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by Alan Williamson.
Original Post: Laszlo: Yet another XML based scripting tool
Feed Title: Technical @ alan.blog-city.com
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Feed Description: (Technical) the rants of a java developer trapped in the body of a java developer!
October 2004, Laszlo Systems announced it was releasing its complete scripting language and server through a Commons Public License; effectively making it free for anyone to use it both commercially and non-commercially.
If you are familiar with Thinlet, then you are going to take to Laszlo very quickly. Building an application with the XML is very quick, with you embedding scriptlets inside the XML tags. Sounds awful, but it does work in a funny taggy way! The only difference with Laszlo is that it doesn't render to a Java applet like Thinlet does, but to a Flash file. Straight out of the box you are getting very cool rendering, animation and multimedia playback. Areas where Thinlet and other Java alternatives suffers from.
You can have a serious play with it using their 10minute demo, which is a series of demos that you can not only see the code for, but change the code and immediately see the effect. Check it out here: http://www.laszlosystems.com/lps/laszlo-in-ten-minutes/
Why are Laszlo open-sourcing a tool they were traditionally generating a revenue stream from? Well the answer probably lies in their closest and biggest competitor; Macromedia. Macromedia are making waves around their new flash based language, Flex, which is effectively the same as Laszlo. Flex while not free, is available for $0 for non-commercial and private use. While I believe Laszlo where on the block first with their solution, with Macromedia now officially taking this route, the future of Laszlo may not be as bright.
So while they are making all the necessary pontificating about how wonderful they are by open sourcing their product for the good of the community, the truth probably lies in that they need the community more than ever to survive. They need a userbase built up quickly before Macromedia starts to claw away with their Flex alternative. The quickest way to do that is to usually remove the cost barrier and give your product away.
I wish them every success, it is a great looking system. I have had a number of situations where I could have used a technology like this, problems where producing the same result with Thinlet was going to prove cumbersome and not worth the hassle.
More choice for us developers. I only hope they have a business model to replace the lost revenues that will allow them to continue and grow.
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