GNUstep (desktop) for enterprises

[Andreas Höschler]

Hello all,

I would like to initiate a little survey!

• How many (who) companies are using or planning to use base for 
commercial applications?
• How many (who) companies are using or planning to use base, gui, back 
for real enterprise applications?
• How many (who) companies offer or are planning to offer a GNUstep 
(Window Maker, Etoile,...) based desktop to their customers?

Once we have gathered this list we have an idea of the short term 
potential of GNUstep in enterprises and might even find a way to 
organize funds to get the remaining work done quickly.

I think we should attack the enterprise market first. This is what 
NeXTstep tried (EOF,...). They failed but nevertheless. Apple is 
attacking the masses with this iPod, iMove, iWhoKnowsWhat approach. We 
don't have the resources to address the end user market, but we might 
and should be able to drag together enough resources to realize a 
GNUstep based desktop for enterprises that can easily be installed and 
maintained by the miriads of consultants and system integrators out 
there by simply installing a disk image or a defined list of binary 
packages.

• We need to solve a few desktop issues (DND, Copy & Paste, Kill an app 
with gui application, stable (multithreaded) window manager that 
continues to operate if an app hangs,...)
• We need easy to install packages for a hand full of platforms 
(Solaris x86, Solaris SPARC, Debian, SuSE,...)
• Once we have these defined platforms, companies can start to sell 
commercial software (binary form) for these defined platforms.

So IMHO we need an entity that is defining this desktop platform, 
develops what is missing and maintains it for a set of OSes. We would 
be willing to fund such an entity, but we can't afford to do this 
alone. So who else (companies, VCs,...) is commited enough to support 
this initiative (open source based [Objective-C, OPENSTEP] desktop for 
enterprises) with funds and how could this be set up? Any ideas?

Regards,

  Andreas