> So am I, I just don't see much point in starting yet-another-word-processor
> project when it's possible to improve an existing one.
That's the point where opinions differ.
You think of LyX as something that could be improved fairly easy.
As long as 'improving' means 'adding features' I could even agree (when
stretching the definition of 'fairly' a bit ;-)).
But I think improving LyX *is* difficult, not because it is already perfect
but because of all built-in legacies. I think the now defunct branch is
*the* proof that structural improvements to LyX are impossible. Without
structural improvements I can't see it survive.
> We tried to make a giant leap forward with the previous development branch
> but with only six or so in the team we couldn't get the momentum to get
> airborne.
You did not start from scratch. You took an important part out of LyX,
rewrote it and tried to fit it in again. I did not fit.
> Hence the demise of the old branch and the change of plan to a
> softly softly approach. Lots of little safe steps. At least we can
> backport the major changes from the old development strand and LyX will
> evolve over time into the glorious wonder we all want it to become.
Does anybody actually work on that? I just diffed the 'old' and 'new'
files in the main src dir. 69000 lines. Even if you take into account
that 'diff' does not work optimally, it's a safe guess to say there are
10000 lines of changes *excluding* all the kernel stuff.
Even if we had backported those 10000 lines we would have a nice kernel,
but to achieve GUI independence etc, more work would be needed. A lot of
it, I'd say...
On the other hand: Writing 10000 lines *from scratch* (I do mean an
empty directory here!) is not *that* hard. Especially when all the ideas
are already there.
> We didn't. Maybe some more noise and hype might have gotton more people
> to help out.
I don't think so. I tried a couple of times to get involved with LyX
development and I always gave up because it was too difficult for me to
understand what's going on. Things need to be simple for people to start
work. LyX is not simple and won't be for quite a while, so there won't
be many new developers. And so on ;-|
Andre'
PS:
> ...
> Argueably you only get airborne by either running faster or jumping off a
> cliff. At least if you fail to takeoff while running you still have a
> life ahead of you ;-)
It's just one of your virtual lifes that you are losing ;-)
--
Andre' Poenitz ...................... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
