@badsectoracula's comment resonated with me, and obviously many others. VB was transformative. Since then, people have tried to recreate that magic. Hasn't happ

@badsectoracula's comment resonated with me, and obviously many others. VB was transformative. Since then, people have tried to recreate that magic. Hasn't happened. Other transformative magic has appeared but, to build on what @badsectoracula said, people miss the point when trying to recreate VB (or other magical things). Technology doesn't exist in a timeless vacuum. VB was in the right place at the right time, and solved a big problem. Solving that same problem now isn't nearly as magical. We have new problems. Still, what people miss is that a person (often brilliant) has a vision and creates it. The result has conceptual integrity and resonates with some people. Not all, but some. The goal is not to be all things to all people. That never works. I loved VB. Still do. I used it from v1.0 thru v6, and was one of the first 4 VB MVPs when they created the MVP program. As badsectoracula said, it wasn't any one thing that made it special; it was the whole. But, just as the Director's Cut of a movie isn't always better, there is the possibility of taking something and making it better. Maybe not in the visionary's view, but for others. A tale as old as time. There is a time to hold tight to the past, and a time to move forward without forgetting it. There is a time to fiercely defend our position, and a time to give way and relinquish victory in small battles so that we may win the war. Red is still very young, but Rebol's design is old. The problems Rebol aimed to solve were like classics in literature (or algorithms in CS), long-lived. Red is not aimed at solving only today's problems, or tomorrow's. It's aimed at solving the future's problems. Not by being one amazing product or technology, but by being a language we can use to communicate about problems we don't even know we have yet. For most people, though, it can serve very well as a tool to solve problems we have today, without knowing any of that.