4 ms·
> I'm not sure what to think about the competitors-stealing-our-code angle, but the OSS-is-being-used-as-freeware argument is certainly one point in favor of cl
by bcg1 11y ago
> I'm not sure what to think about the competitors-stealing-our-code angle, but the OSS-is-being-used-as-freeware argument is certainly one point in favor of closing/controlling their code (as a business).
Implicit in this argument is the assumption that Xamarin ever wanted RoboVM to "win" at all.
I'm not saying that they don't... just that they subsumed a smaller competitor with an arguably superior product. Its logical to conclude that there exists a possibility that they simply paid to buy out RoboVM because they thought it would be cheaper than trying to compete head to head (especially, since as your c+p points out, competitors were/are using RoboVM code), and if RoboVM returns some of that money then it is just gravy on the biscuit.
If that's the case then too bad for Xamarin... it is more of a sign of their ineptitude and of their eventual demise... if their leadership choose to use cash to knock out competitors instead of innovation, it will be interesting to see how long they can keep that up.
- jbigelow76 11y agoI don't think shutting down RoboVM to avoid competition is Xamarin's goal, after all if RoboVM were to shut down there is no reason to assume that the Java developers that use it would migrate wholesale over to the Xamarin C# development environment. My theory is that Xamarin is starting to care less and less what language is used to build mobile apps (for a while they claimed to care more about C# than Microsoft did); and instead own the products that become a natural pipeline into their service offerings like Test Cloud. Buying RoboVM lets Xamarin build in hooks that will mean staying in Xamarin platform is a natural progression.