Kendo UI is out of beta (opens in new tab)

Honestly, I wouldn't hold your breath. You're probably so far on the fringe that it's not worth their time to fix it for you. They're demo works fine on my phone (Opera Mobile browser), the only mouseless interface I use.

I'm all for keyboard navigation, but I'm not at the point of boycotting if somebody doesn't support keyboard-only interaction.

It's made by Telerik, maker of .NET libraries and tools, and some companies go "all in" on their stuff.

This is way slicker than what you could build using jquery-ui and available plugins unless you are rockstar with the js and have an excellent design person. For instance, the best time-picker plugin I've been able to find for jquery-ui is nice but isn't perfectly cross-browser and not as pretty: http://labs.perifer.se/timedatepicker/

Now look at the Kendo time picker. Design and usability are crucial to a successful product, so I'd say this looks like a smart investment, although I'd have to tinker with it more before buying.

Having played with it; and after recently building an app using "jquery-ui or a combination of free and open source solutions" I'd say... because it's actually very good by comparison :)

For an ISV, $399 is next to nothing.

I'm not familiar with the new stipulations in GPLv3 and their potential effect on this, but if I had to guess, I would guess that Kendo is relying on the GPL's infectiousness; there is a clause that requires all linked code to use the same license. I suppose Kendo may make a claim or intimate that the terms of the GPL require at least your JavaScript to be identically licensed. GPLv3 may have strengthened or clarified these provisions in light of the massive proliferation of internet applications; again, I am not versed in the modifications of GPLv3 (and I'm not a lawyer, either).

They may also just be falling back on the old corporate dogma that employees are not allowed to touch a GPL library with a ten-foot pole. Or the old corporate dogma that everything needs a support contract so that managers can CYA.

Under GPL3, if you make KendoUI components available via hosted solution, I think you'd have to release your app's entire source. I think GPL3/commercial dual licensing is a very unattractive licensing approach, but that's just my view.

CORRECTION: My comment is only true under the Affero GPL.

Here's my explanation from experience...

99% of writing code is basic stuff that anyone out of school can do.

(Yes I made 99% up out of thin air but in my experience it's reasonably accurate)

In the world there are a lot of programmers that can do 99% of the work fine but who freeze at a problem. This isn't meant as a criticism. These people are good workers, good citizens, and so on. But in my experience they are the type of people who got a CS degree because they heard "it was the future" and are happy with a 9 to 5 job where they don't have to think about technology or code past 5:01 PM

When you supervise coding in a corporate environment you generally have 1 or 2 stars and then a bunch of other guys who fit the above description. You don't want your stars constantly being distracted by the others when they hit a problem so you seek out tools with support contracts. Then when someone hits a problem they file a support request and move on to something else until they get a response.

When support solves the problem those guys go back to coding the 99% of the stuff that they can do and everyone's happy for a fraction of the price.

$399 a year is cheap when it allows you to hire programmers who are competent but not stars (and who are accordingly cheaper)

The place I've seen these libraries heavily used is for internal business web apps. Think in terms of replacing MS Access within an organization with web apps. Developers want a consistent platform to use and management wants to be able to guarantee support by throwing money at some business to keep the lights on for many years. Using a paid product is less risky for these groups.

Sorry I don't have an MVP to point to.

Fortune 500 and mid-market companies are the target market. I've consulted at several in the Chicago area that strongly prefer to work with a vendor who can provide long-term support and training.

No MVPs to offer, but Sencha and Highcharts are making a living licensing their Javascript libraries. If you're interested in this market, I'd recommend libraries for building complex infographics. Something beyond the standard business charts you see everywhere.

I consider myself a potential customer - I'm a developer who can do the whole stack, including front-end JS/CSS/HTML, but I don't have strong design aesthetics. In other words, I'm not a designer. Therefore, being able to leverage some slick UI components is nice! To me, this is similar to purchasing a theme from theme forest.

Generally the same people who buy Windows Server, businesses and governments. ExtJS is reasonably popular, probably the best example I can think of here (but I'm not in the market).

http://www.sencha.com/products/extjs/

Having quality support available is probably alone worth several times the price.

Several of our clients, big consulting firms for the gov heavily use these and have no qualms about picking them up.

My untested opinion is quality JavaScript libraries are something everyone needs, but few are willing to pay for because Open Source has taught the majority of web developers to demand everything be free all the time, and include free support, otherwise they won't touch it.

I found this to be quite helpful:

Kendo UI Web is a framework for modern HTML UI. Engineered with the latest HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript standards, it delivers everything needed for client-side, jQuery-powered development in one integrated, compact package.

Well, we have all that on http://www.kendoui.com/, but unfortunately we didn't post this news piece.

A 60-day trial -- you can ask questions in the support forum and evaluate whether you want to purchase a commercial license.