Bill -- > I have to agree that 1) no Windows version, and 2) difficult > installation are real problems for selling gEDA in any real commercial > organization.
I view gEDA as a trojan horse for Linux, since a free EDA suite will bring engineers to the good side. Therefore, I don't care about Windows. I know this is a quixotic minority opinion. . . . As for installation, once Ales releases the next rev (coming very soon. . . .), I will put my install CD .iso onto geda.seul.org for folks to download. It automates the installation process with a Python-based GUI which manages the ./configure && make && make install process for all the usual tools (not just gEDA/gaf). Since you're apparently distributing gEDA to your customers who don't want to hassle with Makefiles, configure, dependencies, and so on, it's just the kind of distribution you could use. Of course, I'd prefer to *sell* you the stuff on physical media with a nice gEDA label, and your customers might appreciate professional-looking CDs too . . . . Contact me off list if you are interested. > I've concluded that those of us willing to work with open-source tools > don't mind this kind of thing. Neither the installation or limited > platforms keeps me from using it, but of course, I'm a hacker. > > Getting average Joe to use it is another matter... Yeah, but the ultimate target audience is "Joe Average User". One thing we developers need to keep in mind is that usability is *key* for software. Even smart EEs -- who could figure stuff out better than 90% of any computer users -- don't want to hassle with strange quirks or difficult installs. Unfortunately, many free software types respond to usability criticism with "oh, it works on Debian. Perhaps you didn't configure fromeldy-gook to munge your automake system. Try upgrading to kernal 2.6.2 and create a symlink between /dev/proc/dead and /mnt/rushmore." Naturally, this kind of comment doesn't help spread F/OSS anywhere; rather, software should "just work". Yes, it is far more difficult to make software which "just works", but look at Apple's OSX. It started as an open-source project (BSD) and look at it now. Good UI design and open-source are not incompatible (although I agree that it helps to have a small army of brilliant programmers, and gobs of cash to pay them). > The other issues seem like normal user complaints about typical > commercial tools. gEDA is fine compared to half of them out there. Yeah, but it can be better than *all* of them out there! Stuart
