Re: Discuss-gnustep Digest, Vol 87, Issue 24

[Gregory Casamento]

J.

On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 8:29 AM, J. Jordan <jjordanthesailor@gmail.com> wrote:
> Gregory,
>
> I am not saying GNUstep should be just OpenStep, it should be an evolution
> of OpenStep taking advantage of advancements in Open Source software.  Tying
> GNUstep to OSX means eliminating much of the usefulness and functionality
> which Apple has given up in pursuit of popularity.

We do have our own extensions.  The current policy is to follow OS
X/Cocoa as much as is possible or practical.

Hypothetically speaking, If we don't follow Cocoa, then we shouldn't
have "NS" at the the beginning of our classes.   We should change them
all to GS and just be GNUstep without concern for Cocoa.

We need to be as compatible as possible, but still be our own project.
 This is a tight line to walk.

> Apple's switch from
> vertical to horizontal menus was not driven by improvement, it was driven by
> usability studies of Windows trained users and in the process eliminated
> very useful tear-of menus.  I went out and bought two MACs when I saw OSX
> then they started tearing out functions and throwing them away so I sold my
> MACs and went to a pure Linux household.  OSX has gone off on a tangent
> trying to enforce Apples vision of how a desktop should look and how a
> desktop should operate, eliminating all choice in the process. Apple writes
> software to sell hardware.  I would also be fearful of making GNUstep too
> much like OSX which is produced by one of the most litigation-happy
> corporations in history.

It's been 15 years, they haven't sued us yet and, most likely, never
will.  If they did it would be a very bad move on their part since
they would be going up against the FSF.

> Glade is a development environment with which you build GTK and Gnome
> applications, Xcode is a development environment with which you build OSX
> applications.

Glade is an application, not GTK in it's entirety...  Xcode is an IDE,
not Cocoa in it's entirety... :)

GNUstep, as I've said in the past, is an API + a development environment.

> I would say that GNUstep is a "Desktop" and that a PART of that desktop is a
> rich development environment.  WindowMaker is not a desktop it is a Window
> Manager.  I can't get past the flowers on Etoile to figure out what it is.

If we become a "Desktop" then the impression becomes that our apps
will not be useful on anything other than *OUR* desktop or that they
won't blend with other desktops.

What would you suggest we do to address this concern?

> Don't think for minute that I don't appreciate your efforts, I am pleased
> with the current usability of the GNUstep environment compared to 5 years
> ago but I dream of a day when I have a purely GNUstep desktop with
> everything written in Objective-C or C where I can modify every application
> using Gorm and Project Center and do everything I need to do without needing
> to resort to things like OpenOffice or FireFox.

Me too, honestly.   I would like to make that happen.

> -j
>
>
>
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-- 
Gregory Casamento
yahoo/skype: greg_casamento, aol: gjcasa
(240)274-9630 (Cell)