Talk to the GNUWin II Team

imevil writes "GNUWin II is a collection of Free Software for Windows, and it also includes articles about Free Software and explanation pages. It is multilingual (it was born as a Swiss product). You can browse the CD online or download the ISO from one of our mirrors. The GNUWin II team is ready to answer to your questions, about GNUWin II, and also about GNU Generation, the student association at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne who gave birth to the GNUWin project."

Comments

Pun time

[MondoMor]

Those guys are really dedicated.

They don't GNU Win II Quit! LOL OMG WTF

kill me

Missing FAQ question

[MoThugz]

Q20: Who's the chick in the pictures?

Re:Missing FAQ question

[rmarll]

Q20: Who's the chick in the pictures?

That, is the girl that gets guys like me to buy their software.

Re: Missing FAQ question

[Black Parrot]

> Q20: Who's the chick in the pictures?

I forsee a worse than usual slashdotting coming on.

Re:Missing FAQ question

[Anonymous Coward]

That answer question is answered on the site, there's a The GNUWin team [en] page. Her name appears to be Thi Ngoc Tu Ho and then a little search on Google seems to reveal she has a Home Page and if you go there, and click on My Life Partner you'll see that her life partner is one Ivo Blöchliger and if you cross reference back to where it all started, the GNUWin team page, you'll see that this guy is the first guy on the GNUWin team. Maybe they can add it to the FAQ now that I've done the legwork.

Major problems

[kruetz]

What was the hardest aspect of producing the GNUWin II CD? Was it selecting the software? Was it making sure the software worked okay (ie, were there any major portings issues, and if so, how much work did you have to do vs. how much did the developer do). Was it something else entirely?

Also, what criteria did you use to select the software? Did you consider which applications had a UI that Windows users would find more comfortable? Did you consider any programs that you weren't able to get running under Windows?

BTW, best of luck with the project. My father has been using the Win32 port of the GIMP for about two years now and loves it! As I type, he's (ab)using his work's net connection to d/l the ISOs.

from the "making-windows-liveable" dept?

[TheReckoning]

Windows is pretty easy to live with as it is.

I guess it depends on your paradigm... command-line commandos don't like the GUI's insulation, while GUI geeks hate remembering a bunch of bizarre program names.

Unless I'm missing the point - the only real failing of Win32 is that a lot of stuff can't be scripted because of the lack of a CLI. Does GNUWIN allow for some of this? Does it have hooks into system admin programs on Win32?

Re:from the "making-windows-liveable" dept?

[stratjakt]

>> Unless I'm missing the point - the only real failing of Win32 is that a lot of stuff can't be scripted because of the lack of a CLI

If anything, Windows is even more scriptable than linux because of COM and it's progeny, ActiveX. The functionality of just about every portion of the OS is available, and that of any application that chooses to expose it's functionality. So script away in VBScript, Javascript, TCL, or any other COM-aware language - dealers choice.

Linux is great and all, but you really wind up with an incohesive jumble of software, each developed in it's own little bubble with no knowledge of the others. If your lucky you can get an integer return value to tie it all together.

The problem with most free software for windows is that it carries the *nix school of thought. No exposed interfaces, and they don't like to play nice with the rest of the system. COM is really a binary format that has nothing to do with OS's (there's no reason it couldnt be implemented in linux), so it's not about it being proprietary.

MS-bashers are quick to point out shortcomings in the OS, but never seem to notice the Good Things (tm) that make it popular.

Re:cygwin?

[Kourino]

Actually, GnuWIN includes Cygwin, as well as several packages that aren't in Cygwin. For example, LiteStep, which only makes sense on Windows (since it's an alternative Windows shell - that is, litestep.exe runs instead of explorer.exe). Not all of the stuff in GnuWIN is actually GNU. It's just a convenient collection of free/gratis (are all these free/libre?) apps for Windows.

This bothers me ...

[SuperDuG]

GNU/FSF is ran by RMS who feels that the world should be free, but GNU now wants to support the windows platform officially? If you can run these popular tools on windows will RMS be emailing windows and telling them to rename windows GNU/Windows?

Slashdotted, FAQ and software list

[jonman_d]

The site's moving at a crawl, so here's the FAQ and software list (what I just happen to have open when I noticed its slashdottedness):

Q1: What is GNUWin II ?
R1: GNUWin-II is a free software distribution for MS-Windows. It includes a large spectrum of programs, notably a whole office suite (MS-Office compatible), Internet utilities, development tools (C, C++, ...), typesetting software (LaTeX), calculus environments, games, ...

Q2: Who made GNUWin II ?
R2: GNUWin-II was made and is still being improved by GNU Generation, a team of students of the EPFL who promote free software and operating systems. It is a collaborative and voluntary project.

3: What is the purpose of GNUWin II ?
R3: The purpose of GNUWin-II is to help Windows users discover the free software and Open Source world. After using free software on MS-Windows, it is easier to migrate to a free operating system (GNU/Linux for instance), where the same programs are used.

