Re: Objective-C 2.0 and other new features in Leopard

[Jesse Ross]

> As for the slogan, I really don't think GNUstep should try to be  
> the "poor man's Mac".  Mac really isn't that great (talking about  
> the Mac itself, not Cocoa), and not a lot of people use it.  In my  
> opinion, GNUstep should try to put a gap between it and Mac while  
> emphasizing the Cocoa/OpenStep similarities and ease of use.   
> Something like "GNUstep - code less" (a pun to the "code  
> differently" idea); "GNUstep - write once deploy everywhere" (this  
> one was proposed over a year ago by someone else as a pun to Java's  
> "write once run everywhere").  I, personally, like the "write once  
> deploy everywhere" one... maybe a hybrid: "code less, deploy  
> everywhere".

Call me cynical, but coming up with a slogan doesn't really seem like  
a solution to the issues that we're having. We need developers, plain  
and simple. In order to get developers, we need positive exposure.  
That's not going to happen by pushing what amounts to marketing- 
speak. Positive exposure is only going to come from building  
powerful, innovative applications that make use of GNUstep. We need,  
to put it bluntly, "killer apps".

If you build something that people want to install, users will show  
up to work around deficiencies: packaging, porting, etc. New users  
will make it easier for themselves, which makes it easier for others,  
which causes an ecosystem to grow around it. I would guess that Ruby  
(and Ruby's marketshare and mindshare) has been improved as a result  
of Rails being the "Next Big Thing". GNUstep will only get into that  
position by having unique, desirable applications built using it.

========================================

GNUstep can be the easiest framework to install, it can be available  
on every platform in the world... until users and developers get  
inspired by seeing the amazing things that can be built with it  
though, none of that matters.

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J.