Ashley just suggesting it be something like how you do Node Webkit. To allow plugins / game to output an IPA or APK in the same fashion.
Intel XDK though is going through it's own updates and changes and this does and has cause problems. it's not always this way but when you are on a timeline and find that something is broken, it creates a real concern about dependability.
Having something that you maintain and only update as needed would help insure that updates don't create new problems. having some standards for plugin developers to test against would help everyone insure their stuff works reliably everyone. maybe this puts us a little behind at times on bleeding edge performance tweaks but I think it's safe to say that most of us would take stability over performance.
you owning your own cordova solution (my understanding is that it's open source?) would insure we NEVER have to worry about any of them being unreliable/unfair because we stay safe in the C2 environment. This also means added services / features / options could be offered (for a price) to allow C2/C3 developers to opt in too.
I don't know what your price models are for C3.. but I think most of us who are professional developers know C2 is a good value and frankly I'd be happy to pay more for C3 because it will run on Mac (amen!) and i mean back when I was a game salad developer I was paying $300 a year to be a pro developer and that engine is a kids toy compared to what C2 is capable of. I understand it is more to take on and it may take additional help.
The common theme among EVERYONE I know who use C2 is that it's incredible for making games quickly and effectively. We can explore a broad range of game ideas and happy developers mean productive developers, but what I'm also hearing (which reflects my own experiences) is that when it comes time to publish.. productivity goes south.. time wasted over endless testing building pushing over and over suddenly takes the dream of creating a game and publishing it half fulfilled. If something could be done to make the plugin / authoring process to be stable and universal.
I do understand some people might not like it.. and guess what? they can still choose those other platforms.. you're not limiting anyone.. but you are offering a standard that (if I understand cordova correctly) you own. I can see being reliant on another service/3rd party putting you in a bad place (like cocoonjs) but that's because they make their own changes.. make their own rules.. in this solution you are the gate keeper. You keep developers in your environment and even keep money coming that way.. if Cocoon IO can ask $500 to debrand their apps.. maybe you could too? I'm not a fan of that method, i'm just spitballing here.. but ultimately there must be a way that the signing of apps for iOS/Android (and even windows phone if you are inclined) could all be safely inside the Construct environment.
This also means all forums posts about people having trouble can likely get straight answers.. because everyone is using the same approach.. right now if an XDK user is having trouble.. any phonegap / cocoonio people will have little help to offer.. and this is what's happen.. "works for me on phonegap..." or whatever platform they use.
Thanks Ashley for taking some time to respond to this. I hope you understand it's not torches and pitchforks here, we're just really passionate about this software and see this particular aspect of it as something perhaps could be resolved with your help and maybe we help you see a need you hadn't realized exists.