How does deployment usually work with these types of frameworks? Developing in HTML+JavaScript is great from a cross-platform point of view, but I imagine many developers still want to deploy via App Stores because it enables them to have a presence as an icon in the launcher (without the user having to know how to bookmark) and, more importantly, allows the developer a low-friction way to charge for the product.
Do you just build an HTML app with this, package it up on the filesystem, and then display it in a web browser widget inside native code?
I see they have a VP of Sales. Looking at their website got me really excited about their technology.
But its Javascript, so its basically open source. I wonder what the revenue model is? Obviously something compelling enough to get $14 million in round A, which if I can recall, is a lot for a first round.
Licensing and support. Look at their other products; they aren't cheap.
They are apparently coming out with a commercial version of Sencha Touch if you don't want to release your code as GPLv3. Like you said, it's javascript so it seems you could get away with using the open source version for commercial apps since the code is available anyway. But this was asked in their forum and the person was redirected to a licensing contact so they probably don't see it as so clear cut.
Sencha is ExtJS merged with jQTouch and Raphael. ExtJS was already a well established company and their core product (the ExtJS library) was worth paying for. I've paid $3000+ for corporate licenses for that library. It really is worth the money if you want a solid JS UI without having to hack jQuery plugins yourself.
Now they're extending their core product to work well with mobile devices. I think they'll be able to keep previous customers like me and get some new ones. If you only need a few UI widgets (grid, comboxes, calendar) on your site, you can make do with free plugins and copy-paste code. If you want a solid UI with tons of customizability out of the box, ExtJS is a great option. Now Sencha will provide that and hopefully the ability to write apps for more than one device.
I was responding to the statement "But its Javascript, so its basically open source" which is wrong (assuming they take "open source" to mean licensed under an OSI approved license)
Just because the JavaScript is accessible by users that doesn't mean companies will want give others the right to reuse/redistribute the code.
ExtJS's model (after the whole license switching scandal) was to provide the GPL version for free for projects that didn't mind being GPL, and provide a commercial license for those that wanted to remain proprietary. Presumably Senscha is similar.
I guess my original comment was suggesting that someone could look at the source, get a bunch of ideas, then go build something very similar with relative ease.
They wouldn't have to use the same code, but given a code base, organizational structure, and a clear end goal, someone dedicated enough could mimic its functionality in an open source project or roll just the portions they need to prevent any licensing.
Not saying they may not get chased down for it, but if its their own code and it's different enough, Senscha has given them a route to this purely out of the fact the source is visible.
Do you just build an HTML app with this, package it up on the filesystem, and then display it in a web browser widget inside native code?