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I have been using Pure Basic for about two years, after using GFA Basic for about eight years, Visual Basic for two weeks (too long), Power BASIC (insufficient graphics support at the time) for some months and various other basic language versions going right back to HP 9845 BASIC and Commodore’s offering (Written by Microsoft), in 1977.
The software I write is mainly for engineering purposes, used mainly by myself or others in the company and a few clients. I do have one game on my conscience, but that was written in 1978 and that got games out of my system
. Generally I am the judge of the effectiveness and reliability of my own PC based software. However, over the last two years I have distributed some applications to clients and been pleasantly surprised by the performance and reliability that Pure Basic provides, even when confronted with my programming style.
Some time ago I wrote in these forums that in my opinion PB and jaPBe combine to efficiently produce software that is effective, fast and reliable. I still hold that view. Version 4 moves Pure Basic onwards, my experience with converting one major application has been very positive but I must admit that until some of the third party libraries I use have been updated I will not switch over from 3.94.
How far can Pure Basic go? To expand and become more widely used it needs to be further developed and used more widely; this is a circular situation. To be used more widely more people need to know of its existence, try it and find it solves their problems, then tell others.
For development to continue and to pay for some effective marketing Pure Basic needs income; which only comes from sales.
I do not know how many paid for copies of PB exist but try multiplying your guess for the number sold by the price, and see how many developers you could support with the result. When I say ‘support’ I really mean ‘pay a market rate salary ’. As Pure Basic is sold primarily on the Internet it should not have too many sales overheads such as printed manuals, delivery costs, carriage, insurance etc so I expect (and hope) that the majority of the purchase price goes to supporting the development team. Try turning the picture round, how many sales are needed each year to keep the team productive?
With this in mind is Pure Basic likely to make a significant dent in the market share currently going to the much larger established players? Will PB forever remain the domain of the enthusiast who is short of cash and the professional who recognises a good thing at a good price and only has himself to satisfy regarding ‘suitability for use’?
In a conference relating to another low volume BASIC dialect, programmers were extolling the performance, compactness and reliability of their finished software but were considering migration to Visual Basic. One guy explained how his program was vastly faster than the VB equivalent as well as being smaller but he was turned down at a recruitment interview. This was purely on the grounds that his prospective employer needed software that could be maintained and supported when the original programmer had moved on to new areas. To do this the employer needed to be able to advertise for programmers skilled in the use of Visual Basic and be sure of getting a choice of candidates. If you are the only programmer using WhizzBangBasic and your products are the fastest and most reliable that can be achieved it is still unlikely that you will get a job writing software except for niche applications. In essence, if you want to program professionally and make money you are probably best going for one of the Microsoft supported languages. (I am never good at taking my own advice!)
I’m not sure where this is going, I am lucky in being able to use the delightful interface that is jaPBe and of having the fast and effective compiler called PureBasic sitting behind it. I am judge and jury regarding the quality of my own output; lucky me. None of my clients are dissatisfied with what I produce. Would they be so happy if I got run over by a bus? Is Pure Basic ever likely to make it into the big-time; or even the modestly-large-time? I hope so.
How can we help Fred and his gifted team move Pure Basic forward and upwards and gain a critical mass that ensures its long term success?
Thoughts anyone?
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