>There is definitely room for a simplified set of tools that lets end-users build simple applications with a pay-as-you-go approach to complexity and learning curve.
You want this to succeed, then pick a domain and solve that problem for people.
It's not the source control that is the primary problem. You can do Excel-like things on Google Drive, which has integrated revision control, shared editing, and a dozen other features to help the average user or team get things done.
No, the primary problem is that most people don't know what they want. They don't even know what's possible, much less how to accomplish it. Ask any consultant and they'll agree with me: The first thing you need to do is figure out what the users actually can use based on their needs.
It's like Henry Ford said: If you asked users what they wanted, they'd have told him they wanted a faster horse. [1]
The problems exist because they aren't easy to solve unless you have the expertise. I'm not poo-pooing Excel or any other domain-specific solution. If you can create a general solution to a problem (say, for example, WordPress), then users can plug together the pieces they need and create an app.
But there is no "language" that will solve the "average person can't program" problem in the general case any more than there's a paintbrush that will solve the "average person can't paint" problem.
You want this to succeed, then pick a domain and solve that problem for people.
It's not the source control that is the primary problem. You can do Excel-like things on Google Drive, which has integrated revision control, shared editing, and a dozen other features to help the average user or team get things done.
No, the primary problem is that most people don't know what they want. They don't even know what's possible, much less how to accomplish it. Ask any consultant and they'll agree with me: The first thing you need to do is figure out what the users actually can use based on their needs.
It's like Henry Ford said: If you asked users what they wanted, they'd have told him they wanted a faster horse. [1]
The problems exist because they aren't easy to solve unless you have the expertise. I'm not poo-pooing Excel or any other domain-specific solution. If you can create a general solution to a problem (say, for example, WordPress), then users can plug together the pieces they need and create an app.
But there is no "language" that will solve the "average person can't program" problem in the general case any more than there's a paintbrush that will solve the "average person can't paint" problem.
[1] http://blog.cauvin.org/2010/07/henry-fords-faster-horse-quot...