Xojo And Geoff Perlman

Hi guys,

Year after year I have seen how Xojo grows, each time with new improvements and interesting features. And this is perhaps the reason for the doubt that I have:

If Geoff Perlman goes to heaven, what will happens with Xojo and the company …? I know that Geoff is the actual CEO with an incredible job lidering this project , but I have this curiosity, I would liked to know about this and what would be the future of Xojo and this great comunity.

Does it really matter?
Most companies are not in the habit of publicly disclosing such information.
And even if they did, how would that change your outlook of Xojo?

We have a succession plan as I would hope any responsible CEO would.

Dave,

It’s important for me. I love this product.

A client explain he want to buy the sources in case I disappear (my death). I say nothing about the reason, but I do not liked that at all.

Nota: one day (tomorrow ? In 10 Years ? …) I will die, and for me this is a fact. For me, this is the same as asking a member of your family how long will it stay at your home…

But asking this question seems really strange to me.

Do I ask that client what will happens if he dies before I deliver the product ?

Nota: that client do not asked me about the name of the development tool I use and what can happens to that tool in the future…

Emile,

I understand your point, but the question was based in my curiosity about the Xojo future and the CEO’s position. nothing more.

The answer of Geoff is clear and says it all. I’m sorry if this question was inappropiate for someone.

It’s a legitimate question, no apologies needed. It’s understood that we all hope and trust it won’t be an issue for at least 100 years.

Hi Kem,

Many thanks, that was the basic the reason of my question.

I agree - it’s a legitimate question and good answer from Geoff.

Xojo is a different type of product:

  1. It’s a very specific language and platform. I can think of very few other products I use where if the company went kaput I’d be in a hurt.
  2. Developer adoption requires a significant commitment. People who spend years developing a portfolio of Xojo apps that they support and offer would require years to replace if they had to port to something else if something bad happened to Xojo.
  3. Xojo is a smaller company (we know this) and is not publicly traded and therefore it’s corporate governance is unknown, so some reasonable assurance to negate the risks of 1 & 2 are not unreasonable to ask.

We all want to make sure Xojo last at least a day longer than we do, but like Kem, I’d be good with 100 years…

Joseph,

I’m completely agree. And I would add perhaps a fourth point:

  1. Develop with Xojo is a nice experience for any dev, where you have the power to create apps and where the proccess does not become a divine misterior.

I understand Xojo in this way, and like Kem said, I would liked to have this product at least 100 years more…

Very well said, Elvis … and I think we would all agree that’s quite true!

It is a standard risk management question in most companies of any size. These days custom software is developed to meet a specific business need that is not covered by standard software and the company will rely on it to do business. Accordingly it is important that the company takes the necessary steps to ensure it does not suffer a loss should there be an issue with the vendor.

A couple months ago, I had scheduled a doctor’s visit at the hospital.

Lo and behold, the doctor got me hospitalized right away. I had no time to prepare or anything, it was that urgent. My son took me my faithful MacBook, but I was too tired to really work.

Then I went through the operation. Even less able to work.

I was not dead, but unable to do my job. Sure enough, a couple customers needed support.

I will definitely look into having a succession plan.

Succession planning is absolutely important.

I try to do that best I can through my children. Mold them in my way :slight_smile:

Putting sufficient comments in source-code is where the succession plan of a developer starts.

My last software company was required by a few customers to place source code with a 3rd party escrow agent. Under certain conditions (like we go out of business) the code would then be released to the customer. There was a lot of legalize and depending on the service and the agent can be quite expensive and cumbersome. If our customer wanted it we would require that they pay for it… many would then change their mind.

We generally considered it a farce… something CEOs do to cover their butt with their Board… Realistically unless they were able to hire one of our employees that was familiar with the code it would have taken months of work before it was useful to them.

@Joost Rongen — I hope developer do not wait until their last moment to properly comment their code!

@James Meyer — Wow, the closest to “escrow” in French is “escroc”, which means a con-man! Is there a hidden significance here?

I thought that “escrow” means some final financial transaction usually associated with a final sale of housing in the US market.

I know this because I watch “Flip or Flop”. te he… :slight_smile:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code_escrow