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>
> How about a trading program which will allow you to use Easy Language
> scripts developed under Trade Station in Linux, and its free. Would
> you get behind and support a project like this for the betterment of
> us all?
>
I was in the software industry for over 20 years, spent the last
6 years learning to trade then quit to trade full time this year.
I watched GNU/Linux be conceived and grow. It seems to me that
some critical features that lead to the success of these projects
may not currently exist for FreeMarket.
First, GNU/Linux was designed by programmers for programmers.
These people knew what they wanted and how to implement it. This
isn't true RE FreeMarket. Traders want to use the product, but it
requires programmers to implement it. Most traders have little
programming ability. Most programmers have little trading
ability. This limits the pool of volunteers dramatically.
Second, the people working on GNU/Linux were often some of the
best programmers in the business. Writing GNU/Linux code was a
quick way to get industry recognition and a great job soon
thereafter. Writing FreeMarket code is not likely to impress your
future employers much. So the motivation for the best people to
work on this project is limited.
Third, the technology, Python, being used for this project is a
bad choice. Java should be used instead. There are many many more
java programmers than Python programmers and the ratio gets worse
every day.
If I am a college student looking for something to get experience
with JAVA is at the top of my list, Python probably isn't on my
list. This greatly limits the pool of programmers willing to
contribute.
Fourth, Linux hit critical mass at some point and commercial
ventures started investing in it. I personally know several
companies in silicon valley that paid contractors to work on this
code full time. I believe this was a crucial aspect of the
product's eventual move into wider use by the public. I've seen
no interest at all from financial companies RE public domain
trading tools even though they could profit mightily from these
tools. Someone should go ask them what it would take to get them
involved.
Since most traders using these tools will be unable to contribute
I suggest you consider opening your wallet too. I will state here
that I am willing to donate if a significant number of others do
so too.
I estimate it would take about $600,000 to come up with something
with tradestations feature set. This should be a pittance if all
the successful traders contribute. Or perhaps we are not as
successful as we say 8-)~
Before I put my time into this project I would like to see the
coding switched to JAVA and would like some indication what
corporations would require to help back continued development at
some point.
regards,
tbr
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