[Desktop_architects] Re: Portland: How to fix this situation

Otto Wyss otto.wyss at orpatec.ch
Fri Dec 9 14:00:32 PST 2005


 > I expect Wine will only be needed during the transition from Windows 
to Linux.
 > Once Linux achieves sufficient market share, app vendors will begin 
delivering
 > the Linux apps we need.  Wine will still be needed thereafter, just like
 > Cobol is needed today, but it won't be used for running new apps.
 >
I think so too but there will be always some Windows-Only applications 
which Wine is the only solutions. IMO this will always be the case in 
the professional environment, so Wine should concentrate there. There's 
mostly a sysadmin around for installation, etc. but the application 
itself will be used by an average user.

In the same categories falls the terminal server but out of 20 apps one 
won't run. Still terminal server should be considered for bringing 
applications to Linux as well.

 > The message might be "If you're not ready to invest in a full native
 > port of your Windows app to Linux, you should consider using
 > Wine to do a quick port of your Windows application to Linux.
 > to judge demand for a Linux version of your product.  Here are a
 > few case studies of how this was done by ISVs in the past..."
 >
When trying to improve the application shortage we not only need a 
master plan but also a division into short term, medium term and long 
term actions. In the short term supporting Wine and terminal server is 
probably the easiest to bring applications to Linux. Then to port Linux 
applications to Windows like Inkscape and Gimp have done.

In the medium term all the important applications of the master plan 
have to be made wyoGuide conformant. Only then will they have a chance 
to be true alternatives to the Windows counterparts.

And in the long or very long term all applications have to be made true 
cross-platform as I've outlined in wyoGuide. In the end there is no 
alternative since true cross-platform means simpler, better, faster, 
etc. Even OpenOffice and Mozilla one day have to switch because they 
can't afford to support their own frameworks. It doesn't have to be 
today or tomorrow but the day where the switch has to be done will come.

To give you an idea about true cross-platform look into wyoEditor 
("http://wyoguide.sf.net/index.php?page=editor.html", Linux screen shot 
is here "http://freshmeat.net/projects/wyoeditor/"). It's more or less 
just a wxWidgets wrapper around the Scintilla editing control for GTK 
and Windows. True cross-platform doesn't mean all code has to be written 
new, only the platform specific part.

O. Wyss

PS. is it possible to just be subscribed to this group? The OSDL 
membership is rather difficult to get and answering through the web 
isn't much better.

-- 
Application guidelines: http://freshmeat.net/projects/wyoguide/
Cross-platform Editor: http://freshmeat.net/projects/wyoeditor/
Cross-platform Filemanager http://freshmeat.net/projects/wyofiler/




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