On Tue, 23 Jun 2009, Shawn Walker wrote:
> > Other X toolkits, in my (biased :-) opinion, are just reinventing the
> > wheel (and many subtle bugs) with no real benefit to application
> > developers or end users.
>
> Accessibility and modernisation integration are areas where Motif is
> severely lacking.
The is just wrong, as the counter-example I posted previously shows.
While Motif practically invented and certainly excels at accessibility
(for the visually impaired) I think you also mean internationalization
and localization, which I didn't mention before. Motif pioneered a lot
of internationalization (i18n), and wide character set support, and
excels in that area, too. Its already there and has been for many
years. Top flite commercial applications have used Motif for these and
other reasons. You've been able to get it free now for 9 years.
> While there are accessibility solutions for Motif, they were
> commercial at last check, and keyboard-centric in nature.
??? Keyboards are handled by the X Server.
> Also consider that the last time OpenMotif was updated was in 2000.
> Such a stagnant project speaks volumes about its future viability.
Err, no. OpenMotif was FIRST released free in 2000. Since then there
have been updates and releases by ICS and IST. Many free distributions
contain OpenMotif. Google for 'open motif' brings up quite a bit.
Motifzone.com is creating releases and packages. Not exactly the 'dead
project' that you are making it out to be.
Future viability is guarenteed by the wide porting of Motif to so many
platforms, both free and non-free, and continued usefulness of the
X-server. The end-users and application developers benefit from the
consistent, standardized user interface. So long as those groups benefit
and there's no standardized alternative, Motif will remain viable.
> So, respectfully, I must disagree.
Respectfully, I ask that you check your facts on Motif. I think you will
find Motif much more interesting and viable than you previously thought.
Anyway, I don't mean to go to far into a license digression or Motif vs.
<other toolkit> flame war. Operating system distributions should
provide whatever toolkits they can. Lets leave it at that, and not
denigrate the toolkits we don't like.
--Dean
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