Now that we have gotten to a real list, how bad is it? Jacque basically suggested earlier that there are things present in all versions that are missing in others, and that Linux is no worse off than the others. I don't think this is quite correct because there are aspects of the Linux situation that we don't seem to have in the others. One, there is core functionality that simply does not work properly and where there's no decent workaround. In this category surely we should put:
-- font handling -- printing -- resolution and sizing issues in the IDE -- stability of the editor Second, there is stuff missing from Linux which seems to represent the future direction of the platform, and which does not just affect Rev as IDE. When we see revBrowser and revWeb continue to be missing, this is a rather big deal. It means that revved pages are a sort of Active X, completely inaccessible from Linux. It does mean this, doesn't it? Wben I visit a revved page, like Sarah's, I get invited to install the plug-in, but then am told that its 'coming soon'. So revved pages appear to be a Linux free zone right now. Third, there is a lot of functionality in third party add-ons which is evidently not going to come for Linux. Now this is very understandable from the point of view of the writers of the add-ons, but from the point of view of a user, it adds up to a further feature deficit. Fourth, there are some ways in which Rev on Linux is not a well behaved application: here you would put support for virtual desktops. Another category of the missing features seems less serious: that is sound and video recording. This is less serious because there are the features in Linux to allow these functions to be implemented as a shell call from any gui front end written in anything, so there are workarounds. Bottom Line. We have to be pragmatic about this. Rev is a fairly small language community. On the recording features, it probably makes most sense to just include in the user guide a shortish section on how to call the standard Linux tools from the shell to do recording and playback. Maybe there are other areas in which Mac or Windows specific features can be implemented easily enough in the shell, and the UG should cover this at least in outline. On the core stuff that doesn't work, this has to be fixed, or we don't have a product. I really like Rev (and the people), but we can't be expected to carry on struggling with resetting the screen resolution every time we want to use the IDE, just because we have a 22 inch screen, and to have printing and fonts not working properly, and to have the editor freezing so we have to use an editor with none of the integration of the built-in one. This stuff just has to be fixed if Rev wants to carry on selling a Linux version. Richard has sometimes argued about resources and market share, and there are aspects of this where these arguments make sense, but they do not make sense on this stuff, because there is no point being in a market if your product is not simply lacking features, which is understandable, but if the features it has do not work to a level which make it only marginally usable. RevWeb and RevBrowser are must haves, but in a less urgent sense than the above. Without the core stuff, the version does not have a present. Without these, it doesn't have a future. But it does not have to have these next month, it just has to have them on the development path in the reasonably near future, and there has to be some proposed date or release in which they are scheduled. The same applies to support for multiple desktops. It has to be done if you're going to have an acceptable Linux product, but it does not have to be done next week. The product is usable without it. Its just below standard in one respect. The migration of higher levels of functionality into platform specific add ons is a serious strategic issue, but if we are in triage mode, it can wait. I do have thoughts about this, and it should be addressed, but after some of the more urgent things are taken care of. Finally, we need some communication about the broken core functionality elements. If we are not going to fix printing, fonts, the editor, ability to use the IDE on large screens, with the most goodwill in the world, you just can't carry on using Rev. Is there a commitment to fixing these soon? Please someone, say something! Peter -- View this message in context: http://runtime-revolution.278305.n4.nabble.com/Richmond-goes-data-mining-a-k-a-shovelling-through-the-sh-tp2065617p2068695.html Sent from the Revolution - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution