Comments on: Not convinced by LINA http://www.itwriting.com/blog/238-not-convinced-by-lina.html Tech writing blog Sun, 12 Feb 2012 05:28:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Clyde Davies http://www.itwriting.com/blog/238-not-convinced-by-lina.html/comment-page-1#comment-18518 Clyde Davies Sun, 03 Jun 2007 06:30:49 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/?p=238#comment-18518 If you're <i>that</i> concerned about look and feel, then you can always junk the platform independence and develop on WPF, which allows a very high degree of control over it. As for the C++/C argument, the only real benefit I can see emerging from this is in the degree of control you get. It would need to have a major advantage over using a high-level language as devloping in C++ is an almighty pain in comparison. This seems to me to be yet another highly questionable OS project into which a lot of effort is being sunk for no significant concrete advantage. People who want their software to get to the widest customer base develop on Windows. Those who choose to develop in Linux do so because they intend to service a niche market or, more frequently, because they really don't like Microsoft. My business brain would like to see the benefits/USP's spelled out. If you’re that concerned about look and feel, then you can always junk the platform independence and develop on WPF, which allows a very high degree of control over it. As for the C++/C argument, the only real benefit I can see emerging from this is in the degree of control you get. It would need to have a major advantage over using a high-level language as devloping in C++ is an almighty pain in comparison.

This seems to me to be yet another highly questionable OS project into which a lot of effort is being sunk for no significant concrete advantage. People who want their software to get to the widest customer base develop on Windows. Those who choose to develop in Linux do so because they intend to service a niche market or, more frequently, because they really don’t like Microsoft. My business brain would like to see the benefits/USP’s spelled out.

]]> By: Tim http://www.itwriting.com/blog/238-not-convinced-by-lina.html/comment-page-1#comment-18085 Tim Fri, 01 Jun 2007 08:40:03 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/?p=238#comment-18085 Thanks for the comments Ludo. <blockquote> Right now, my distribution (Debian) has around 20,000 FLOSS packages available, IIRC. Obviously, there are many more which aren’t shipped by Debian. You can’t run most of them on Windows. </blockquote> True, but this is a numbers game that isn't all that meaningful. I run Mandriva Linux and there aren't a lot of packages where I think "I wish this were available on Windows", but find that it is not available. Tim Thanks for the comments Ludo.

Right now, my distribution (Debian) has around 20,000 FLOSS packages available, IIRC. Obviously, there are many more which aren’t shipped by Debian. You can’t run most of them on Windows.

True, but this is a numbers game that isn’t all that meaningful. I run Mandriva Linux and there aren’t a lot of packages where I think “I wish this were available on Windows”, but find that it is not available.

Tim

]]> By: LudoA http://www.itwriting.com/blog/238-not-convinced-by-lina.html/comment-page-1#comment-18046 LudoA Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:40:57 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/?p=238#comment-18046 Clyde: yes, but the look and feel is still a problem, although admittedly less and less. Also, you have to use the Java language (ok, nowadays you can also consider Ruby, Python, Groovy, Javascript and some others), you can't e.g. use C or C++, which are still major languages. If I understand correctly, with LINA you can use C/C++/whatever. Haven't looked into it much yet, though, so I could be wrong. Emilian: Parrot is still a long way from being there, and so is .NET. Also, "cross-platform development has gotten good enough"? Most applications still aren't cross-platform, so I'd very much disagree with that. IMHO, cross-platform will be "good enough" once it's so easy to do that most people won't even consider not building for both Windows and Unices. Tim: sure, you can list examples like Apache, etc. But most of it isn't available on Windows. Right now, my distribution (Debian) has around 20,000 FLOSS packages available, IIRC. Obviously, there are many more which aren't shipped by Debian. You can't run most of them on Windows. I agree that "virtually no access" is an exaggeration, though :) But still, only a fraction of all the FLOSS is available for Windows. I'm not saying LINA's going to make everything perfectly cross-platform, I'm kinda skeptic as well. But I'm more than willing to give it a chance. Even if only a few companies start coding for GNU/Linux, it's worth it IMHO. Beats using Wine to run Windows apps on GNU/Linux. Clyde: yes, but the look and feel is still a problem, although admittedly less and less.
Also, you have to use the Java language (ok, nowadays you can also consider Ruby, Python, Groovy, Javascript and some others), you can’t e.g. use C or C++, which are still major languages. If I understand correctly, with LINA you can use C/C++/whatever. Haven’t looked into it much yet, though, so I could be wrong.

Emilian: Parrot is still a long way from being there, and so is .NET.
Also, “cross-platform development has gotten good enough”? Most applications still aren’t cross-platform, so I’d very much disagree with that. IMHO, cross-platform will be “good enough” once it’s so easy to do that most people won’t even consider not building for both Windows and Unices.

Tim: sure, you can list examples like Apache, etc. But most of it isn’t available on Windows. Right now, my distribution (Debian) has around 20,000 FLOSS packages available, IIRC. Obviously, there are many more which aren’t shipped by Debian. You can’t run most of them on Windows.
I agree that “virtually no access” is an exaggeration, though :) But still, only a fraction of all the FLOSS is available for Windows.

I’m not saying LINA’s going to make everything perfectly cross-platform, I’m kinda skeptic as well. But I’m more than willing to give it a chance. Even if only a few companies start coding for GNU/Linux, it’s worth it IMHO. Beats using Wine to run Windows apps on GNU/Linux.

]]> By: Clyde Davies http://www.itwriting.com/blog/238-not-convinced-by-lina.html/comment-page-1#comment-18002 Clyde Davies Thu, 31 May 2007 20:22:26 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/?p=238#comment-18002 Erm...isn't this issue what <i>Java</i> was supposed to address? Erm…isn’t this issue what Java was supposed to address?

]]> By: Emilian Bold http://www.itwriting.com/blog/238-not-convinced-by-lina.html/comment-page-1#comment-17909 Emilian Bold Thu, 31 May 2007 08:27:26 +0000 http://www.itwriting.com/blog/?p=238#comment-17909 Yeah, LINA is too little too late. Crossplatform development has gotten good enough and we have plenty of VMs to go around if needed (java, .net, parrot). Although I do get a feeling of deja-vu. If you ever fought a DLL problem on Windows you'll know that feeling... More than once I thought: hm, wouldn't an ISO with a VM make wonders here ! And consumer PCs are starting to get strong enough that this is feasable. Yeah, LINA is too little too late. Crossplatform development has gotten good enough and we have plenty of VMs to go around if needed (java, .net, parrot).

Although I do get a feeling of deja-vu. If you ever fought a DLL problem on Windows you’ll know that feeling… More than once I thought: hm, wouldn’t an ISO with a VM make wonders here ! And consumer PCs are starting to get strong enough that this is feasable.

]]>