--- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I am not a programmer, but what about the new direction so many are taking > with MONO?
Mono aims to allow 'generic' Microsoft (or other) .Net software to run under Linux. This is akin to writing, say, a C compiler for a different platform... as long as you're talking 'number crunching' mode, you can easily move code from platform to platform easily, but as soon as you start getting fancy with a GUI where you need to import the Windows system libraries, you haven't bought nearly as much in the cross-platform compatibility department. It's not nearly as restrictive as with C, in that the 'generic' CLR that .Net uses does know about GUI functionality, so perhaps we will see many such cross-platform programs in the near future. On the other hand, for the very large number of novice programmers out there using Microsoft's various 'wizards' in Visual Studio .Net, they'll immediately be generating code that -- Mono not withstanding -- will be difficult to port. > This is a framework that allows for much easier cross platform development > between OS's. Some have indicated that they are not going to do any more > programming unless they can make it cross platform. Well, on the upside, Mono may well make it easier to write cross- platform software, but on the downside, the CLR is an interpreted language, so routines such as filter, FFTs, etc. will be slower than with C/C++ code. > If we look longer term, most computers in the world will be running Linux OS > some time in the future. Haha... that's quite a prediction! I really don't see that happening in the next, say, five years. While people love to hate Microsoft, the simple fact is that it works "well enough," Linux is still not as friendly to the AVERAGE USER as Windows (or the Mac OS, for that matter), and people purchasing PCs through the likes of Dell are paying somewhere in the ballpark of $50 for their Windows license -- less than many Linux distributions these days! > This is due to the desire by many countries to have > an OS that is free or very low cost and necessary in lower income parts of > the world and this will drive programming efforts. Just China alone will > skew the numbers a great deal, but there are some serious movements toward > Linux around the world. Yes there are, and you make the good point that it's the countries of the world like China where a $300 is in itself a large investment that even a $50 operating system will be either (1) pirated or (2) not used in lieu of, say, a $1 Linux CD. As of today, however, Linux and the Mac OS each have all of about 3% of the OS market -- so they've got a looonnnng way to go before Microsoft _really_ begins to feel the heat. > While Linux is not as polished as Windows, the gap is not wide except for a > few areas such as certain minor (but in some cases necessary) nuances in > word processing abilities and image issues with no built in color management > for serious photographic use. EDA tool support for Linux is also still pretty lacking. Still, it's amazing what volunteers have done to date, and Linux is a great platform for hacking. > For many of us, we already use cross platform > programs for much of our work, including Firebox for browsing and Open > Office for more and more of our office suite. Once you get used to these > programs to do much of your work, the underlying OS is not as significant. Exactly, and that's why -- in countries where people can afford to buy $200 HTs, $2000 HF radios, and $20,000 SUVs, the cost of the operating system on their PCs is a pretty low level concern, and the inertia that Windows has will allow it to continue its market dominance for years to come. ---Joel Kolstad ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/ELTolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> The K3UK DIGITAL MODES SPOTTING CLUSTER AT telnet://208.15.25.196/ More info at http:///www.obriensweb.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digitalradio/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
