Other It's time to grow

[Erel]

I’m very proud in the continuing progress of B4X tools. I’m also very proud to be part of this amazing developers community.

In the last couple of years, I have a growing feeling that B4X tools do not realize their potential. While there are all kinds of development tools, B4X offers a unique set of features: simple, powerful, mature, great community, RAD, native, cross platform and more.
B4X tools are an excellent choice for a wide range of real-world use cases.

So, the question is how to make B4X more popular? Obviously, it is not a simple nor a short-term task.
A clear growth barrier is the fact that unlike most development tools today, B4A and B4i are not free. This wasn’t the case 10 years ago.

The big announcement today is that B4A will become free in a few weeks. The framework - set of internal libraries, will be open sourced.

We will accept contributions for B4A like currently done with B4J.
We've also secured funds from a US investor who shares my vision of making B4X a popular development tool. These resources will allow us to further expand.

How can you help?

Help us spread the word about B4X.

 

[rabbitBUSH]

Wow! At first I had to chew a little on it. Was it good news or was it bad news?

My thought exactly ... Maybe i was wrong i thought it was free BUT one paid for the updates and upgrades.

My fear would be about that contract with an investor - investors eventually expect a return on the investment - watch that contract Erel.

there again this is @Erel's return on his investment, .

Having been a one-man band all the time since you started has most likely hampered your growth.

I have been one to comment about HOW DOES EREL keep up with all this, and develop B4X further, so maybe some more time with the family is in the future.

Maybe @Erel's assistant can get a few Shekels now as well.......

best wishes @Erel

 

[rabbitBUSH]

May this new phase of B4A's life be one of fulfillment and wonder!
Long live Erel and B4A!

and, yet, having finally come to the end of this thread : there are a number of negative outlooks about "the adventure" being over.

@LucaMs wished the investor well as well......

Lets just wait and see can't be ANYONE in this forum whose more nervous and apprehensive about all this than @Erel

Although, @Erel has acquired an outside PRIVATE investor : Hey, isn't that how Google started?

The only way this goes wrong is if corporatisation creeps slowly in ..... Doesn't seem to be @Erel's style so far ......

go with the flow folks go with the flow

And, incidentally, this isn't the south african democracy - Erel didn't have to consult anyone . . . business is rarely successfully based in democracy it succeeds through transparency.

[edit]
I just remembered this : was it prophetic?

the great thing about this forum and B4X, in general, is that the participants attitude to tools, methods and techniques is OPEN SOURCE, {well, granted, some request donations} while, quite appropriately, retaining their claim to the resultant products. that is fresh air after a lifetime of working world garbage......

 

[Alberto Iglesias]

I’m very proud in the continuing progress of B4X tools. I’m also very proud to be part of this amazing developers community.

In the last couple of years, I have a growing feeling that B4X tools do not realize their potential. While there are all kinds of development tools, B4X offers a unique set of features: simple, powerful, mature, great community, RAD, native, cross platform and more.
B4X tools are an excellent choice for a wide range of real-world use cases.

So, the question is how to make B4X more popular? Obviously, it is not a simple nor a short-term task.
A clear growth barrier is the fact that unlike most development tools today, B4A and B4i are not free. This wasn’t the case 10 years ago.

The big announcement today is that B4A will become free in a few weeks. The framework - set of internal libraries, will be open sourced.

We will accept contributions for B4A like currently done with B4J.
We've also secured funds from a US investor who shares my vision of making B4X a popular development tool. These resources will allow us to further expand.

How can you help?

Help us spread the word about B4X.

and about B4i? this become free too?

 

[rabbitBUSH]

Could you explain this in more detail please.......

just noticed a typo in my original message as quoted by Syd Wright

best wishes @Erel ::: should have been best wishes TO @Erel : apologies if any confusion about who made the comments above that in the my post ......

 

[Johan Hormaza]

and about B4i? this become free too?

No

 

[Erel]

Open Source to my impression means that developers can contribute to the core sourcecode.

Open source can mean many things. When I write open source it means that developers have access to the source code with a clear license that allows them to use the source code in all kinds of ways.
It doesn't mean that developers can commit updates to Anywhere Software repository. It also doesn't mean that Anywhere Software is no longer the owner of the source code.
It just means that we provide you a copy of the source code.

 

[kisoft]

Open source can mean many things. When I write open source it means that developers have access to the source code with a clear license that allows them to use the source code in all kinds of ways.
It doesn't mean that developers can commit updates to Anywhere Software repository. It also doesn't mean that Anywhere Software is no longer the owner of the source code.
It just means that we provide you a copy of the source code.

Open source...What do you want to achieve by making the source code available to everyone?

 

[Erel]

What do you want to achieve by making the source code available to everyone?

I've answered it a few pages back
It gives developers more control on their solution. The closed source can discourage developers from building their solutions with B4X.

 

[William Lancee]

Many times I wanted to know how @Erel achieves his magic effects. Source code would be very helpful.

 

[walterf25]

Wow @Erel thanks you so much, this is the best wedding anniversary gift i've received so far this is such good news.

