Rebol and Red are meant to be easy on its surface, while still allowing more complex stuff if you dig deeper. Of course there is a catch - e.g. if you want to modify some GUI element or create one, you need to understand all the underpinnings. On the other hand - dialects are nice way of an interfacing. I don't want to sound bold, but why Java provided its FX, or Qt its QML? Simply because once you are working in certain domain, you don't need complex language constructs.
As for the Czech wizardry, I might put things into some context, myself being Czech, but far from being a wizard :-) It all stems from the Amiga heritage. Remember - Rebol was created by Carl Sassenrath, Amiga OS creator, and Czech community had kind of strong following to it. Red though, is more multinational, but so was Rebol too - maybe Czechs might be more vocal here or there, in terms of the community involvements. And that's just all.
Isn't it similar to what Eve tries to achieve? Well, what I like in overal, is an attitude and courage to introduce new technologies! I come from the Red language camp, which if I am not mistaken, is also being funded. So - good luck, guys :-)
Yes, a message format. What I would add is, that today ppl are using JSON, not realising, that it is de-facto a Rebol, or at least strongly inspired by Rebol. Well - who wants to use cryptic formats anyway, right? :-)
I am not a profi coder, mostly a self community coordinator, but am with Rebol and Red since its beginning, so I do remember, what was said, and what not. As for the optimisation, recently a generated exe is kind of cca 4 times slower than C, if I remember correctly. With optimisations, it was said we should get into 1.5-2 territory, whereas anything below such numbers, would require quite extensive work. Please Red gurus correct me, if I remember it incorrectly ...
Not everybody is from Czech, but I am. History of Red comes back to the Rebol era, which goes back to the Amiga era and AmigaOS author, Carl Sassenrath, who created Rebol. Czech Amiga scene had strong following, hence some ppl ended up following Carl and his Rebol. We moved on onto Red, which is strongly inspired by Rebol ...
Well, you've just asked an eternal question - why yet another programming language? So - do you suggest ppl should refrain from trying their new ways? :-)
And yes, Rebol like syntax might feel kind of weird, when coming from other environments. But it is clean, unnecessary punctuation free, and once used to, very obvious and productive.
As for GUIs, Rebol featured custom one, Red uses binding to native widgets. Both aproaches have their advantages/disadvantages. You can bet, it will improve and I am the one, who would like to see "Metro" supported as far as Windows is concerned ....
As for the Czech wizardry, I might put things into some context, myself being Czech, but far from being a wizard :-) It all stems from the Amiga heritage. Remember - Rebol was created by Carl Sassenrath, Amiga OS creator, and Czech community had kind of strong following to it. Red though, is more multinational, but so was Rebol too - maybe Czechs might be more vocal here or there, in terms of the community involvements. And that's just all.