Nobody writes an article with a clearly articulated plan for an open-source project if they aren’t invested in the success of that project in my opinion. So maybe some people thought the timing of the article was poor due to @sacha’s stature in the community, but that isn’t so bad really. I’m sure most of the people who read the article are already on Meteor’s side. I think the web development community at large is more concerned with Meteor running on Node 12, having modern features, support for Typescript, and up to date packages that solve problems that they need solved. And some signs of life regarding Meteor from its benefactor Tiny, like new blog posts discussing new releases, or new packages, etc.
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Thanks for sharing,great write
The thing about Blaze vs No Blaze is nuts IMO
Blaze is just view layer. Don’t use it or include it… your choice. Same thing can be said for React, Vue, Angular or whatever.
But unlike those “other” view layers, Blaze could be considered a “gateway” view layer that makes it incredibly easy to get your mind wrapped around Meteor for new users without introducing any additional complexity. Even devs that are fluent in React or Vue might find value in that potentially. And, once you get a taste of that Meteor goodness… you sorta get hooked 
As we all know too well.
Plus Blaze plays nice with React and Vue at this point so it’s incredibly easy to migrate to more mainstream view layers in-flight once you’re settled if that trips ur trigger.
So in that way, I think Blaze is an important part of the Meteor equation and it would be disappointing if it was dropped.
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I agree, even though I am not using Blaze anymore. It’s a fantastic way to get talented frontend devs into fullstack quickly.
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The discussion isn’t about using Blaze or not. It’s about investing in its development. Many argue that investment should go into more important parts because there are great alternatives. There simply isn’t any need for Blaze anymore.
People who are heavily invested in it might disagree with this of course. But looking at the future, just pick an alternative instead of fighting for some legacy software.
If enough people really cared about it, they could maintain it themselves. But looking at the repository, the people using Blaze just want to consume it, not investing in it. I understand because how should all these entrepreneurs using Blaze find the time to do so.
For me, Blaze is no longer part of the Meteor goodness. The lack of API improvements, tooling, and re-usability outside a Meteor environment are some of the reasons I moved on. And guess what, the alternatives are at least as good as Blaze. If people were educated to use an alternative from the start, then again, there wouldn’t be any need for Blaze.
This is very untrue for many cases. Once you created a serious application, migrating to another view layer is very time consuming and a waste of resources.
I would advise starting with a view layer with wider acceptance, to prevent unnecessary migration paths in the future. Unless you are already heavily investing in Blaze, or your goal is to educate juniors, or if you’re only using it in a hobby project this might be a path to take.
Disappointing for some. But from a business perspective, there is barely any ROI for Tiny if they invest in Blaze.
TL;DR: View layers have been solved. Blaze isn’t needed. Invest in something else.
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Thanks for your perspective very much appreciated. Perhaps we can agree to disagree. As to the “investment” angle, Blaze is already split out into a community maintained package so I am not sure I expect Tiny to carve out a significant investment budget for it. Blaze is just another view layer, it has its purpose for some, and apparently for others it is not worth considering.
Many think of Blaze as a ‘feature’.
MDG did think this way because it is comprised of technical not marketing people.
But Blaze is a benefit for quickly learning and building MVP.
Many developers laugh about developing in Sencha/Ext.Js but if you look at their price tag and adoption, it really provides the benefit of something like Blaze + Meteor Kitchen. But Blaze and Meteor Kitchen provide clean code vs Sencha providing crazy complex and awkward code.
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That used to be true, and helped with the early take up of Meteor, but that benefit is not unique to Blaze anymore. Some would argue (myself included) that Vue is easier to learn than Blaze, plus has a much bigger ecosystem and community.
I think that these days Meteor can be completely view-layer agnostic. Leave Blaze to the community. Write the guide using all three (Blaze/Vue/React) and let the user select which version of the guide they are viewing.
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So… if being view-layer agnostic, what is left?
- Community.
- Build system.
- Reactivity binding to view layer.
Anything else?
Ease of use. Meteor is just about zero-config, which is a big win.
And the accounts system as well. That can be a huge time-saver.
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The other important thing I use is the account system. The ecosystem (community), zero config (important) build system and server platform, methods (so easy), easy to configure features like code splitting, SSR, etc. There’s a lot of value here.
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The folks disagreeing with Sacha and at the same time asking for Blaze improvements are actually evidence to Sacha’s points about the polarized community. I get that “Blaze is great” and “is unique” and “serves the business needs”… However, for me, I see there are design tools and “no code” solutions that spit out React components. There are hundreds of thousands of re-usable React components on npm. Blaze will never see the kind of network effect and adoption that React has. I don’t care if that’s a “popularity fallacy”, it’s not a fallacy when we talk about sheer amount of reusable open-source code that the world has delivered to itself.
So let me pose this… What if Meteor fully adopted and seamlessly integrated with React? What if it was the first fullstack framework to blow our minds with React’s upcoming Suspense for Data-fetching release (React v17). Do you think Meteor would finally see some more interest from outside? (Hint: Yes)
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I agree that having full integration with React 17 would be awesome, but I still think the choice is important. As things are right now Vue is a better choice (check out the discussion in the PR that is working towards that goal).
Having a primary front-end, in this case React, I think would be the best for anyone who is looking for an opinion/direction, while we must not close Meteor to other options. I think that would be step backward.
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Why React from originally PHP-developing company? ) Python is the next big thing. If Bitcoin publishes some cool Pythdoom framework and it becomes the next big thing, everyone will go there. I already see that design of Web-sites is largely influenced by ugly fintech colours.
The problem of those rumbling about abandoning of Blaze/Meteor hosting/etc. including me is not Blaze as a framework but forgetting ‘constitution of Meteor’, the five principles or something, which are now erased completely. It is not React to blame but forgetting the basis, what was all that about when started.
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Accounts is just a shade of what is offered to other systems, for example - SaaSWeb, Laravel 6 & vue SaaS Starter kit Preview - CodeCanyon
P.S. Laravel is perfectly okay with Blade like Meteor was with Blaze. And instead of ‘pivoting’ they have built a great ecosystem:
Actually, Meteor had most of the components of this ecosystem 5 years ago but no marketing and no intent to continue.
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what?! things is getting worse? Meteor lost it’s unique part-time programmer?
anyway, thank you Ben
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Whoops I missed this part. Of course people like @benjamn are fundamental to Meteor future, but that’s life. I’m sure Tiny is working to reconstruct a core team soon. I’m sure that we’ll get some news soon about this, because you don’t buy a company without people with the right skills to make it a profitable business.
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Hi, as probably many of you already know I’m now Meteor Evangelist (I’m joining Meteor as Developer Evangelist!) working for Tiny and then feel free to reach me.
You can send me messages whatever you prefer, here in the forums is fine and also on Twitter https://twitter.com/filipenevola
And to be clear, the Meteor community is very important for Tiny and we will do our best to communicate well with you, understand your needs and help as we can.
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Amazing news. I’m a total Meteor fan, since the beginning, both for MVP’ing and for production. Can’t wait to see what the future brings us 
And let’s get the community rolling again!
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