Q4: How much does GNUWin II cost ?
R4: GNUWin II is free (as a "free beer"). The programs included on the CD are free software (here, free is to be understood as free in "free speech"). The edition work and HTML pages that contain GNUWin-II are themselves copyrighted under a free license.

Q5: Why GNUWin II and not GNUWin 98 ?
R5: Because GNUWin-II is the second version. The first one can be seen here. GNUWin is not a Microsoft product, and we do not count "3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, 2000" !

Q6: May I copy this CD ?
R6: Yes, you are encouraged to do so, and to distribute copies of this CD.

Q7: May I lend this CD to a friend ?
R7: Yes, you can give / lend / copy / distribute this CD as often as you want to.

Q8: Where can I get the licenses so that I can use the programs included on the CD ?
R8: You do not need to buy licenses, as all applications on the CD are free software or Open Source software.

Q9: May I use the programs included on this CD for professional or commercial purposes ?
R9: Yes you may. There are no restrictions on the use of the programs.

Q10: What is the difference between the programs included on this CD and freeware that can be found on the Internet ?
R10: Most freeware programs are "free" in the sense that they don't cost you money ("free" as in "free beer"). This is your only freedom. On top of this, these programs are often watered-down versions of commercial products (be it with limited functions or limited time of use). The programs that are included on this CD are "free" in all senses of the term : they are "costless", they are unlimited, you have the right to distribute them, and most important, their source code is freely available, and you may modify it to improve the program or fix bugs.
This ensures that the program will always be costless in the future, and allows to keep the program alive, even if its original developers lose their interest in it.

Q11: What is "source code" ?
R11: Source code is a text written in a programming language that was used to create the program. The source code is often kept secret by companies so that nobody can understand how the program works, nor check what it actually does. All programs on this CD are "Open Source", that is their source code is available; thus, everybody can improve, correct or check the program.

Q12: Where can I get the source code for the software included on this CD ?
R12: The source code is available on the Internet on the official program site. The link to the site in available at the description page of the program.

Q13: Can I install the programs included on this CD on my Macintosh computer ?
R13: No you cannot, for technical reasons, unless you have a PC emulator. There is already free software distribution for Macintosh, like fink. In addition, MacOS X can be turned into a full GNU system, using GNU/Darwin.

Q14: Can I install the programs included on this CD on my Linux/Unix computer ?
R14: No you cannot, for technical reasons, unless you have a MS-Windows emulator. But most of the programs included on this CD were initially developed for Unix or GNU/Linux. In this case, you can download the GNU/Linux version or the source code on the official site. The link to the program official site is available at the description page of the application.

Q15: Do I need to install Linux to use GNUWin-II ?
R15: No, you do not need to. On the other hand, most of the programs included on this CD were originally developed for GNU/Linux; if you want to migrate to Linux, you can go on using the same applications on the Linux platform.

Q16: What version of Windows is needed to run GNUWin-II programs ?
R16: GNUWin-II should not require any particular version. But we cannot test all applications on every available Windows version, and it might happen that some programs work badly, or even not at all, on some Windows version. Should this case arise, we would be grateful if you report the problem to us.

Q17: Who can I contact if I have questions or problems ?
R17: Please send an e-mail to gnuwin@listes.epfl.ch

Q18: Why is the XXX software not on GNUWin ?
R18: There might be several reasons for this :
o The software might not be free. It's not enough for a software to be free of charge to be on GNUWin, the source code must also be available to the public.
o There might already be an application on GNUWin that has the same features. There is no need to have half a dozen of FTP clients, for instance.
o The software might have a very specific use. GNUWin is aimed at a wide public who have discovering free software, not at specialists.
Anyway, GNUWin also holds a list of links to similar projects that cannot be o n the CD itself, but deserve attention.

Q19: Why is software XXX on GNUWin even though it's not free software ?
R19: GNUWin promotes free software in the sense of the FSF, and advocates use of the GPL. However, we do claim our right to decide by ourselves whether or not an application is "free enough" to be part of GNUWin.
To be part of GNUWin, a software must be free to execute, the source code must be available freely and widely, and redistribution must be authorized without restriction. Freedom to distribute modified Source, although a valuable and esteemed feature, is not required. Thus you can find for instance Scilab and Povray on GNUWin.

--

Quick start:
* OpenOffice
* 7-Zip
* Mozilla

General purpose:
* The Gimp
* Zinf
* X-Tractor
* HTTrack
* WinJab
* Sylpheed

Engineer:
* MiKTeX
* Dia
* GnuPlot
* R
* Scilab
* Maxima
* PuTTY
* HTTrack
* GPG

Developper
* SciTE, Vim or XEmacs
* GNAT Ada Compiler or Mingv32 or Python
* MySQL
* HTTrack
* GTK+ or Simple Direct Media Layer or wxPython
* Inno Setup
* MiKTeX

Kids:
* TuxPaint
* TuxType
* Jump'n'bump
* TuxRacer

Webmaster:
* Apache
* MySQL
* Python
* The Gimp
* iXplorer
* PuTTY
* CatFish

Richard Stallman quote

[Guiri]

"It's GNU/Win and no GNUWin"