> But, if the ultimate goal of SANE is to supplant TWAIN as the > standard for accessing image devices, shouldn't more effort be put
I don't think it is. TWAIN and SANE act on completely different levels. I suppose that once a sufficiently large number of manufacturers support SANE with their code (binary or open-source), they will begin to see that there's no point in wasting time and money writing a separate Windows/MacOS driver, they will just use SANE on these platforms too, with the cross-platform SANE backend they had to write anyway (possibly with their own frontend optimized for their scanners). TWAIN is still going to be the interface between the frontend and the application the image is to be imported to. > Perhaps working examples demonstrating how scanner makers can > leverage their investment in TWAIN support while migrating to SANE > might be useful for getting scanner makers to take notice of > SANE. If an upgrade path was readily shown, techno-geeks at the > manufacturer might prefer and sell the SANE idea to managers within > the company. I don't think we can do a lot at the moment. There's no update path from TWAIN to SANE that I can see, and you can't tell who the techno-geeks in a company are without having had prior contact with them. I think that more and more developers of proprietary software realize that open-source can save them money and effort and create superior products (they already see that the first time they pop that Knoppix CD into their Windows computer), so it's only a matter of time before they start lobbying within the company. > Formal propoganda of industry heavyweight support (a consortium of > scanner makers and front-end application development houses) on the > web-site might make other makers feel the need to join in. That sounds a bit like Darl McBride to me. I don't think any of us hobbyist SANE developers have the financial and legal backing needed to claim any heavyweight industry support. > Without this kind of direction, I simply see SANE as being a > hobbyist-level effort which is why I questioned the future of > it. Thanks for listening and answering my questions. That's how all open-source projects start out, just like Linux, GIMP, etc. Look at what's become of them, I'm quite confident that SANE will have a similar future. Andras
