In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Helge Hess <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Aug 27, 2006, at 17:51, Doc O'Leary wrote:
> > I agree with your premise, but not the conclusion. Yes, the Linux
> > market is tiny, but as a developer I would gladly deploy there if the
> > effort were also as tiny to port my Mac software.
>
> Hm, ok. Why would you want to do that?
Hm, ok. Why *wouldn't* you want to do that? I want people to use my
software, and I don't really care if they're using a Mac. If it were
trivial to make software available to Linux users, then I don't see how
it benefits anyone other than Apple to keep it off other platforms.
> As a proprietary software developer, why would I port to a system
> which isn't used? It doesn't matter how easy it is. Lets say porting
> Delicious Library to GNUstep/Linux would take 30 hours which would be
> a very tiny effort.
Now I don't even agree with your premise. 30 hours is *not* a tiny
effort. A tiny effort is ticking a check box like NeXT allowed. As I
stated, if there were a way I could cross-compile and/or have my linked
application "just work" with GNUstep, it would make a huge difference in
how much software is available. As it is, there isn't even a lot of
interest in getting existing open source Mac/Cocoa software running on
GNUstep.
> PS: if you would make it possible to port such Cocoa applications in
> less than a week to GNOME or KDE, it would certainly make sense for
> small scale developers.
> So feel free to add this to my list :-):
> c) reasonably easy and convenient KDE/GNOME porting for Cocoa developers
I will definitely agree that GNUstep could do wonders as a bridging
technology. Like many, I was sorely disappointed with the loss of
Yellow Box, and I have already stated that a better focus for GNUstep
would be for portability rather than as a primary platform.
> > So while Linux might not be that attractive a
> > market financially, technically it makes a good target.
>
> Hm, then you didn't get my initial/basic point :-) The former is the
> driving incentive for most Cocoa developers (as mentioned, very
> little OpenSource Cocoa apps, plenty of shareware style ones). If you
> want to get them, you need to make it attractive financially.
Then my point was lost, too! I'm not saying Linux is a financially
rewarding target market, but rather that it is technically a good first
target for portability. Once the direction is set and that initial baby
step is taken, portability can definitely expand to Windows, or any
other platform that *is* financially viable.
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