All this talk about finalising D2 makes me worried

[Bill Baxter]

On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 5:36 AM, Stewart Gordon<smjg_1998 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
> Simple.  Once we have a complete D1 spec, major software companies will be
> ready to implement D.  When a major software company implements D, it'll
> become more widely known to the masses.  This'll also pave the way for D to
> taken up by the software industry on a significant scale.

This is delusional.  Major software companies aren't going to start
implementing D just because the spec is finished.  There's no market
for it when the original compiler is given away for free.  And if
someone really thought there was a major market for a D compiler with
fewer bugs, I don't think the holes in the spec would stop them from
trying to implement it.  I mean why do you think we have all this
#ifdef mess in cross -platform C/C++ projects?  Everyone implemented
the spec slightly differently.  They clearly were not deterred by the
fact that they didn't understand the spec 100%.  That's because there
was a customer demand  for a C++ compiler on their platform, so they
wrote one.   And they charged their customers $500 or more for it.
But those days are gone.  You can't make a business out of charging
$500 for just a compiler anymore.  If anything you've got to go into
dev tools like fancy IDEs and such.  But even then it's a tough market
when you're talking about a niche language.

But if D were to become wildly popular... that's a different story.
That's what would make major software companies take notice.  When
customers in large numbers start asking why Major Software Company
doesn't support D, or have their own D compiler, then Major Software
Company will start to take interest.

--bb