On Sun, 7 Mar 2010, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:
To give you an example of what I meant by easier to maintain. For the
last 6 months I have pretty much 99% of my time developing under Linux
- that included adding new features and components to fpGUI. Just the
other day I though I better test my work under Windows. Fired up the
VM session and even to my surprise, everything worked 100% like it did
under Linux. That's the benefit I'm talking about - more common code
reduces the amount of bugs and maintenance.
Yes, but you disregard the native look and feel. As soon as you must
introduce that, there will be less common code.
And as soon as someone says 'I want native look and feel', you're
That's what the themes are for. :) As for the "feel" - I haven't had a
user complain yet. Most components (buttons, menus, comboboxes, grids
etc.) all work like the users where used to under native Windows
applications. So clearly it's just developers that have an issue with
the "feel", not the common user.
This is manifestly uncorrect. Show your product and a competing product
with roughly similar features but using 'standard' windows controls, and
you can be assured that the user will choose for the standard one.
I am not pulling this out of my hat, this is feedback from the sales
manager after demos for potential clients.
I can only guess, but I think the reason you are getting away with your
path is that you're in a situation where there simply is no competing
product.
If I was planning Lazarus' future (for clarity: I am not), I would lay out
for the LCL:
See, now that is the type of thing I'm talking about. Have some goal
for the LCL, and try and reach that goal. Currently, it's just from
version to version, adding more features, introducing regression bugs
and having no stable version of the IDE or LCL. Simply not ideal, and
very hard to promote to others.
Personally, I don't have the impression that there are regressions,
and I work with Lazarus daily. But that doesn't show much, it can be
that I simply don't use the areas under development.
I can only regret that this happens to you, but it is up to the Lazarus
devels to declare a complete feature stop and work to 1.0.
This is one of the benefits of commercial companies: there the pressure
for a feature stop and enter a bug-fixing phase is simply larger. As a
developer, one is paid for it, it is ones job. it probably shows in fpGUI.
Lazarus is a hobby for most that work on it; so there is less pressure.
And for the record: none of what I write is meant to diminish the achievements
of fpGUI. I think it is a hell of a job to create a widgetset. But I do
believe that if the same time had been spent on the LCL, Lazarus might have
already been at 1.0.
Michael.
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