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So what is your prediction on the long-term viability of Napa.js? Also, any feedback on the timeline would be appreciated, specifically how long to wait before

by j_s 9y ago

So what is your prediction on the long-term viability of Napa.js? Also, any feedback on the timeline would be appreciated, specifically how long to wait before evaluating the probability of long-term support from Microsoft. In my mind, it will have to attract a strong enough community to survive without Microsoft's financial support which will probably shut down in a year or two. It's interesting because if it does hit critical mass that increases the likelihood that it will continue to be funded.

WorldMaker 9y ago
That's a good question. Ignoring past headaches you've had with Microsoft's support of open source, how do you evaluate any open source tool for use in production and/or for long-term viability? In the NodeJS world, sometimes "long-term" means 9 months it feels like. In open source, sometimes "support" means "file a PR if you care so much about that bug" or "fork it yourself". Are you perhaps expecting a longer term or more support because it is Microsoft behind it? It looks actively maintained right now, but its published semver is 0.x. There are a lot of 0.x libraries in active use in NodeJS, but it's still semver-obvious grain of salt from the maintainers to keep in mind when considering it for support. The README tells us that it was directly built to support a production need in Bing today. That seems like as big of a vote of support confidence as you might get from an open source project that a team has vested interest in it. On the other hand, Bing isn't inside Microsoft's developer division, so they have fewer vested interests in supporting outside developers long term. It's also possible that at some point in the future they get internally sold on a developer division or Windows division or Azure alternative that Microsoft has financial or marketing reasons to commercialize. If I had a production need for something like Napa.js I don't see any particular red flags to avoid it, it looks like it should be easy enough to migrate to something else down the road if necessary, and would probably consider it.

by j_s 9y ago

WorldMaker 9y ago

That's a good question. Ignoring past headaches you've had with Microsoft's support of open source, how do you evaluate any open source tool for use in production and/or for long-term viability? In the NodeJS world, sometimes "long-term" means 9 months it feels like. In open source, sometimes "support" means "file a PR if you care so much about that bug" or "fork it yourself". Are you perhaps expecting a longer term or more support because it is Microsoft behind it? It looks actively maintained right now, but its published semver is 0.x. There are a lot of 0.x libraries in active use in NodeJS, but it's still semver-obvious grain of salt from the maintainers to keep in mind when considering it for support. The README tells us that it was directly built to support a production need in Bing today. That seems like as big of a vote of support confidence as you might get from an open source project that a team has vested interest in it. On the other hand, Bing isn't inside Microsoft's developer division, so they have fewer vested interests in supporting outside developers long term. It's also possible that at some point in the future they get internally sold on a developer division or Windows division or Azure alternative that Microsoft has financial or marketing reasons to commercialize. If I had a production need for something like Napa.js I don't see any particular red flags to avoid it, it looks like it should be easy enough to migrate to something else down the road if necessary, and would probably consider it.