On Feb 23, 3:37 am, Kenny <masso.ke...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Rob,
> There is no need for a window$ server... don't waste your time in such
> a
> bad way... it is easy to use the wmplayer and the image that the sage
> team
> provides from the website.
There are *plenty* of reasons to do a native port, not but limited to
the following
* Installation and configuration of the VMWare is already a *major*
hurdle for non-technical users. Nearly everyone will be able to
install an MSI installer and click continue until Sage would be
installed. This is based on feedback we have gotten over and over
again. And this isn't my theoretical 80 year old grandma, these are
often extremely smart mathematicians who do not want to deal with
"computer stuff" and I agree that they should not have to.
* Developing inside the VMWare image is problematic, i.e. files
aren't local, etc. And if you know Linux and its tools you likely
won't be running Sage on Windows anyway.
* To install VMWare you need admin rights on Windows last time I
checked. This might be a problem if your admin does not want you to
run VMWare machines for example. And software installation policies in
companies can be extremely tight. Once Sage is done on Windows you
will be able to just unpack it somewhere and start it in place.
* Windows runs 90%+ of the desktops on this planet. Not being there
natively is a major disadvantage, i.e. if some decision maker needs to
decide what to install as a CAS and Sage does not have a tick in the
"runs on Windows" box it is often out of the running. I have done a
lot of work in administrating systems in academia and to this day not
running on Windows is an instant knockout for many professors I have
dealt with.
* Firefox is a the most successful Open Source project. Do you really
think that if it ran inside a VMWare machine and you had to use an X
server to use it on Windows that it would have gone anywhere? This
isn't a fair comparison, but I think you get the point here :)
You might not prefer Windows (I do not prefer it either, i.e. the
first linux distribution I ran come on many floppy disks downloaded
over many nights due to slow dial up connections back in the early
90s), but many people just use it without thinking about it. I just
get annoyed if people try to tell me that porting to Windows is bad.
Sage's mission is not to make people switch to Linux/OSX/some other
free operating system, but to compete with MMA, Maple, Matlab and
Magma and you cannot do that without a native Windows port.
Obviously even if the Windows port is done the VMWare image will be
kept around since there are plenty of situation where the VMware image
fits perfectly for a given task.
> Obviously don't be mad at me, that's just the way i see and therefore
> take it
> as a suggestion.
>
> bye Rob.
Cheers,
Michael
PS: every time someone uses a derogatory term for Microsoft, Solaris
or whatever else I can only shake my head. A lot of people will not
take you serious if you write "window$" for example, including me.
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