I agree. I started using Meteor when it was just Blaze (pre 1.0). At the time one of the core value props was to people who didn’t normally identify as developers but as casual (business) coders or tinkerers to be able to more fully prototype and realize an idea - quickly and easily. It was empowering. It said, 1 language, easy templating, come on in and see just how easy it is.
In other words it sold accessibility and (relative) ease of use that was harder to get elsewhere.
Right it feels they are trying to ride the fence between developers who want flexibility and the latest hot framework (react / angular etc) but also try and keep the orig. value prop & message for the “casual coder”.
The only issue is no casual coder is going to learn React. They aren’t and shouldn’t have to. I’m not arguing whether or not React is great or better than Blaze - it’s about what the value proposition is and to WHOM.
Right now I have an app that is languishing because of this - and frankly am gun shy to spend too much time in fear that more will change and therefore the orig. value prop that existed will be wiped out (keep breaking). No one wants to re-learn / re-build constantly and it feels like that right now. It doesn’t feel “stable”.
If React is the thing so be it. Then I agree, commit. Focus on 1 value prop for a single base. It’s not about Blaze vs. React or what’s better overall - it’s what the value proposition and the benefit it provides to a casual (business) coder (accessible, easy to get up and running, get to a full stack prototype fast and easy) vs. developer (build the most highly scalable, dev op efficient, with latest language / flexibility etc etc etc).
In the end the best products and services focus on 1 core value prop and 1 core product for a core set of users rather than “hedge its bets”.
If Meteor goes the way of React then do it - I would be sad as a casual coder because I really liked Meteors early simplicity - but at least I would know that I should stop using Meteor and stop trying to build things that may stop working for me depending on what direction they choose.