[Ocaml-biz] The tactical future of OCaml in 1 year's time

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Olivier Grisel wrote:
>
> Yep, we need integration, but integration doesn't mean arbitrary
> choices.

I think we need to be honest about the need to make choices to promote
business growth of OCaml.  In business, things have to work now.

> For instance, the IDE could be the promising eclipse plugin
> recently advertised on the caml-list,

The URL is http://eclipsefp.sourceforge.net/ocaml/  This is indeed very
recent.  The last time I went looking at Eclipse support, those efforts
were dead.  I'm a little confused as to whether this is a revival of an
old effort, or a new effort.  The announce on caml-list also says,
"Please note that it is still in early alpha, and not intended for
production use yet."

> But people who prefer working with cameleon,

The URL is http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/cameleon  My queries on
caml-list and the Cameleon list about it have so far fallen on deaf
ears.  This in and of itself says it's not ready.  In fairness, I just
posted on Cameleon list, so maybe someone will in fact get back to me.
There are only 27 people subscribed to that list though, so I really
have no expectations.  Does anyone here actually have experience with
Cameleon?  Is it within striking distance of "being ready for prime
time," in any hand wavy sense?

> Contributing patches to the maintainers of those projects is the best
> way to naturally make standards emerge out of the fuzzy OCaml bazaar.

I disagree.  I think we need to define the timeframe in which we expect
results, that we want to force certain issues by.  If Eclipse, Cameleon,
or others are waaaaaay outside of the timebound of what we want, then
from a business standpoint it is no use concentrating on them.  Rather,
look for OCaml business models that can actually work with the tools
available now, or that are just about ready to go now.  Put the effort
into getting those things to market.  Leave the R&D to others.

I know that my personal goal is to be making money with OCaml somehow
within 1 year's time.  I don't really have a tolerance for dealing with
anything more 'open source' or 'hobbyist' than that.  If I thought I'd
have to wait more than 1 year to make a viable business model out of
OCaml, I'd concede defeat and find something else.


Cheers,                     www.indiegamedesign.com
Brandon Van Every           Seattle, WA

"The pioneer is the one with the arrows in his back."
                          - anonymous entrepreneur