View Single Post
  #66  
Old March 10th 19, 03:17 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default Reason *TO* pick on Windows 10

"T" wrote

The majority of us don't want to LEARN any OS.


|
I was speaking to another I.T. person, not to the general public.
Those administering systems need to LEARN them, whatever they are.
|

?? Me? You were speaking to someone who uses
a computer and would consider switching to Linux
if it were a viable option. And I keep pointing out
that it isn't, just in case there might be someone
out there who's listening.

Why isn't it viable? You just demonstrated. I can't
do something as simple as block outgoing software
without learning Linux networking. And that's my fault.

We don't want to have to LEARN the application either.


|
That is the rub. Have you ever written software? I
have/do. 95% of the code is dealing with the interface
to the user. And they could be a lot better done.
Developers are pressures to "just ship it".
|

I don't know what tools you're using. In my experience,
most software now is made with "RAD" tools, and has been
for many years. 95% of the work is writing code and
testing. Making the GUI is a drag-drop operation. Need
a window? Click. You've got a window. Need a button?
Click. You've got a button. Work and imagined time
pressure is never an excuse for not doing the job right.

I'm using a typical Linux product currently. The "Poppler"
package of PDF tools. Fortunately they also make a
Windows version. The tools work pretty well, but
have a few glitches. Command line only. No docs. Only
man pages. Even with those the authors couldn't be
bothered to check them and make sure they're readable.
They're not. I was lucky to find a brief list of command
line options online. So I've written an HTA wrapper to
make the tools usable and fix the glitches. So next time
I want to convert a PDF I can do it with software that's
competent and easy to use.

Time pressure? The last version of Poppler is 6 months
old. No one could find time to write a few paragraphs
of help in 6 months?

Should I be grateful and not look a gift horse in the
mouth? Why? I write code and give it away, without
licensing it as an "open source infection" that can only
be used in OSS. I don't release it until I've written docs.
Simply because that's part of doing the job right.

Last I saw, WINE was being released every 10 days.
That's absurd. It probably leaves them 2-3 days to
actually code between releases. Pressure to get it out
the door? How is that possible when the project is *20+
years old*? It's not pressure to get it out. The whole
thing is just a hobby that they don't want to end.

Now you say the only reason WINE is still half-assed
after 20+ years is because of politics. I don't believe that.
I tried to work with the WINE people. They were completely
unwilling to cooperate with Windows developers and come
up with an API or tools we could use to target Linux. They
said they wanted to support my software but all they really
wanted was Windows bug reporters to give their interns
some practice. And they couldn't be bothered with docs.
The WINE people could have started a Windows API and
docs 20 years ago, so that Windows programmers could
design for WINE. Then gobs of Windows software could
have been running beautifully under WINE years ago. And
we could test/fix our own bugs. But they refuse to take
such a sensible approach. Instead they want to be like
teenage hackers, finding hacks to make Windows software
work, one function at a time.

Probably much of that is due to OSS religion. It's probably
very difficult to get a majority to agree on things. If they
actually tried to help Windows software run on Linux
then they'd be supporting closed source software. People
would freak. Stallman would go to the media. By working
on hacks they don't have to sacrifice their "principles",
thus averting a civil war in Linuxland and maintaining the
adolescent, clubhouse atmosphere that makes Linux
so much "fun".


Ads