Window Maker 0.90.0 Released At Long Last

BEI01 writes "From windowmaker.org: After years without a release, we are glad to announce that Window Maker 0.90.0 is out! Highlights are NetWM support (thanks to Peter). This means wmaker should work fine with GNOME 2.x and KDE 3.x. UTF-8 support, antialiased text support via Xft2, Xinerama support, enhanced Alt-Tab window switching, Font configuration in WPrefs, and many fixes."

Comments

Re:Linux?

[node 3]

A new release of Window Maker is not exactly linux news.

But it exactly is Linux news. It's news that is related to Linux, and of interest to many Linux users.

That doesn't mean it's not also X11 news, and Mac OS X news, and Cygwin/X news, and AIX news, etc, but they have to pick a category, and "Linux" isn't an illogical category to choose. It's not like they picked YRO, or Games or something.

Window Maker can run on pretty much any platform which runs X.

And Linux is used as a general catch-all category for the Unixey platforms that run X. A bit fuzzy? Sure. Is that too confusing for you?

Fonts setup...

[kosmosik]

Does anybody know how to change fontface used for drawing ballon tips and window while switching with alt-tab? It should be under some variable in ~/GNUstep/Defaults/WindowMaker - but I don't know which one...

That's great!

[namekuseijin]

Despite being simplistic by today standards, the NeXTStep graphical environment, which WMaker emulates, still is one of the most productive and unintrusive environments ever. And it can look damn good with some proper themes and fine-tuning.

The Xft2 addition is a particularly very welcome one.

This is great news. I hope the integration with GNUStep is a step further too. :)

Re:That's great!

[ocelotbob]

Agreed. Pretty much the first thing I do in any environment is get it looking as close to NeXTStep as possible. The environment Just Works much better than pretty much anything else out there. I use KDE right now almost entirely because of juk, but my desktop is much more nextish than anything else.

Re:That's great!

[namekuseijin]

Yeah, but it doesn't do a proper emulation, nor provides the necessary functionality to ensure the same sort of user experience.

Not only it does provide proper emulation, it surpasses it by providing (some very nice) themes.

However, WMaker is concerned with the NeXTSTep visual alone. If you want "necessary functionality", i suggest you install the whole GNUStep environment. Feel the love... :)

I see a link between.

[julie-h]

Visiting windowmaker.org is like visiting xemacs.org or xfree86.org. Nothing happens at all!

Important to note

[Pan T. Hose]

It's important to note that Window Maker is part of the GNUStep project which is a cross-platform, object-oriented framework for desktop application development, free software implementation of NeXT's OpenStep, which celebrated its 10th birthday on October 19th. For anyone who is interested, there is much more info here.

Re:Important to note

[Brandybuck]

It's important to note that Window Maker is part of the GNUStep project

It's also important to note that WindowMaker does not use the GNUstep API in any form.

Comparison?

[Kevin Burtch]

Anyone know of a comparison between GNUstep, WindowMaker, and AfterStep?

I'd finally given up on WindowMaker a few weeks back, nothing has been happening with it for so long - I was looking at AfterStep, but the configuration and user-interface are a bit different and tough to get used to (AS uses the wrong mouse button for menus, for example). Glad to see it hasn't been completely abandoned.

Anyways, the original question: Are there any reasonably current (within the last few years) comparisons out there?

Re:Comparison?

[skahshah]

GNUstep isn't a window manager. You can't compare it to Windowmaker or Afterstep. In fact Window maker was the semi-official window manager for GNUstep.

Does anyone else miss...

[KilobyteKnight]

This is a little off topic I suppose, but it got me thinking about when I first started using Linux. It was hard to choose which desktop I wanted to use every time I logged in. Sure Gnome and KDE have made vast improvements over the years, and both are excellent desktops at this point, but I kinda miss that choice.

Maybe it's just my perception, and not reality, but it seems like all the other desktops have stagnated. I have been excited about the new Enlightenment for a long time, but it still seems to be a long way from completion.

I don't mean to put down any of the desktops or demean any of the developers. I just miss the old days when the desktop wars had at least 1/2 dozen serious contenders.... *sigh*

Re:Linux?

[node 3]

I know, it's stretching it, but it's equally stretching it to argue that the appropriate place for this is the Linux section.

It's not equal at all, except in an irrational, binary, you-completely-missed-the-nuance way. Of all the possible Slashdot categories, Linux is a logical one. I believe there's an X11 category which to me seems even more appropriate. Hell, there might even be a Window Maker one. The Games and YRO categories are not reasonable, unless the story is specifically about Games or YRO aspect of wmaker (ie: some new Window Maker based game console or Longhorn now uses Window Maker for its WM but MS doesn't release the code, etc.).

The editors have to pick a category. Timothy picked one that is reasonable, contrary to the opinion of the guy who I was replying to.

Or is this the new policy? Do we now submit anything that might have a vague connection to Linux ("Well, I guess Mozilla runs under Linux"

This is a big character flaw in the standard annoying geek. They take something that's reasonable, and extend it to absurdity to make the claim that the reasonable example is also absurd.

Kudos

[Khazunga]

Here's my biggest Kudos to the Windowmaker dev team :-) Wmaker has been by window manager of choice for the last four years. While I recognize the advances of the Gnome/KDE projects, I've tried both multiple times and always come back to Wmaker. It just feels right.

My main gripe with other window managers is the inability to set the "Initial Workspace" (virtual desktop) per application. When wmaker starts, all my apps load and pop up in their respective workspaces. If they fire up windows, these get contained in the app's virtual desktop, and do not interrupt my work. Really cool, and unmatched by other WMs (to my knowledge).

Re:Linux?

[Brandybuck]

They take something that's reasonable, and extend it to absurdity to make the claim that the reasonable example is also absurd.

Categorizing Mozilla as "Linux" (the example you claimed was absurd) is no more absurd than categorizing WindowMaker as "Linux".

Re:Linux?

[Brandybuck]

It should be noted that before this thread existed this article was only in the Linux section. After this thread it gets moved to the BSD section with a link in the Linux section.

WTF?

Meanwhile, it still hasn't been tagged with the GNUstep topic, which Windowmaker is officially a part of.

WTF?

Does anyone else think that Slashdot's continuing popularity is a result of mere inertia?