At this point, I don’t think it is a secret that Xojo’s worst enemy is itself. Without declares and Ptrs, this limits the capabilities of the application to only what they permit. Not only that, but I bet they still use a massive built with some other language dylib to accomplish functionality.
The better solution IMHO, would be to make a basic compiler that can handle prime data types and declares, then pad out the functionality using pure Xojo and declares. This should keep app size to a minimum, make it easier to work on and give their customers access to more functionality from the get go.
I’ve got a feeling in my guts that they’ll change the product name before too long, just to get away from all the negativity they created with “2.0 All The Things”.
Imagining the thought process, behind the next rebrand…
“We need something short and sharp like Xojo, that speaks to the future, whilst honouring the journey of our customer-base, and yet also, salutes our origin story in a way that rekindles our glory days”…
Ta da, drum roll…“HoboBasic” is born…
A salute to those developers, who having chosen to wait for Android, may by now be homeless…coupled with the nostalgia for the word “basic” that makes developers over 50 feel “real” again.
The tagline for “HoboBasic” will be “where the roadmap is the journey - not the destination”
The quirky t-shirt, “HoboBasic” | “Function Without Expectation”
Well meaning humour…I would prefer the Xojo concept to have succeeded.
Lots of people who frequent here would have loved to see the “Xojo concept to have succeeded.”
But at most every opportunity to encourage vocal members in “the community” Xojo chose to instead ignore their advice and subsequently ended up pushing them away
So they lost their good will and word of mouth promotion by those people
The recent SO survey points out how valuable word of mouth is when developers research new tools and tech
Losing those active, experienced, vocal boosters is a hit
JUST losing their voices is bad enough
But many have warned people NOT to use Xojo or start using it
In part thats because “We dont trust Xojo to prioritize the things that matter to us”
Heck, INN got started in part because of that
I really wanted to pay for Xojo Pro Plus to help, but after asking about the benefits, it just rang hollow. To reiterate, I was ok with paying $2k for a $800 product.
I just wanted to get bugs fixed. That’s it. But nope. Instead Xojo renamed a ton of stuff and killed Web 1.0.
In part I think the “we renamed it all anyway” even after the initial blow back AND long threads about the harm it would do was the final straw for many
It was perhaps the clearest “yeah we hear you but dont care” sign I ever saw
Another was kiting Web 1.0 with no real upgrade path. It’s like, whatever they have to move anyway. I just don’t think they thought about peeps moving ELSEWHERE.
I guess Swordfish was the first red flag.
I just wish I would have considered PHP before Xojo. I could have saved a lot of time, money, and stress.
For me it really started with the first beta release of the Xojo IDE. I realize that this was not the first iteration of it but many of the issues that I (and others) wrote lengthy diatribes about in the beta program, to this day, still have not been addressed. Can you live with them? Yes, BUT you shouldn’t have to.
Add in the lengthy discussions on API 2 and Web 2 and lack of Web 1 upgrade capabilities it just proved to me that no amount of reasonable discussion was going to change the direction of the company in terms of features and/or bugs that are fixed.
When I was told, to my face, that I was not representative of the overall user base was when I made the decision to leave. Here I am 3 1/2 years later and I have no qualms about walking away. I am sad because I spent two plus decades of my life using the product, promoting the hell out of it and trying hard to be a (reasonable) cheerleader and in the long run they didn’t give a damn about my opinion. It’s no longer my circus nor my monkey so the heck with them.
Absolutely! And like many on the bad end of the abusive relationship when you make the decision to end it the relationship is nearly impossible to save. I know for me I don’t think there is anything Xojo could do to bring me back into the fold.
Obviously if a job requires me to use the product I will. However, I will start the conversation early on why we should move off the product and start researching the alternatives. I did this with my last Xojo consulting gigs - said I had zero faith that things would get better and that they needed to find an alternative.
Some sounds here like the end of Xojo is there already. I will not connect to this train while it isn’t so. They stay alive at least they stay and sell their Software.
Is it usable? No, it isn’t. Is it stable? No. All of that we know. And all of us know also: there are also alternatives. And there is the key for all of the users which get to the borders of the Software.
While they can’t provide a running Software they can’t provide any help for the problems relating with it. Small team and too less capabilities to fix all the bugs.
So the target audience is an audience which needs only a very limited set of capabilities. All what needs more of it needs to rethink for another platform. So simple. There is no chance for more. Xojo is working as it is. Limited but working. And yes, you may reach the borders fast. For example in IOS. Or later in Android. Or in Web / Desktop- All of them having the same problem behind. Xojo is not a professional Software.
It misses a release strategy which is not deprecating the last version which is possibly stable for a new version which is more beta: half ready and that’s it. It misses a team for quality Management. It misses a Developer Team for Bug fixing. And one for every platform. Something I would believe it should be there for cross platform.
The promises are big. But behind the curtains it is not what we may believe. and the missing link is: we know it but we don’t really accept it.
So leaving xojo being Xojo and using a professional platform would help us to have no platform headaches aanymore.
I believe that they will be available for long. why not? Reduing the team size if it is not working anymore will let them even longer be available. No Problem. and at the moment they still have enough sales I think that they can stay on market. So why a question mark?
Sure there are many ways they could remain operating even if sales did crash
Borrow a lot of money to pay salaries
I’m sure a personal guarantee would be sufficient. Or liens and holds on securities.
Lots of options there a bank could use to secure a loan / operating line of credit
Could raise money through sales of shares to interested parties
Or other means
But none of those are viable IF sales crashed and they can be revived reasonably quickly
Personally I’d guess that @499 they’d need maybe 4000 customers at that price point to earn about 2 million a year
I will say this - I have NO idea how many licenses they actually sell each year - pretty much never did
BUT, IF, as they claim, they have sold many 100’s of thousands of licenses then 4000 doesnt seem a serious stretch (does it ?)
