Hi Edgar, That's good feedback, thanks.
Honestly, the main problem I have is that Pivot currently lacks a corporate champion. This hinders our ability to market the platform and fund future development. It's tough to compete against industry juggernauts like Microsoft and Adobe without any money. I had originally hoped that Sun might be interested in sponsoring Pivot, but they seem pretty well entrenched in JavaFX at this point and not likely to do so. However, IBM is also very heavily invested in Java and might be inclined to contribute to Pivot if it added value to their own platform. We want Pivot to remain free and open source. However, like everyone else, we need to make a living. I'll admit that moving to SWT to get IBM's attention is a long shot. There are some other advantages to such a move though, which is why I put it out there. Greg On Feb 22, 2010, at 2:31 PM, Edgar Merino wrote: > Hello, > > It's been a while since the last time I posted to this list, but I > would like to point out my thoughts here. One of the reasons I loved pivot > from the first time was that it was developed using java 2d instead of SWT. > At home, I have a computer running opensolaris, and that OS has many problems > to run SWT apps (I think the only implementation that exists is outdated). > Also, I don't use eclipse for developing, and I guess I'm not the only one. > Anyway, it's up to you to do this, but I believe you will get rid of those > problems you mentioned but will gain new ones inherited from SWT. > > I just wouldn't like to see pivot running on SWT, I personally dislike > JavaFX and Pivot is a nice alternative to it. I really hope many more will > disagree on this and continue to have this excellent framework running on > Java2D. > > Edgar Merino > > > On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 02:09:07PM -0500, Greg Brown wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> Todd and I have recently been discussing the possibility of migrating Pivot >> to run on SWT rather than Java2D. There are a number of reasons this might >> be worthwhile: >> >> - It would allow Pivot developers to reach a broader audience by building >> Eclipse plugins or RCP applications using Pivot. >> >> - It would make it considerably easier to build Pivot development tools >> (e.g. a GUI builder) in Eclipse (we already build the platform itself in >> Eclipse). >> >> - Technical advantages of SWT over AWT (for example, SWT uses native font >> rendering - inconsistent text antialiasing is a common complaint about Pivot >> apps, and Java2D in general). >> >> - It may allow us to generate some additional corporate interest in the >> platform. Sun/Oracle seem intent on pursuing Swing and JavaFX, which tends >> to make Pivot appear as an also-ran in the Java2D camp. By shifting to SWT, >> Pivot could become more appealing to IBM and others in the Eclipse ecosystem. >> >> Pivot is architected in such a way that the impact of migrating to SWT would >> be minimal to most applications. However, the level of effort to port >> Pivot's skins to SWT would be non-trivial, so this is not something we would >> look to undertake without sufficient interest from the Pivot (and Eclipse) >> community. >> >> One potential hurdle is the lack of an "SWT plugin" that would allow SWT >> applications to run in a web browser (similar to an applet). While such a >> plugin could undoubtedly be created, it would require a lot of effort and >> support from the SWT community, support which they don't currently seem >> likely to provide. >> >> However, the association with "applets" has, to date, been a bit of a >> hinderance to Pivot's adoption. While an SWT plugin wouldn't actually be an >> applet, it may be perceived that way. I am wondering if it might be in the >> best interest of the platform to simply move away from browser-based >> deployment and focus on desktop delivery. Most Pivot applications I am aware >> of seem to target the desktop already. Perhaps we should simply focus on >> defining Pivot as a tool for building rich, cross-platform desktop >> applications rather than trying to directly compete with the big guns in the >> RIA space (as well as HTML 5, which will most likely draw attention away >> from all RIA platforms)? >> >> This would be a significant change, so I would very much like your input on >> this possible direction. Please let me know what you think. >> >> Thanks, >> Greg >>
