Re: GNUstep on MS Windows

[Alex Perez]

> >>A lot of people I talked to miss the Windows native look and feel. 
> >>Currently GNUstep draws it's own Widgets. 
Yes, and that needs to change..
> >MS-Windows. If having the MS-Windows look allow us developers to have
> >more users on MS-Windows, so be it.
GNUstep developers need to set aside their *PERSONAL* preferences for a 
second and realize that a cohesive toolkit environment is something that 
normal Windows users expect. This is reasonable. Just because you 
don't happen to like Windows's GDI toolkit doesn't mean that UI 
cohesiveness should automatically be sacrificed. GNUstep will never be 
more than a toy on Windows if (eventually, not necessarily immediately) it 
doesn't use native or pseudo-native widgets.
> >
> As a MS-Windows user, I would prefer a GNUstep look rather than windows 
> look. If I'm stuck using Windows, I at least don't want it to look like it.
This is fine to start with, but personal preferences of GNUstep (non)developers 
should 
not dictate the path of the project. I think something akin to GNUstep 
Enterprise for Windows could be really useful (commercially, even) to a 
lot of folks...
> 
> Hence WindowBlinds, NextSTART, and CubeDock to "NeXTify" my friggin 
> Windows system.
Don't use Windows if you don't like it. Starting with Windows XP, there is 
native draw-level theming within the OS. XP Also supports "native" Windows 
2000-esque draw-level themes. the Windows XP GDI extensions should 
probably be natively supported for basic widgets. The worst offender, by 
far and as it currently stands now, are horizontal menus under Windows 
2000.
 > > (Personal Opinion) Windows is _ugly_.
I'm not a huge fan either, but GTK is by far worse in my opinion.
> 
> However, once themeing is developed, it would of course help the goal of 
> being "cross-platform" by making available "Windows-looking" rather than 
> "GNUstep-looking" widgets.
Any theming under Windows should be done at the XP GDI+ level, as other 
efforts would just be a huge waste of time. GNUstep should first be made 
usable under Windows, though, which it is currently not (at least WRT 
AppKit). The rest of these points are moot until this is completed.

> That said, the look should be user-configurable, so they _could_  be 
> "GNUstep-looking" if the user preferred.
I personally look forward to having GNUstep apps be portable to Windows, 
but regular folks will never use them unless they look remotely as they 
should on that platform. The GNUstep community is small. The subsection of 
GNUstep users who use Windows and would want to use GNUstep apps under 
windows is even smaller. Keep that in mind.

Alex Perez
The Misanthropic Anthropologist
aperez@student.santarosa.edu