Re: GNUstep theming (was Re: Objective-C 2.0 and other new features in Leopard)

[Riccardo]

Hi,

On 2007-11-28 10:46:39 +0100 Dr Tomaž Slivnik <T.Slivnik@haldev.com> wrote:

> I am very seriously considering switching to a Unix variant + GnuStep  (be it 
> Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, etc. - I do not know). The Unix layer  of Apple is 
> definitively unsatisfactory. As is their approach to  releasing software - 
> release lots of flashy gummy but pay no  attention to whether staple features 
> actually work.
I appreciate Darwin, but I too share your view of too much gummy stuff as you 
call it. I dislike so many choices in MacOS.. but I soo much like other things 
it is very conflictuary. I still run 10.2.8. But switching to another unix with 
GNUstep is not viable yet: i have 3 computers, but stil hand back to mac.

> But I believe that most likely switchers / potential valuable  developer 
> contributors to GnuStep are now on Mac OS X. You have to  make it easy for 
> such people to install GnuStep on their machines.
But why GNUstep on MacOS? The ultimate goal of applications in GAP is to have 
them run on Mac too, but natively built.

 
> Has TexShop or NeXTTeX been ported to Gnustep? What about OmniGroup,  could 
> they be persuaded to port?

You raise an important point. As GAP co-admin I have tried several times to 
contact old OpenStep program authors to motivate them to release their source, 
possible under a suitable license. I always failed. Gregory, the project 
maintainer, failed too even with this "title". Also with private people (Scott 
Hess comes to my mind). It is very sad because prorgams of high quality get 
lost.
The case of Omni was again and again of topic since the wide range of 
applications they worked on.
I contacted them for the OmniWeb stuff (the sources of the framework are 
available, but under a strange license) but they said it was too much work to 
put them in shape, even if I requested them "in any state".
Omni worked also on the Lighthouse applications but those are from Sun now and 
they are probably lost forever.

If you find some stuff, possibly rereleased as GPL or BSD, don't hesistate to 
contact me. We can port it and distribute it. But first you need the source.

An exceedlingly nice application to port (and generally maintain for mac too) 
would be TIFFany but i never got a reply. That would be a top-quality 
application.

The advantage of OpenStep over Mac stuff is as you state yourself not only the 
easier compatibility, but the better quality of many of those applications 
compared to many mac siblings which seem to be crammed together just for 
effects. Sure there is good stuff there too, no doubt.

Riccardo