if I want gummy and a Cocoa environment with the bestest and
latest bloatware included, I can, and always will, buy Apple.
Would I be far wrong if I guessed that most people involved in
GnuStep are old-time NeXTies who want to be able to continue using
their favourite user environment in the 21st century, and continue
to develop it in the same careful, considered, and well-designed
way the original NextStep was developed?
GnuStep may need to ask itself the question - is its goal to
pursue quality and satisfy this core group of users, and grow its
user base organically, OR, to try to appeal to the masses, aim to
become mainstream (an aim which, incidentally, I think is bound
not to be achieved), and consequently have to make some
compromises as a consequence (like Apple has done)?
I think we need to do a little of both (growing organically and
appealing to the masses).
What is the perceived need GnuStep wants to satisfy? What is
GnuStep's goal / target audience/market?
I think it is crucial to be crystal clear on this and to stay very
focussed on that goal if you want to achieve it.
From where I stand, it doesn't look like GnuStep has a huge amount
of market penetration, or even developer penetration. So GnuStep does
not appear to have had much success with these objectives.
However, it has been wonderfully successful at achieving another
equally, if not more, valid, objective, i.e. that of re-creating and
evolving the great NeXT design. A design of virtually Platonic
perfection at the time, but one which has since needed to evolve to
support modern day technologies. This is a niche you appeal to and
you can grow organically. I think Apple has rather let the NeXT
legacy down, and that the job could have been done *much* better. So
I've assumed doing this was GnuStep's objective. If not, what is it?
By trying to appeal to the masses, you will have to compromise (like
Apple has done) and sacrifice goals you've already achieved - and you
have much to be proud of. What will you gain in return? There are a
lot of competitors (Microsoft, Apple, Gnome, KDE etc.) out there who
very successfully cater for the needs of, and appeal to, the mass
market. You will be hard pressed to compete with them.
T
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