On Fri, Feb 08, 2013 at 01:47:08PM -0700, Bruce Sherwood wrote: > So, Roger, you've just given additional, very compelling evidence for > Microsoft incompetence! They weren't even able to kill OpenGL! > > Seriously though, the OpenGL piece hasn't been a problem on any platform > except for Ubuntu, where off and on there's a serious problem with VPython > users trying to install a competent graphics driver. The problems that have > repeatedly come up for me with the Mac have had to do with operating system > changes, and the problems on Ubuntu (other than graphics) have been broken > libraries, in both cases in the part of the world having to do with > creating a window and handling events. > > Bruce >
To add a data point to Bruce's, I'm prinicpally involved in a cross platform project called Minsky (http://minsky.sf.net). I found that the order of increasing problems was Linux, Windows, MacOSX. The code is essentially posix, although neutered down so that the MingW environment can build the code successfully. The platform independence is given by the TCL/Tk library. I was surprised that the Mac was so problematic. Part of the problem is that each and every Mac upgrade introduces different dependency layers - so for example, if I build on a 64 bit Mac, it won't run on a 32 bit version, or if I go to the trouble of doing a 32 bit build, how do I ensure all the requisite dynamic libraries are present. How do I know whether a user will have the library already there as part of the system, or need to provide a copy along with my release. The answer, after many permutations, and irate comments from my Mac users was to use VirtualBox virtual machines. I create one VM with just MacOSX as it comes on its install disk (which turns out to be a 32 bit OS), and another VM with just the above, plus the standard XCode install. Then I build the project on the latter, and test on the former. But there are also a host of other irritations. For example, you cannot specify an initial directory to open when opening a file (eg its nice to start from where you previous opened your files). This apparently is a feature, not a bug! Another one is its treatment of transparent buttons - turns out they're not so transparent after all, but are rendered in a shade of gray that is darker at the top, and lighter at the borrom. On the plus side, getting the Mac installer to work correctly took about half a day, compared with a full three days to get the equivalent stuff to work with WiX on Windows (M$ installer scripts were designed by a committee, I'm sure of it). The reason why Linux gets off so lightly? I don't even build binaries for Linux - I expect the Linux user to know how to run make, and to be sufficiently motivated to do so. I know that's not necessarily true, and getting builds into the diverse package managers out there would help takeup of my product, but at around 5-10% of my market, I'm not too concerned, provided that it is possible. The market share, according to my figures is 5-10% Linux, 20-25% Mac and 70-75% Windows. I have ocasionally seen Windows drop below 70%, but I think that was prior to Windows 7 adoption. Cheers -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
