Another Input Methods introduction slides -- http://goo.gl/ag7gX



On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 10:09 AM, Peng Huang <[email protected]>wrote:

> Hello everyone, I am one of IBus owners. Please allow me to feed some
> information for IBus.
>
>  * http://goo.gl/9LlX5 , here is a doc which gives some background of
> ibus project.
>  * IBus is bus central multiprocess architecture, benefits are:
>   ** Engines are separated by system process.
>   ** Engines can not affect each other.
>   ** Engine can not access data from other engines and IMF.
>   ** One engine can not crash whole IMF.
>  * IBus is well maintain project and IBus community is very active.
>   ** Changes for ibus from 2012-01-01 (framework only, does not include
> each engines): 239 files changed, 34665 insertions(+), 31937 deletions(-)
>   ** https://github.com/ibus/ibus/commits/master
>  * IBus is a well managed project, we have good code review process to
> guarantee code quality. http://goo.gl/Gw8qQ
>  * IBus supports CJKI and 30+ languages (Sorry I can not get accurate
> number).
>  * IBus supports handwriting as well.
>   ** http://code.google.com/p/ibus-handwrite/
>   ** https://github.com/yusukes/ibus-zinnia
>  * Most major Linux distributions are using ibus.
>  * Chromium OS is using ibus as IMF. Chromium OS community contributed
> many efforts to ibus as well.
>  * IBus is very popular in CJKI and etc. http://www.ohloh.net/p/ibus  235
> users. (Comparing 11 users of  fcitx http://www.ohloh.net/p/fcitx)
>
> Comparing fcitx with ibus
>  * fcitx was developed as Chinese input methods from beginning. In other
> words, the origin project goal is not IMF.
>  * IBus was developed as IMF from day one.
>  * fcitx is using single process architecture. The single process
> architecture is not suit for IMF. It has been approved by SCIM and other IM
> projects. That can not be resolved without re-implementing it from scratch.
>  * Some Chinese IMEs of fcitx may have better UX than engines for IBus.
> But ibus is only a framework. It is not Chinese input method. We can
> improve or provide Chinese IMEs in separate projects for IBus.
>
> IBus update:
>  * In ibus-1.5, Python UI is replaced by vala language implementation.
> Vala will be translate to C. So it has similar performance and memory foot
> print of C language. Only setup UI is python.
>  * Python pinyin engine has been replaced by C++ version in 2009. Only
> setup UI is python.
>
>
> Peng Huang
>
>
> On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 11:49 PM, Ma Xiaojun <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Hi, all.
>>
>> Let me summarize the concerns of Chinese community:
>>
>> GNOME is integrating ibus. This may prohibit the possibility of using
>> other IM frameworks/servers. Worse, this may lead to an unusable
>> release of GNOME.
>>
>> And ibus sucks. Because:
>> 1. Some engines are written in Python therefore slow by nature.
>> 2. Chinese mode stuff can be tricky for Traditional Chinese users.
>> https://github.com/acevery/ibus-table/issues/9
>> 3. gcin/hime is more close to Windows's default input methods for
>> Traditional Chinese.
>> 4. Various reasons show that fcitx is superior to ibus for Simplified
>> Chinese user. For example, ibus-pinyin lags.
>>
>> And ibus is not well maintained. An evidence can be a long list of open
>> issues.
>> http://code.google.com/p/ibus/issues/list
>>
>> Many people believe that recent ibus releases are just fixing bugs and
>> there won't be new fancy features in ibus any more.
>> In the mean time, fcitx is actively developing fancy features.
>> https://www.csslayer.info/wordpress/
>>
>> Though we may be 100% sure that alternatives like fcitx is definitely
>> better. Integrating something that is known to be sucks and not
>> future-proof is counterproductive and meaningless. Experienced Linux
>> users are used to the ups and downs of various IM frameworks/servers
>> so they do value freedom of choosing IM frameworks/servers.
>>
>> Last but not least, ibus and fcitx are not mutual exclusive in runtime
>> since there is Kimpanel. We can switch between fcitx-pinyin and
>> ibus-pinyin dynamically. So the UI/UX improvement of integration is
>> kind of trivial.
>>
>> Please correct me.
>>
>> But why don't people help improving ibus?
>>
>> Because people believe that Weng Xuetian and his friends are among
>> very few FOSS people that master input methods stuff. Reporting issues
>> to ibus doesn't work.
>> And they are developing fcitx.
>> The same should apply to the maintainers of gcin/hime.
>> And people don't believe GNOME project members can actually help the
>> development of input methods stuff. Even if ibus is "upgraded" to a
>> GNOME project. The situation is the same.
>>
>> We all know it's engine rather than framework matters. But it's not
>> Windows where ISVs actively developing apps on cryptic APIs. IMF
>> maintainers also try their best to produce excellent engines. If Weng
>> released a new fancy engine that is naturally only available in fcitx.
>> Then people want to switch framework.
>>
>> When I say "believe". I mean there may not be strong evidence. But
>> that is the image among users. I support any actions that can make
>> things better. But things are quite tricky this time.
>>
>> Best Regards,
>> Ma Xiaojun
>> _______________________________________________
>> desktop-devel-list mailing list
>> [email protected]
>> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/desktop-devel-list
>>
>
>
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