It would be a lot nicer if they could use the Aqua UI.
Sure it would. And they are asking for help with this. OpenOffice.Org is tremendously limited on resources, especially considering the scope of the project.
Of course, they'd probably have to rewrite all of their UI code.
This would be on the scale of porting the app to Windows. Luckily, Sun/Staroffice had done a great deal of work for the Windows port even before OpenOffice.Org got started. No such established codebase exists for an Aqua version. I am not sure what levels of the architecture can be reused.
I liken the world before the Internet to a group of really small colleges, and the world after the Internet to a huge university. People come to both with their own little prejudices and idiosyncrasies. If you find people who share your prejudices or idiosyncrasises (or do not conflict with them), you enjoy their company. We call such people friends.
In a small college, it is really hard to find people you like, especially if you deviate from the mainstream in any way [as most of us do at Slashdot;)]. OTOH, in a big university, you are more likely to find people who share your view of the world. It's not unusual to see very weird (read: different) groups spring up in a big university, whereas each individual would probably have been a loner in a small college.
The kicker is that in a small college, you have 'x' number of people you don't like. That number is obviously magnified several-fold in a large university. It's up to you to decide how much of the world you want to make your playground, so you meet the people you want and are not so bothered by the people you don't really care for.
Case in point: I am currently enrolled in a graduate school program that is delivered online via Windows Media Player. Most of my classmates use Windows and have no problem with the format. On the other hand, I have to keep one of my computers at home running Windows just so I can watch these lectures. So would you rather that I don't support a proprietary OS, or a proprietary media format?
Truth is, no matter how often I click the RealMedia or MP3 link on a site that can afford to support multiple formats, other economically constrained sites will not switch, especially when the needs of about 99% of their users are being met. And the Crossover plugin (or a Linux based media player such as MPlayer) may be the only way to use these sites.
You are correct. However, this is neither the first nor that last time that they have disagreed on something. Furthermore, this was hardly a renegade sort of fork (which is what we dread), but one supported by several people against the VM change in a stable kernel series. I would not be surprised if Linus actually asked Alan to keep the old VM till the new one got its wrikles ironed out, so both could be tested side by side.
Anyway, as my other post indicates, Alan will be switching VMs soon.
Moshe Bar seems to indicate that Alan Cox is creating some kind of fork of the Linux kernel. Actually, -ac kernels are alwasys different from Linux kernels to some extent, since they include slightly more experimental code (e.g. ext3), or code that Linus has not had a chance to review yet. This way, the experimental code gets more testing before going into official Linus kernels. You can read more about -ac kernels at KernelNewbies.Org.
As anyone following LKML knows, Alan thinks that drastic VM changes should be reserved for 2.5, and so continues to keep Rik's VM going. This actually helps quite a bit as both VMs get tested and there have been several comparative tests conducted leading to improvements in both VMs. Competition in this case is certainly helping Linux.
Oh and for all you fork conspirators, here's another fact: Andrea Arcangeli also releases his own kernel releases, called -aa. I don't think any of these are considered forks; everyone understands that this way pacthes get more testing, "crosstalk" between the different flavors is a given.
Happens when you analyze any book/movie/creative work. Where do you draw the line between what the author might have been thinking and your own twisted imagination?
-Rahul
Slashdot Mirror
Sure it would. And they are asking for help with this. OpenOffice.Org is tremendously limited on resources, especially considering the scope of the project.
This would be on the scale of porting the app to Windows. Luckily, Sun/Staroffice had done a great deal of work for the Windows port even before OpenOffice.Org got started. No such established codebase exists for an Aqua version. I am not sure what levels of the architecture can be reused.
Sure no one cares. The guy said he would like working more than playing games. Looks like one of those April Fool's stories to me.
I liken the world before the Internet to a group of really small colleges, and the world after the Internet to a huge university. People come to both with their own little prejudices and idiosyncrasies. If you find people who share your prejudices or idiosyncrasises (or do not conflict with them), you enjoy their company. We call such people friends.
In a small college, it is really hard to find people you like, especially if you deviate from the mainstream in any way [as most of us do at Slashdot ;)]. OTOH, in a big university, you are more likely to find people who share your view of the world. It's not unusual to see very weird (read: different) groups spring up in a big university, whereas each individual would probably have been a loner in a small college.
The kicker is that in a small college, you have 'x' number of people you don't like. That number is obviously magnified several-fold in a large university. It's up to you to decide how much of the world you want to make your playground, so you meet the people you want and are not so bothered by the people you don't really care for.
And support Windows OSs instead?
Case in point: I am currently enrolled in a graduate school program that is delivered online via Windows Media Player. Most of my classmates use Windows and have no problem with the format. On the other hand, I have to keep one of my computers at home running Windows just so I can watch these lectures. So would you rather that I don't support a proprietary OS, or a proprietary media format?
Truth is, no matter how often I click the RealMedia or MP3 link on a site that can afford to support multiple formats, other economically constrained sites will not switch, especially when the needs of about 99% of their users are being met. And the Crossover plugin (or a Linux based media player such as MPlayer) may be the only way to use these sites.
You are correct. However, this is neither the first nor that last time that they have disagreed on something. Furthermore, this was hardly a renegade sort of fork (which is what we dread), but one supported by several people against the VM change in a stable kernel series. I would not be surprised if Linus actually asked Alan to keep the old VM till the new one got its wrikles ironed out, so both could be tested side by side.
Anyway, as my other post indicates, Alan will be switching VMs soon.
-Rahul
See this posting to LKML:
Alans talking about switching VMs in -ac kernels
Moshe Bar seems to indicate that Alan Cox is creating some kind of fork of the Linux kernel. Actually, -ac kernels are alwasys different from Linux kernels to some extent, since they include slightly more experimental code (e.g. ext3), or code that Linus has not had a chance to review yet. This way, the experimental code gets more testing before going into official Linus kernels. You can read more about -ac kernels at KernelNewbies.Org.
As anyone following LKML knows, Alan thinks that drastic VM changes should be reserved for 2.5, and so continues to keep Rik's VM going. This actually helps quite a bit as both VMs get tested and there have been several comparative tests conducted leading to improvements in both VMs. Competition in this case is certainly helping Linux.
Oh and for all you fork conspirators, here's another fact: Andrea Arcangeli also releases his own kernel releases, called -aa. I don't think any of these are considered forks; everyone understands that this way pacthes get more testing, "crosstalk" between the different flavors is a given.
Much ado about nothing, IMHO...
-Rahul
Happens when you analyze any book/movie/creative work. Where do you draw the line between what the author might have been thinking and your own twisted imagination? -Rahul