applications.

However, I'm not sure there is anything technical stopping someone from
developing an similar (maybe even better) framework using one of the existing
open source or commercial CL implementations. At least I'm not aware of
anything in a commercial implementation which would facilitate this over an
open source implementation.

I think the limitation or reason we don't have such a framework (noting that
some may argue we actually already do given the libraries and projects working
in this area) is more related to not having someone who has both the creative
ability, CL skill and the idea for some web app which fills a perceived need at
just the right time for the market to accept it (i.e. a BaseCamp equivalent).
It may even be a mistake to try and develop a rails competitor at this time.
Anything that tries to do the same sort of role as rails is going to just be
seen as an attempt to jump on the band wagon or ride on the coat tails of ruby
and rails and being done in CL is unlikely to gain any real support or get past
the FUD out there concerning lisp.

If on the other hand, someone came up with a truely original idea which has a
superior implementation that is largely due to being written in CL and it is
supported by some app that fills a real need that isn't being adequatly
addressed already - well then, just maybe.....




--
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au
.

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