M Harris wrote:
On Monday 16 April 2007 15:41, Greg Freemyer wrote:
I definitely think it would be logical to have a Windows Compatibility
tool that allowed Windows source code to easily be ported to Linux.
If Wine fits that goal, fantastic.
The problem of making wine work consistently is one of licensing for one
thing. Technically, I can move any of the windoze dlls over to my wine setup
an make just about any windoze application work... I did that back at IBM
where I was able to make Lotus Notes run in wine... but the problem is that
those windoze components require a windoze license also, and when you're
done, you're still using closed software.
I don't think that's what Greg is talking about. He means FOSS apps
targeted at windows. Picassa is a poor example because it's closed source.
The problem with this is that it gives MS control of the APIs. Some are
stable, yes, but when it comes to adding features, this means that /by
definition/ MS apps will have the advantage. Whereas if apps are
targeted at FOSS APIs, the developers of the APIs will be able to add
new features much more quickly and innovatively (not having to ape MS or
wait for them to add a feature).
Now, as a stop-gap, [ believe this or not guys ] I am not apposed to doing that for the short term if an app is
absolutely critical until a replacement can be built.
This is a reasonable approach, IMO.
Running a win app on linux and porting a win app to linux are two different
things. The cite above uses the word "ported" which in fact wine does not do.
Wine does allow a win app to run on linux until such time as the app can be
"ported," that is, rewritten for native linux.
What he meant was that the Wine APIs are restricted relative to the
Windows APIs, which means some apps don't work. But if one deliberately
restricts the app to those APIs implemented under Wine, possibly
modifying it in the process, I think it's fair to describe it as being
ported to Wine.
The bottom line is that there are many apps that *must* be written soon...
I'd think a lot are under development.
an industrial strength CAD program for instance,
qcad? http://www.ribbonsoft.com/*qcad*.html Or do you mean 3d?
Logos Research logos software,
Sword? http://www.crosswire.org/sword/index.jsp
and maybe on my mind right now because its April--- a tax processing program
complete with electronic filing for both Fed and State...
http://www.grisbi.org/
Grisbi might be a good starting point. I know very little/nothing about
US tax law. Wouldn't you require 50 odd modules for state tax requirements?
--
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
