Re: A Critique: Getting Started with GNUstep on Windows

[Doc O'Leary]

For your reference, records indicate that 
Dan Hitt <dan.hitt@gmail.com> wrote:

> For developing software --- it was easy and pleasant
> to bang out applications using NeXT, and imvho there
> is still nothing comparable, certainly not in the free world.

But does that workflow call for an entire OS to support it?  Sure, it’d
be nice to *get* to that some day, but with limited resources I’d argue
that a more modest and calculated approach is what GNUstep needs to be
viable for the future.

> I also use a Mac for work, and i also have virtual machines
> running on it.  But that's not the same as being able
> to easily build a top-level application that feels as
> rugged as the ones that ship with the box and interacts
> with them easily.

Sure, the “native” appeal can’t be ignored, but I say GNUstep is
reaching beyond its grasp if it tries to get there by dismissing all
the apps that are available for the Mac.  It is *silly* to have an
XV-like app on the GAP wishlist, point to the outdated and bare-bones
LaternaMagica, and completely ignore Mac apps like Phoenix Slides that
could get the job done *if only* GNUstep developers would focus on the
core code rather than reimplementing ObjC apps from scratch that already
exist.

> And as Doug Simons and others have pointed out, there are
> a lot of competing visions.  What's good for my use case
> may be worse than useless for his.

Sure.  That’s why I’d like GNUstep to have a specific stated vision/plan
of its own, so that it is clear to newcomers whether or not their time
should be spent following/contributing to the project.  Leaving it as a
free-for-all is *not* the way to engage a larger community.

-- 
"Also . . . I can kill you with my brain."
River Tam, Trash, Firefly