Verily I say unto thee, that Matt spake thusly:
> I find that Amarok is built for Qt and KDE4. Therefore I consider it
> to be on a cross-platform path if it is not yet practically
> cross-platform.
If you're going to dismiss applications merely because they can be "made
to run" on other platforms, then surely that encompasses every piece of
Free Software in existence. Indeed, you may as well throw in
/proprietary/ software too, since it can be "made to run" on other
platforms using emulation.
Hence my earlier observation of your (once again) flawed logic.
Obviously any software which is adopted by a platform with a larger
install-base is going to "grow more", since there are more users, and
will inevitably be more developers working on it. But (as Chris pointed
out earlier), although this may be good for that application, it isn't
necessarily good for GNU/Linux, since that development is /just/ as
likely to /reduce/ the urgency to switch platforms, than it is to
motivate people to try something new. In that respect, multi-platform
development is the absolute /worst/ thing that can ever happen to any
given Free Software, although (of course) that development is inevitable
/because/ of that Freedom.
If those other platforms were /also/ Free Software based operating
systems, then this wouldn't be a problem, indeed even if they were /not/
all Free it still wouldn't be as much of a problem as the one currently
facing GNU/Linux (and pretty much every other platform out there) ...
specifically, how to defeat Microsoft's global monopoly. And let me be
crystal clear that the necessity to defeat Microsoft has /nothing/ to do
with a supposed need for GNU/Linux to be "popular", it is simply that
Microsoft operate a regime which /represses/ all other software. I don't
want GNU/Linux to have Windows' 90%+ market share, I'd be quite happy if
100 different platforms (including GNU/Linux) all had a *1%* market
share. Under /those/ circumstances, I'd be quite happy for every
application to be cross-platform (and they'd most likely /need/ to be,
with a /100/ different platforms). Diversity is a /good/ and /necessary/
thing ... unless you're Microsoft, of course. As I've stated repeatedly,
/Windows/ is /not/ the problem ... /Microsoft/ is the problem. In fact
Microsoft represents nearly /every/ problem currently facing the
software (and even hardware) industry today.
Developing Free Software on Windows will /not/ change that, since all
that accomplishes is to /support/ Microsoft's platform, and give users
even /less/ reason to switch to GNU/Linux. It may "ease the transition"
for those who are tempted by /other/ reasons (such as security,
stability, cost, and philosophy/politics), but it won't, in and of
itself, actually /tempt/ them away from Windows.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarok_(software)
Yes, unfortunately Amarok has already begun to slide down into the
multi-platform pit, as was mentioned here on COLA some time last year.
I recall having a very unpleasant run-in with Ian Monroe (the lead dev)
after he succeeded in breaking the Fedora repo, by insisting that our
maintainer remove Amarok from the tree (an insistence that our naive
maintainer complied with too hastily).
The 64-bit version was built against gstreamer (the only possibility at
the time, due to the Helix engine failing to build on 64-bit systems,
and Fedora's licensing policy prevented the Xine engine being included
at the time, since it had not yet separated out the patented mp3
component), and Munroe didn't like that, apparently, because the
reputation of his "product" would suffer (gstreamer was in alpha or beta
at the time).
I had to remind Monroe that his software was, after all, supposed to be
Free, and therefore he was in no position to issue "takedown notices" to
anyone complying with the license, but he was quite adamant. I actually
had to host the packages (built against gstreamer) /myself/ until the
dispute was resolved, some /weeks/ later, as I recall. That's a long
time for a repo to be broken for the sake of some prima donna developer
(as I called him at the time). I called him quite a few other things
too, that I won't mention.
Given his attitude, it really doesn't surprise me that he started
supporting Windows. In fact, I wouldn't be much surprised if he gave up
on GNU/Linux altogether, and ended up concentrating on the Windows
version. The "success" of his "product" is at stake, after all.
How about K3B though?
The nearest equivalent under Windows is something called InfraRecorder,
of which I'd never heard until now. If I were a Windows user considering
alternatives, something like K3B might actually tempt me to try
GNU/Linux, since the state of disc burning applications on Windows is a
hideous, bloated mess ATM (Ref: Nero and Roxio).
But then K3B is also a Qt app, and thus can be "made to run" under
Windows ... just like every other piece of Free Software, so perhaps it
doesn't qualify.
--
K.
http://slated.org
.----
| "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It
| is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." ~ William
| Pitt the Younger
`----
Fedora release 8 (Werewolf) on sky, running kernel 2.6.25.11-60.fc8
04:31:01 up 85 days, 12:13, 5 users, load average: 0.09, 0.06, 0.01
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