Re: new releases [was Re: Official public code repository]

[Stephen Kellett <lua@...>]

Tim Kelly wrote:
> When trying to pitch a solution based on Lua, or any technology, management decision-makers raise the 
>question regarding the long-term viability, especially against PHP or 
Perl.  It's perverse mentality, to be
>honest.  You state you are happy with Lua and suggest little changes 
will occur in the future
>(which is a good thing); management sees this lack of constant updates 
as a possibility the project will
>go away, or worse, ...

That doesn't make sense. Management (the type you are describing, at 
least) are pragmatists. They look for:

1 Proof that it works (others are using it, successfully)

2 Stability - no radical changes to language in the near future. Lack of 
bugs indicates maturity.

3 That nothing is going to change (technology, platform, licensing, 
etc), unduly, for the future (part of stability).

4 "Support" will be there in the future. Where "Support" means 
commercial, consulting, newsgroups, mail lists, ongoing development 
whatever is appropriate. No one wants to end in a dead-end.

1, 2, 3 fit their criteria.

For commercial products, then 4 is an issue, but Lua is available at no 
cost, with the source, so you can ensure that (4) is handled in house 
should the initial source (Roberto et al) disappear. So may be 10 or 20 
years into the future (4) may be an issue, should Roberto and the 
community disappear. But even if Roberto gets a job doing something more 
interesting, the community is still there to drive it forward. You only 
have to look at the other language communities for Perl, Python and 
Ruby. The initial guy is still there, but the community is ready to pick 
up the baton and run with it should they need to. I see no reason why 
that isn't the case with Lua.

I've just been reading Robert A Moore's "Inside the Tornado" which is a 
technology roadmap book. Excellent insight into what makes certain 
products dominate markets and other fail to dominate, even when they are 
good products. The main reason for replying to this thread. Your 
pragmatist managers understand 1, 2, 3, but fail to understand (4) is 
satisfied because they don't understand open-source means they can 
prevent failure themselves (where failure in commercial terms would mean 
Lua dies).

So, as a slight aside, I highly recommend a visit to Amazon/Barnes and 
Noble/etc to purchase a good book, which even if you are not a business 
owner/entrepreneur, may open your eyes to a different way of looking at 
technology decisions.

Without the aside, I suggest you explain to them they are misguided in 
their concern for lack of development (in their eyes). That is a good 
thing. As is the fact they can take it in house if they need to. You 
might also want to point out the use of Lua by large corporates such as 
Adobe (Lightroom) and the World of Warcraft people.

Stephen
(*) Yes, I'm overly simplifying, no flames please, I know its not that 
simple.