Re: The Path of GNUstep (Was: Re: Gnustep + mac + windows? Possible?)

[Timothy Ritchey]

> To put it bluntly - not only arent the OSX people interested, but for 
> some
> reason we have failed to get the old OpenStep people onboard either in 
> any
> significant numbers!

I've been following this discussion with some interest. As background, 
In my former life I was primarily an embedded Linux programmer, but 
have been OS X/Cocoa for the last year. I have been stalking the 
GNUStep project for some time, and recently joined this list to get a 
feel for where I might be able to put in a hand. I am (perhaps now was) 
very interesting in seeing GNUStep get to the point that I could 
leverage my OS X work on other platforms (i.e. Linux/BSD/Windows).

The greatest hurdle to *Step acceptance is Objective-C--even on OS X. 
Programmers are religious about language. They have been told 
repeatedly that their favorite language, be it C, C++, Java, Python, 
etc., is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and they BELIEVE. We, 
of course, all know that to be Bull S***--Objective-C is the one true 
language ;-) The fact remains that the greatest number of Objective-C 
programmers exist on OS X now.

I think that several of the respondents are creating a self-fulfilling 
prophecy. By ignoring OS X, you are guaranteed not to get any Mac 
converts. I am on several Cocoa lists which are regularly hit with: I 
love Objective-C/Cocoa, can I do this on <name your platform>? 
Invariably, they are given directions to gnustep.org. If you don't want 
these people wasting your time, then it might be good to make that 
clear on your site. To say OS X programmers aren't interested just 
isn't true. This discussion is the first I have heard such negative 
comments relating to Cocoa compatibility, especially given the effort 
on GNUMail.app and other projects to develop cross platform 
applications with GNUStep.

But, hey, this is obviously not my decision to make.You guys have been 
putting in the blood sweat and tears on this amazing piece of software. 
I just felt I had to chime in and let you know that there are at least 
SOME OS X programmers interested in helping out, if that is the 
direction you decide to go.

Cheers,
tim