I recently completed a Master's thesis at the University of Abertay, Dundee. It was mainly concerned with designing a new Graphic User Interface for computers (and may be read, in its entirety, on my website at http://members.maclaunch.com/richmond), and had at its heart a prototype developed using a version of Runtime Revolution. The reason I chose to use Runtime Revolution was based largely on the fact that I have 12 years of experience using what has come to be called 'xTalk' but when I started was called 'HyperTalk'.
While I believe that Runtime Revolution produce an extremely good programming interface that uses a dialect of 'xTalk' I have a major philosophical disagreement with them, of which many people who work with Runtime Revolution are aware, but may not realise the reasons for. On Friday 22 April I went to Sofia to the Webtech conference and listened to Richard Stallman for close on two hours. Dr Stallman's message was clear (and is well known in programming circles), and for the first time I heard somebody else say things that echoed, to a large extent, my own ideas. About 4 years ago I downloaded Runtime Revolution 1 and started to play with it; over a period of time I developed a wide variety of 'widgets' that I either uploaded to their user site or made available through my own website. During this time I developed a complete interactive CD-ROM for an educational company based in St Andrews (Scotland); my employer bought me the Runtime Revolution 1.1.1 manuals. In working on this CD-ROM I developed various bits-and-bobs that I spun off as 'widgets' made freely available via the internet. This culminated in my designing a complex extended toolbar for Runtime Revolution 2. At no time did I ask for any money for these contributions, and never tried to exercise any copyright control. This was based on the fact that Runtime Revolution was available as a free download that could be used in a relatively unrestricted way without having to pay for it. When Runtime Revolution released version 2.0.3 the company suddenly removed that freedom and beyond a 30 day 'trial license' expected payment. I felt betrayed and said so, forcefully; for which I was slammed, forcefully. I subsequently stopped making widgets I developed available via my website. I expect there are a large number of people who felt sad about the end of a free version of Runtime Revolution ? although nobody else went so far as to state that. What Runtime Revolution has done has ensured that their product will only be used by commercial developers (i.e. those who can pay), and stifled a whole section of the programming community who would otherwise have contributed to the growth of the product. For my masters thesis I used Runtime Revolution 2.0.1 ? the last free version. None of the free versions are available for download any more. John Richmond Mathewson. 27 April 2005 --------------------------------------------------------------- The Think Different Store http://www.thinkdifferentstore.com/ For All Your Mac Gear --------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ metacard mailing list metacard@lists.runrev.com http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/metacard
