in reply to Our future
these are all great things to do and think about, for sure. Heres some more
(i) Better support for users' to make and distribute professional apps
the root of all misery.
(ii) a slick cross-platform GUI kit
*cough XPCOM/XUL cough*
(iii) some kind of symbiotic relationship with existing and future applications.
Moveable-Type and POPfile
are pretty popular consumer-based apps. But they are alone in the wilderness. Maybe our own version of sourceforge to compliment CPAN?
(iv) Visible products that clearly state "made with Perl"
Not at the foot of the sourcecode, but on the splashscreen.
(v) Visible testimonials from corporate clients.
Not mysterious heresay from unknown sources. Make it a requirment of commercial
use if need be.
(vi) a *kickass* aggressive marketing campaign.
I hate to say it - but I hate the thought of spending my life in Java
induced tedium even more. Someone has to cough up the dough for this. Perl has gotten further than most on idealism, but this isnt a fairy story.
(vii) a community ethos based on using Perl to make stuff "real
people" need.
Not sitting around forums jerking off over map
let me make that last point more clear
It doesn't matter how many ways you can call a subroutine - Perl has to
be visible outside of the technical community. And the only way to get
it there is to make stuff people need, with Perl, and let them know that Perl and its surrounding philosophy/community made it possible.
This is the responsibility of the extended Perl community. Larry Wall
et al have very little power over this at all.
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