Fwd: Mono (Re: New Programs for Hardy?)

[Kevin Fries]

On Wed, 2007-12-12 at 15:46 -0500, Martin Owens wrote:
> > I will even help you with one more I would like to see... Scribus.  My
> > mother uses this along with Inkscape for her scrap-booking (definitely
> > not a geeky endeavor), and with a few tweaks to the descriptions, could
> > be a very popular addition.
> 
> I'll have insist about the sync support, it's not a geeky endeavour;
> and most people avoid it because of the difficulty. It's a feature we
> could make better than other platforms, we have all the tools written
> already.

Sync is definitely gray area (goes to my earlier quality over quantity
argument).  The problem is that I have yet to see a sync client that
truly does it all.  They all claim to, but reality is a bit more
sketchy.  Right now, I will settle for one that does most, reasonably...
still waiting

> > But there are better places to trim than mono.  I personally would like
> > to see more mono apps included by default to encourage Wintel developers
> > to extend their product to the Linux desktop.  That would be a win for
> > everybody but Microsoft, but that does not disappoint me so much.
> 
> But as you pointed out, we don't want to include things because it's
> good for developers, it's an operating system for human beings, not
> wintel geeks. I'm not sure where this fascination has come from that
> we need to include mono by default to encourage windows developers.
> All the developers I know from the windows world move into Linux by
> programming in python, c++ and java. Not through the .net framework.
> In fact shouldn't we be installing Eclipse if we're so focused on
> developers?

You are talking tools, and those that are taking the effort to learn
Linux.  One of the areas where I think we can all do better is to
encourage Wintel geeks to stop being hostile to Linux.  Encourage the
use of tools such as Wine and mono.  Use the carrot and back off on the
whip by showing that they can tweak existing programs to gain mono and
Wine compatibility, and instantly grow their market without having to
actually write for Linux.  This then causes more of a crutch on mono,
and extends the conversation to Wine.  Which come to think about it,
would be great to add to the base install.  Its about making the
transition easier for the new user.

Two other programs that by the way also use the mono runtime are Beagle
(ok stop laughing, I turn it off too), and gnome-rdp used to access
Windows desktops.  Less so in homes, but that is extremely useful in
businesses, or more importantly... workers at home.  Again, services
that are built into Windows, so they should be represented in Linux so
noobs can see that it can be done easily.  The easier they see the
transition, the more likely they will be to start the journey.

-- 
Kevin Fries
Senior Linux Engineer
Computer and Communications Technology, Inc
A Division of Japan Communications Inc.