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.

 

[Martin Larsen]

but for the rest won't serve much purpose if there is no way to also modify the source code.

Erel doesn't say you are not allowed to modify the source. He just says that you can't commit changes upstream. You can modify it for your own use, and probably let others use your modifications as well.

 

[Didier9]

I was saving to update my license. This way, I will make donations.

Yep, that's the way to do it
Erel, make sure there is a prominent link to the Donation feature!
I made a donation for B4J last year but at the moment, I can't find the link...

 

[Ferbis]

Maybe Erel can also reflect on my recommendation (in thread #109) to consult with the B4A developers before taking the final decision and to consider enabling developers to become shareholders in Anywhere Software.

I am of the same opinion as Syd. That is the idea I was trying to say in thread #44.
We all know that Erel is the father of the creature but we must not forget that much of the success has been the great community of which I am proud to belong. People who give their time to help others to make their b4x journey successful. I am sure that having the community as part of the equation will help Anywhere to always have a fulcrum in this great new challenge.

 

[Ferdari]

Excelent news Erel, now everyone can develop apps easily and faster!.

 

[mcqueccu]

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

 

[LucaMs]

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

 

[joaquinortiz]

I feel, with this announcement, the B4A, it will turn not stable. And it will keep future bugs and no body will have the commitment to repair future bugs. That´s I´m affraid of this announcment

 

[DonManfred]

Does this announcement mean that if I wait a few weeks I get the same for free as what I'd buy now?

Yes

 

[Erel]

Can I modify internal B4A libraries and include these amended versions in the apps that I publicly upload to the Google playstore?

Yes.

 

[Nkalampika]

after having one of the scucces for having designed an application in the field of health here in my country! several developers ask me how I could develop a robust application in a few weeks.
it is today that I will announce the existence of B4X.

 

[RWK]

The next step are a all in one B4X IDE?

And the step beyond that should be a maintained library download in that IDE... for sure that would need some manpower (m/w/d)

5 Thump Up Erel...

By the way.... I hope that "investor" is more like a supporter (like in admirer) so that you can focus on B4X work ; on a real investor, who cares about growing value an return on investment, it a real small step to get lost in thinking on satisfying the investors wishes...that one will steal you 50% on your productive time with ease.
I hope you will not get lost in the Mills of the financial economy. But I believe in you.

Greetings
Rainer

 

[jawediqbal]

Great news.

 

[ThRuST]

Good strategy Erel. I will also contribute to this promotion process once Starcloud is deployed to the public. It's a web portal that is supposed to make up the second half of my project Athena which is a software that improves the way users interact with their computer, locally and web combined by using a context menu that is part of the O/S.

There will also be mobile apps that supports Starcloud web portal, and the major breakthrough is estimated to February 2021. That's when I plan for a public release. Meanwhile, all of you can follow my posting in the B4J Share my creations, Athena thread.

B4X is allready part of the portal, so you can start using it today by adding it as a bookmark in your favourite browser. Country codes are being supported as work progress.
You can follow my work on Athena. B4X is allready ready to be promoted in the Developers section. The service is free online for now, and there will be free mobile versions,
yet limited in some way which means users will have to buy the Pro version of the apps to enjoy the full potential of Starcloud, which is a brand on its own.

Combined with Athena it will be "an extremely powerful tool" for everyone who uses a computer allover the world. Meanwhile you can all enjoy Starcloud, it's getting better day by day. Please notice and be patient for any interruptions that will be experienced while the Starcloud service is being updated. It will soon get a domain of it's own. I'll keep you all updated.

B4J Share my creations - Athena

/ThRuST

 

[advansis]

I hope BIG investor hasn't secured funds to kill one of its competitor... I hope the project can continue with the same quality and attention. Ad maiora.

PS. What about B4i ?

 

[bububrln]

This:

Changes to:

I literally just bought the 2-years-licence last Sunday), haha, and would't have guessed my first forum post would be a reply to THIS

 

[Kevin]

Wow! No doubt, B4A/X deserve to be wildly popular and for very good reason! I kind of figured they were, but there is always room for growth. I've often joked to myself that Erel and all involved must be making a fortune on B4A/B4i and deservedly so!

While I share some concerns that others have posted, I do trust that the right decision has been made. I've been away from programming for about 5 years due to some personal issues and only recently got back to it. Even though I wasn't using B4A at all over those 5 years, I happily continued to pay for the updates every single time my update license expired.

I realize that many programming tools are in fact free these days, but considering B4A's capabilities, I always felt that if anything it was under-priced. While I realize that renewing licenses add up, I recall being a poor teen/early 20s-something and plunking down several hundred dollars each for VB3, 5 and 6. Although eventually even MS made .NET free.

I'm hopeful that this will be a good thing for us all, and I really appreciate all of the hard work that has been put into B4X. It's very clearly a labor of love, as it should be for all of us, whether we are creating the tools or using the tools to create!

 

[mcombatti]

Amazing news Erel! Thanks for all your hard work throughout the years! Glad you're not going anywhere

 

[freedom2000]

Impressive news !

I will for sure spread this information everywhere I can.
The trade off between OSS and closed one is really not obvious.
I am sure that you made the good choice and whish you a long long B4X life

Keep up the good job
JP

 

[LucaMs]

I will for sure spread this information everywhere I can.

This thing had to be done even when B4A was not free; or not?

(Sorry, @freedom2000, I joke too often, you probably know )

 

[freedom2000]

This thing had to be done even when B4A was not free; or not?

(Sorry, @freedom2000, I joke too often, you probably know )

I did it and even won some "free years" with "sponsorship" cash back