Windows ports

[Karsten M. Self]

--5L6AZ1aJH5mDrqCQ
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

on Sat, Jan 12, 2002 at 10:36:37PM -0800, Ian Zimmerman (itz@speakeasy.org)=
 wrote:
>=20
> Alan> You have to admit, discussing Windows at a Bay Area Debian
> Alan> meeting is like trying to sell dog $#!T at a lawn party!
>=20
> Karsten> - From the strategic standpoint, incrementalism works to free
> Karsten> software's favor.  Availability of free software on the Win32
> Karsten> platform makes possible trialling of aspects of the GNU/Linux
> Karsten> experience.  Realizing that legacy MS Windows systems
> Karsten> outnumber GNU/Linux ones 20:1, it's a nice leverage of our
> Karsten> codebase.  My feeling is that the advantages of free software
> Karsten> will be made more accessible this way, and that the appeal of
> Karsten> a completely free solution will be stronger once a small sip
> Karsten> is taken.
>=20
> I have mixed feelings on this point, in part because, not having to
> deal with Windows for some time (at least not in a development
> situation), I don't have the factual knowledge I need to take a
> position.  If Karsten's last sentence is clearly true, I am all for
> doing the ports.

> However, even during my last bout with Windows + cygwin about 3 years
> ago, it seemed to me that getting the Frankenstein to work flawlessly
> was impossible.  Things were always just-a-little-bit broken, not
> enough to make one use the GUI but enough to fill the soundscape with
> unprintable utterances :-)=20

My experience dates a bit further back, to 1997, but was similar, though
largely userland rather than development.  I was looking for a Unix-like
environment, and none of the various "compatibility kits" (MKS, Interix,
Uwin, Cygwin) cut the mustard.  Then I discovered GNU/Linux....

> That might have been a childhood disease that is over now, but it may
> also be that there's just no complete mapping of the Unix API to Win32
> and these glitches are inevitable.  And in this latter case, I think
> that Karsten's hope to appeal to Windows users that way is a false
> one, and the ports would be a waste of time, energy and talent - the
> closest thing to the concept of "sin" I recognize.

My refutation of the last point:  that talent's not for you or me to
direct.  Neither of us are likely to do any work on legacy MS Windows
ports of GNU/Linux apps.  The people who are...will do so for their own
reasons.  While I believe that good talent is scarce, I also think
there's enough talent out there that a bit of self-directed (or possibly
even commercially-directed) focus on this project is a net win.  The
intersection of such a port and the Debian project proper is likely only
in infrastructure -- mailing lists, bug tracking -- systems which we'd
have set up anyway for the most part, and for which staffing would come
from the port itself.  A self-funding effort, to take a business view.

Peace.

--=20
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com>        http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
 What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?              Home of the brave
  http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/                    Land of the free
We freed Dmitry! Boycott Adobe! Repeal the DMCA! http://www.freesklyarov.org
Geek for Hire                      http://kmself.home.netcom.com/resume.html

--5L6AZ1aJH5mDrqCQ
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature
Content-Disposition: inline

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org

iD8DBQE8QU31OEeIn1XyubARAhMYAJ9B31+yXuRkuo0JStMOPUBGbHQaiACfS/0Q
wYOReHEXZ9dHgGQpcD+DosM=
=8y2c
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--5L6AZ1aJH5mDrqCQ--