Walter

 

[Unobtainius]

I wish you success @Erel in your new direction.
I have always wondered if you ever sleep. To me you are a god amongst men. Providing this outstanding programming language and unrivaled support environment is a massive accomplishment.

I do feel sorry for developers using other tools. Maybe now we can free their minds

 

[Fredy Rodriguez]

It's great news, if the project continues as it works now I fully support it, thanks @Erel

 

[miker2069]

Any change involves risks, however not changing anything is sometimes even riskier. This is especially true for a technology based business.
I believe that this is the right step to assure that B4X will continue to prosper for many years to come.

Overall Erel - you're an amazing developer and I will be cheering for Anywhere Soft and B4X future success! I'm not going anywhere either, in fact I've been meaning to try my hand at a few ESP32 and B4R articles.

 

[mcqueccu]

By the close of the week this thread will have more than 1000 post

 

[Erich]

I have a kind of stupid question. I bought B4A under the old name many years ago and never used it. By sheer coincidence, I have a bought a new powerful phone last week and was thinking about buying B4A at a reduced fee today (the link in an email I once got still gives me 40% reduction). Does this announcement mean that if I wait a few weeks I get the same for free as what I'd buy now? Or will I get something more if I buy it now, like a "pro version"?

I'm not particularly floating in money, so I'd rather not waste it... but I'd also like to get started again on Android development as soon as possible. I was thinking about Kotlin, but as a former RealBasic programmer and someone who mostly uses Go now, I'm thinking that B4A might be a good choice for me.

Any advice?

 

[Eme Fibonacci]

I always thought that b4x should be on higher place.

It seems that it is time to grow up.

I once wrote on the wish list:

A store to sell b4x apps/code/libraries.
A cloud service to host b4j server applications.
Cloud services to integrate with b4x apps.

I believe this features can increase b4x popularity

Maybe this will happen with the new approach.

 

[Cableguy]

I have a kind of stupid question. I bought B4A under the old name many years ago and never used it. By sheer coincidence, I have a bought a new powerful phone last week and was thinking about buying B4A at a reduced fee today (the link in an email I once got still gives me 40% reduction). Does this announcement mean that if I wait a few weeks I get the same for free as what I'd buy now? Or will I get something more if I buy it now, like a "pro version"?

I'm not particularly floating in money, so I'd rather not waste it... but I'd also like to get started again on Android development as soon as possible. I was thinking about Kotlin, but as a former RealBasic programmer and someone who mostly uses Go now, I'm thinking that B4A might be a good choice for me.

Any advice?

Since you are a Licenced User (This is Erels way of knowing and letting us know that at some point in time you bought a B4A or B4i licence) I would present my (your) case in an e-mail directly to Erel ( I guess the address is in the e-mail you received).
Erel usually is a very responsive, comprehensive and aware guy.

 

[kisoft]

There is no point in discussing whether it has become good or bad.

When the free version of B4A is released, I will write an article in a certain industry newspaper and disseminate news on all forums and social media in my country. At least that's all I can do for Eryl in thanks for the wonderful work.

 

[Toky Olivier]

Thank you @Erel.
God bless you and your family!

 

[Didier9]

Wow, very nice! I hope this will allow B4X to fulfill its potential and become what it deserves to be. I personally have been totally amazed at what Erel and his team have done. When I initially subscribed, I had no idea it would lead me where I am now.

For those who have a minute, here is my B4A success story.

I develop embedded systems. Professionally as an employee of a large defense contractor and as a consultant for a local small business. Because two jobs are not enough, I also write code (and B4A apps) as a hobby.
Most of the systems I develop for the local business are controllers for training tools that are remotely controlled via radio modules using either a PC (talking to the radio via serial port) or a remote control unit that uses another micro-controller.

Some time ago, my customer asked me to replace the remote control module with a smartphone or tablet for "improved customer experience" Since the radios I use have over a mile range and do not support WiFi or Bluetooth, I designed a bridge module intended to go between a WiFi controlled device and the radio module and I wrote a PC application to demonstrate that the bridge worked via WiFi. I then told my customer to find someone to write an Android app that would do what the PC app did via WiFi or Bluetooth as at the time I had no interest in doing it myself (I had tried the official Google tools and did not like it). My customer contracted a large company that is in the custom app writing business (name shall remain undisclosed to protect the incompetent), I gave the contractor the source code of the PC app and all information about the protocol.

Four (yes, four) months later, the contractor provided a prototype app that, while kinda sorta working, was so embarrassing (very clumsy and terrible latency) that I felt I could not leave my customer dependent on that so I went back searching for a tool, found B4A, downloaded the demo and two days later I had an app that worked 1000% better than the one he got from the contractor. It took my customer about 50 microseconds to fire the contractor and I found myself with a new job... Personally, I could not believe how easy it had been, from absolutely 0 experience with Android other than as a phone user. 100% of the credit goes to Erel for a fantastic tool and the wonderful forum users for their generosity.

I have now written half a dozen B4A apps for this customer and a number of other ones. My customer is ecstatic. Here is one:
After that success, I also replaced a number of PC tools I had written over the years in Visual basic with their B4J successors. I have never looked back.

I am definitely a convert, thanks again Erel and the team!