On Sunday, January 16, 2011 04:08:53 pm Robert Mark Wallace wrote: > I was under the impression that most of the open source software for > Windows are really Windows editions of Linux programs. Correct me if > I am wrong.
Although that's common, there are examples of the reverse also -- some open source software is for Windows only, sometimes because that's the only place it's relevant -- like a problem that only needs to be solved on Windows. Or, often the same software exists with different names -- like KDirStat for Linux vs WinDirStat for Windows. > Also correct me if I am wrong, but a big drawback for open source > windows software is that the programmer still can't get access to the > Windows source code. >From the programmer standpoint, most the time the API is what you need rather than the source for the API. My understanding is that most of the APIs are documented for programmers to use, but certain internal APIs aren't such that they aren't available to projects, such that a project can be completed but might not be as efficient as it could be if all of the APIs were available. > Also correct me if I am wrong but I though that the reason why my > LInux install is half the size of a Windows install of similar > software because Linux software writers can go right to the kernal, > and Windows software writers can't. I don't think that's what it is -- it's more likely got to do with libraries that are more commonly shared, i.e. more code re-use. It's not a kernel thing, as essentially both systems are POSIX, so in terms of the kernel most of what a programmer would write is common. There are kernel-specific things only at a very low level, so for instance you likely wouldn't try to implement dtrace on Windows, but which kernel is used (or which filesystem) doesn't matter if you're just trying to read a file. But another thing is that on Gnu/Linux systems its far easier to be able to choose packages to install and to remove software due to dependency checking. Windows package management isn't as sophisticated. > I started this thread to try to get the readers to think in terms of > finding new markets for LInux, not to start getting into Windows. There's nothing wrong with discussing open source software for Windows, IMHO. > I also have some real concerns in that I have downloaded a lot of > viruses from places like Download.com. I use Linux because I can get > all of my software from more secure sources (just about all that I use > is from the Columbia U mirror of Ubuntu.) Signed packages with multiple internal checksums is a nice thing, yes. -- Chris -- Chris Knadle [email protected] _______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Feb 2 - Zimbra Mar 2 - MHVLUG 8th Anniversary - Show and Tell Apr 6 - Introduction to IPv6
