The future of XSharp (X#)

Dear members of the X# community,

This year we celebrate the 10^th anniversary of X#, which has been very successful in providing a path for a lot of companies and developers to extend the life of their Visual Objects (VO) applications, by transitioning them to the .Net ecosystem. We are very proud that many of you have also developed entirely new applications in X#, some even joining us from other xBase dialects than VO! It has been a success so far, but now we need to think and prepare for the future, together with all of you.

As many of you know, Robert van der Hulst, the founder of XSharp BV and lead developer behind X#, is approaching retirement, so it is natural that he gradually steps down from the project. In addition to software development in most areas of X#, Robert has been responsible also for managing the company, which includes software management, financial management, event planning and more. While he plans to remain involved over the coming years, he will gradually step back and eventually retire fully. This transition will include the sale of the product and the company.

Some of Robert’s responsibilities can be transferred to other members of the X# dev team, but several others cannot. To ensure the long-term sustainability of the project even after Robert steps back, we need to bring on board new developers who can take over at least some of the development aspects of X#. In particular, the development of the Visual Studio integration, which represents a time-intensive and technically demanding aspect of the project. Ideally, we would also like to bring on another developer to assist with areas like the compiler and the database system.

However, hiring developers with such a level of expertise comes at a cost significantly higher than the compensation that the current team members receive. We have all been working on this project with very modest salaries, as we are very excited to be part of this project and give our community back something that we are proud of, while financial gain was not our primary driving force when we decided to start X#. Unfortunately, we cannot expect seasoned external developers to be prepared to work on the project at similar rates, though.

For this reason, we are looking for ways to further fund the project. Thanks to the generous support of one of our main sponsors and with invaluable help from all of you (other corporate sponsors, companies and single developers) to whom we are very grateful, we have secured the necessary funding and this ensures the continuity of the project for the next five years. However, continuity is uncertain beyond that time frame when Robert is expected to have retired, unless new developers join and become familiar with the codebase earlier than that. We are currently in discussions with this key sponsor also about a possible transfer of the project after five years, but again, without new developers in place, further project development will suffer.

No final decisions have been made, and before we move forward, we would like to hear from you. If you care about the long-term continuity of the X# project, please let us know your thoughts. Also, if you believe that you or a member of your team is qualified to get involved in the development of X#, please let us know, too!

We would also like to share some of our ideas for securing the necessary funding:

• Starting with X# 3.0, there will no longer be a completely free version. While the source code for the compiler and other parts of the project will remain open source, the full installer package—including binaries, runtime, and Visual Studio integration—will be available only to subscribers. These are the individuals and companies who make this project possible. We will also be encouraging companies with multiple X# developers to expand their subscriptions accordingly, although we understand this cannot be enforced.

• We are considering offering two separate editions of X#: a standard standalone version and a premium version with Visual Studio integration. Given the high cost and complexity of maintaining the VS integration, this edition would be priced significantly higher. The standard version, usable with tools like XIDE (which is maintained in-house at insignificant cost), would remain at the current pricing level.

• We are also exploring the idea of establishing a new foundation or company, open to members of the community who are committed to the project’s future. This organization could take over ownership of the X# project, purchasing it from Robert and assuming responsibility for funding, development, and direction of the project. While this path involves challenges, it offers the best chance to ensure that the community retains control over the project.

We invite all of you to share your thoughts and ideas and help us shape the future of X#!

Sincerely,
The X# Development Team

PS. You can respond here with a comment, but feel also free to contact us by mail at info at xsharp.eu. And of course if you want to talk, we can also set up an online meeting.