Mail Archives: djgpp/1999/03/29/07:42:42
Wes Kurdziolek writes:
>If you're a Slashdotter like me, you'll notice that Apple has started
>an Open Source-ish program
With an emphasis on "ish" :-) Although it is very cool to see them even
considering doing something like this, giving away only those portions
of their OS that were originally taken from BSD is hardly a very
significant contribution to the rest of the world. I'm afraid that they
are mainly doing this because it will make them look cool, and not
understanding that just becuase some open source projects can be hugely
successful, that doesn't automatically mean that hundreds of people
will start working on your program just because you put the sources on
the net, if you don't also have a convincing reason to make them want
to do this.
>> Wish 3.
>> A stable X-Windowing system-compatible GUI for DOS.
>
>I'd like to see that, too. Anyone else interested? I posted earlier about
>my trying to organize the writing of a windowing system w/ Allegro, but
>if a group of people want to port X, I'd happily agree to take a major
>part in it. Heck, I'll coodinate it if you want. Fun, fun, fun!
A DOS version of X strikes me as being much more useful than writing a
new system from scratch. A window manager is only as good as the
programs available for it, and personally I'd much rather see a DOS
version of the Gimp than yet another GUI system without any apps.
A lot of people do seem to want to write their own window managers
from scratch, sometimes for good technical reasons like efficiency or
meeting a specialised need, but I think in other cases more because of
the "not invented here" syndrome. If you decide to make your own system
rather than porting X, why not contribute to one of the several existing
projects listed on http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro/addons.html,
such as DEGUI, WHAM, JAWS, PAW, or Uniforms?
Shawn Hargreaves.
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