Calming customer's fears of WebObjects/Apple ...

[aitkena at cbs.curtin.edu.au (Ashley Aitken)]

Howdy All,

I'm making a list of reasons why a customer should go with WebObjects.

Reasons for going with WebObjects:
1. Better technology
2. Well balanced technology (front and back end)
3. Exceptional technology for rapid application development
4. Cheap but supported by commercial company
5. Mature technology
6. Still being actively developed
7. Most appropriate technology for most Web applications
8. Well designed technology
9. Award-winning technology
10. Cross platform deployment (at least)
11. Removes vendor-lockin (with databases)
?

And I would like to hear others!  However, the *biggest* hurdle I face
when talking with customers is:  What if Apple goes out of business or
drops WebObjects?

Now I know that both are probably very unlikely to happen, but it's
possible (eg Newton, Cocoa on Windows)!  And they are thinking long term
(keeping up with changing world etc).

If only Apple had some written statement that they would ensure the
technology survives in some way.

For example, if they would guarantee to:
Sell to someone who will continue development & support 
Escrow the source code for customers
Open source the source code
?
 
For customers investing in technology for the long term, they really
need/want this sort of guarantee!  Interestingly, I think this is one of
the major advantages of open source software.

Again, I am not trying to suggest that Apple is going out of business or
dropping WebObjects.  From what I see they are committed and using it
everywhere they can.  

However, this is not the perception that a lot of customers have
(especially, of course, Windows customers).

Thanks in advance,
Ashley Aitken.