Re: GNUstep moving forward

[Sašo Kiselkov]

I've been with GNUstep over several years now and I agree that it is currently
encountering a state of slow stagnation.

Quoting Gregory John Casamento <address@hidden>:

> GNUstep has been relatively stagnant over the last several months and it has
> become a cause for concern for me.
>
> I've been doing a lot of thinking and have compiled a list of things I
> believe
> that GNUstep needs to address to stay on top of things.   The list follows:
>
> 1) More apps.  Many of the following points will help with this, but this is
> very important.

I'm working on this, but I've only got one life and a day only has 24 hours. :-)
I'd propose making a list of "things being developed" (I mean _actively_
developed, as in _work_really_being_done_) so that a person willing to do some
app/framework/tool/feature for GNUstep could simply have a look at what is
being currently done and possibly contact the person in charge so that they can
collaborate, or simply find out what's already being done so that several people
don't work on the same thing.

> 2) Better theme support.  Integration of Camaelon into the core gui library
> if possible

I agree, looks does matter.

> 3) Better win32 support.  Many companies are really eager to port their
> legacy
> NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP or Cocoa apps to GNUstep under Windows.   The prospect of
> Linux and BSD support appeals to them as well, but not as much as Windows.
> I currently have two companies with whom I am talking about this.

1000% agree: my company too would profit from GNUstep being nice and smooth
under Windoze (although our primary target is UNIX-like systems).

> 4) Better distro support.  We really need to get GNUstep into as many
> distributions as possile, this will ramp up exposure of GNUstep to more
> people
> and help us get more developers and users.

Yes, and I'd like to add to this: we need to simplify the way people report
bugs. Remember the BugNeXT application?
(http://www.levenez.com/NeXTSTEP/Demos.html) It's was a simple and fast way how
to bug the developers at NeXT about their. If others agree, I'll hack a BugStep
together in a few moments.

> We as a project need to be more adaptive and less resistant to change.  More
> than anything right now we need to consider the audience we are playing to.
> GNUstep needs to be better able to integrate with other environments.
>
> Additionally, I've noticed recently a trend for certain people to constantly
> query the list asking for permission to make this or that change.  It seems
> that what we need more than anything right now is more action and less talk.
> If you are interested in doing something, please do it! :)

Got it! :-)

> Please think about what I've said and let me know your thoughts.  I say the
> above out of concern for the community.   GNUstep is and always has been a
> true
> labor of love for me.  I want to see it thrive.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Gregory John Casamento
> -- CEO/President Open Logic Corp. (A MD Corp.)
> ## Maintainer of Gorm (IB Equiv.) for GNUstep.
>

--
Saso