I think one of the main idea behind developing a real alternative for Magma, Matlab, Mathematica etc. is their license costs and restrictions on altering the source code etc. Personally, if I had chance to not to use windows, I won't. Let me give an example, last night I read an article about backward compatibility issues of windows 7 and I understand that they will not provide binary compatibility to previous windows versions, but they will supply an abstraction layer and api for previous versions which will run programs like a virtual machine like apple did for previous osX compatibility (if I understand it right). My personal observation is that virtualization is going to be (of course they are not 100% the same thing) the future. So maybe, not a vmware version but a version built on a fast linux (with no necessary options of os) and a fast and lightweight virtual machine with an msi installer to run it, can be better. Also, maybe not today, but when a new windows come to scene, again we need to alter our codes to recompile it to work with the new os, which is a waste of time and effort (although ms is promising for win 7 for backward compatibility). Anyway, these are just a user's opinion, so don't get too much angry on me :) AAP
On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 2:06 PM, mabshoff <mabsh...@googlemail.com> wrote: > > > > 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. > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-devel-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
