Imendio AB announces the GTK+ on Mac OS X port project Tue Nov 22 12:06:00 CET 2005
The GIMP toolkit (GTK+) matures to include yet another platform. This project aims to bring native GTK+ support to the Apple Mac OS X platform. The basic implementation is sponsored by Imendio AB and the work so far has been done by Anders Carlsson (of Imendio). This project means that another critical step is taken in the effort to spread this very successful library collection to all commonly used platforms. The source code is now available in the upstream GTK+ CVS tree. “In our aim to offer attractive solutions for software application development, the crossplatform availability of GTK+ is a very important piece of the puzzle” - Michael Hallendal, CEO Imendio AB Ever since Apple launched the Mac OS X platform the possibility to interoperate with the other UNIX (BSD) based operating systems and make applications cross-platform compatible has been a vision seemingly within reach. In recent years applications used in the Linux sphere have therefore become available to Mac OS X users and to some extent the other way around as well. In the Linux community the GTK+ libraries have had a great success in attracting software developers. So why is GTK+ so popular? Like any successful innovation the GIMP toolkit was introduced with great timing. It has, since the project started, evolved and been perfected trough the use in many complex applications like GIMP and GNOME. Other factors that have made GTK+ successful include: * The licensing model (LGPL) * Its rich features * Bindings to many commonly used programming languages The maturity of GTK+ is confirmed by several large commercial players like Red Hat, Novell, Nokia and Sun, all choosing it for their Linux/UNIX based applications and platforms. “GTK+ is already a powerful tool for developers. Adding native GTK+ support to the Apple Mac OSX platform will help speed adoption of open source technologies by making it more widely accessible.” - Timothy Ney, Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation When GTK+ became available on the Microsoft Windows platform the ability to easily port GTK+ based applications arose. GTK+ went from being a platform dependent Linux based toolkit to something that could function more platform independently. Still the support for the toolkit was not natively integrated in Mac OS X. An employee at Imendio, Anders Carlsson, has during this summer, sponsored by Imendio, begun such a project to port GTK+ to Mac OS X. Imendio has invested approximately $25 000 to date and are aiming to continue to support this open project. The goal of the project will be to produce the toolkit on this platform using Cocoa (the native object-oriented application programming environment on Mac OS X). For the GTK+ user this means that popular applications will become available to this new platform. Future GTK+ applications, irrespective of which operating system they originate from, will be much more easily ported to the other supported systems. For the software industry this toolkit represents the best of two worlds. The platform-native “look and feel” of the applications written with the aid of GTK+, combined with a code base that can be reused on all platforms. This reduces the cost of developing cross-platform applications or re-writing the graphical part of an existing application. Applications already using GTK+ will more easily become available to Mac OS X users. “I’m really looking forward to finally be able to put GIMP natively on Mac OS X.” - Michael Natterer, Maintainer of GIMP. The ability to use a variety of programming languages (like C#, Java and C/C++ and also script languages like Python and Ruby) is very appealing to developers. Additionally, GTK+ being an Open Source project makes it possible to change and improve the code to adapt it to application specific needs. “The GTK+ project is excited to see Imendio work on a native GTK+ port to Mac OS X, which will enable GTK+ applications to work natively on all major platforms.” - Matthias Clasen, maintainer of GTK+ Project page: http://developer.imendio.com/wiki/Gtk_Mac_OS_X About Imendio AB Imendio is a small European company employing some of the world’s most experienced and talented GNOME and GTK+ developers. Imendio focuses on cross-platform library and API development, targeting platforms ranging from embedded devices to desktops. With extensive experience in GLib/GTK+ and XMPP/Jabber, Imendio provides first class software development services. Media enquiries: Imendio AB John Laerum Tel. +46706960408 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.imendio.com Read this press release on the web: http://www.imendio.com/press/show/16 -- Imendio AB, http://www.imendio.com/ _______________________________________________ gtk-devel-list mailing list gtk-devel-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gtk-devel-list