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Light Table reaches funding goal of $200k

kickstarter.com

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Re: Light Table reaches funding goal of $200k

#41

Post by ibdknox »

DLwdTxdU6smHQA wrote: post #38
ibdknox wrote: post #2

I've been a little quiet lately as I've been working on the next demo before the end of the Kickstarter. Based on the reactions I've gotten so far, I think you guys are in for a treat :)

I'm excited that the goal is reached. One thought: I just saw your "We made it" blogpost via planet.clojure.in. May i suggest that you post it as an update on kickstarter? I think most people on kickstarter expect and enjoy when the project author "celebrates" the reached goal with them. In addition the news about the 2nd demo is remarkable. Btw any forecasts as to when the demo is going to go public?

Done. :)

It'll go out before the kickstarter is done. I'm trying to finish it up in the next 10ish days.

Re: Light Table reaches funding goal of $200k

#42

Post by jes5199 »

modeless wrote: post #31
Zirro wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I may have missed something, but I believe the point is to get it developed with the help of Kickstarter-money in the first place and then sell through the normal channels to fund future development. As incentive for backers, they most likely get away with a cheaper price than the one we'll see later when the first version is out for sale.

It's not entirely clear how it can require a license and be open source at the same time. I suppose we'll see how open it really is when it's released. But selling licenses doesn't preclude also having a way to pay for bug fixing priority.

I know someone who wrote GPL software and sold alternate non-GPL licenses - apparently (at the time, at least) some organizations had very paranoid lawyers who won't allow any GPL software to be used. He called it the "Sap" license. Those particular companies tended to have deep pockets, so this worked out.

Re: Light Table reaches funding goal of $200k

#43

Post by mattdeboard »

Nate75Sanders wrote: post #4

There was some talk of Python support -- perhaps if the project reaches $300K or something along those lines. Is there definitive information on this? How will the fund-raising proceed, in a logistics/mechanics sense if this is true?

Python is the next language targeted for support at this point.

Re: Light Table reaches funding goal of $200k

#44

Post by pessimizer »

Yesterday, as a last resort after a day and a half of unproductive frustration, I printed out a bunch of code from five or six different (too tightly coupled!) files that I was trying to refactor, spread them around my desk to get some sort of handle on it, and attacked them with a red pen.

Needless to say, I'm in for $50.

Re: Light Table reaches funding goal of $200k

#45

Post by jes5199 »

vibrunazo wrote: post #10

I'm complete ignorant at programming languages. But I've seen this video a few times, and it still seem like each feature are things I already do every single day of my life as an Android developer. Live documentation, organizing your work around functions, watching values and expressions change on debug etc. These are all things I already do every day. So suppose lighttable adds support for Android development. How…

the part where variables turn into literal values for a specific test case - that's something I haven't seen an editor do - is that a mode for IDEs that I don't know about?

I just imagined all the time I'll save by never stepping through with a debugger again.

Re: Light Table reaches funding goal of $200k

#46

Post by GlennS »

modeless wrote: post #31
Zirro wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I may have missed something, but I believe the point is to get it developed with the help of Kickstarter-money in the first place and then sell through the normal channels to fund future development. As incentive for backers, they most likely get away with a cheaper price than the one we'll see later when the first version is out for sale.

It's not entirely clear how it can require a license and be open source at the same time. I suppose we'll see how open it really is when it's released. But selling licenses doesn't preclude also having a way to pay for bug fixing priority.

As I understand it: the source will be freely available for you to download, modify and compile. But if you want some nice convenient binaries then there'll be a small charge.

Seems reasonable: you pay for convenience.

Re: Light Table reaches funding goal of $200k

#47

Post by zanny »

hkmurakami wrote: post #28
ibdknox wrote: post #2

I've been a little quiet lately as I've been working on the next demo before the end of the Kickstarter. Based on the reactions I've gotten so far, I think you guys are in for a treat :)

What's most exciting about this whole thing, is the prospect of a new and potentially, hopefully, more flexible mode of sustenance for software developers world wide. The initial financial risk of the develop first, market later model seems to be greatly mitigated by the kickstarter approach. The market can be validated in real terms, with real money , before a developer has to take the plunge. Striking out on your o…

I advise caution - successful funding does not yet mean successful product. The greatest threat to Kick-starter is the strong potential for projects to devolve into marketing drives for funding followed by people running off with the money, because they have no liability.

One of the big budget endeavours will fail to come to fruition, and the entire internet will throw a gasket, and then we will see if the model is sustainable without having contractual obligations from the fundee.

Re: Light Table reaches funding goal of $200k

#48

Post by stcredzero »

jules wrote: post #39
leif wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Red hat is a billion dollar company.

Then again Red Hat's value add is the support. Red Hat's business model is not to rely on its customers' altruism. There are various reasons to dislike such a model, especially for an IDE, not the least of which is that the point of a well-designed IDE like LightTable is that it's easy to use and does not require a support contract. Being a support company creates the conflicting incentive that the software should no…

There are various reasons to dislike such a model, especially for an IDE, not the least of which is that the point of a well-designed IDE like LightTable is that it's easy to use and does not require a support contract.

Lots of BigCo are paranoid about the support contract thing. Sometimes partners and investors want to see support contracts in place as a security blanket. In those cases, the support contract for a "well designed" IDE in your scenario is just free money.

JetBrains seems to do alright selling IDEs. In their case, I think people pay for the value, and they continue to pay for upgrades. Support is through the web, so it fits in with revenue commensurate with value.

Re: Light Table reaches funding goal of $200k

#49

Post by stcredzero »

jes5199 wrote: post #42
modeless wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not entirely clear how it can require a license and be open source at the same time. I suppose we'll see how open it really is when it's released. But selling licenses doesn't preclude also having a way to pay for bug fixing priority.

I know someone who wrote GPL software and sold alternate non-GPL licenses - apparently (at the time, at least) some organizations had very paranoid lawyers who won't allow any GPL software to be used. He called it the "Sap" license. Those particular companies tended to have deep pockets, so this worked out.

some organizations had very paranoid lawyers who won't allow any GPL software to be used.

I was working for such an organization a few years ago. On top of that, one of the founders would even post "anti-communist" rants against Open Source on the company intranet.

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