Re: Getting libgnome* into shape

[Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo gnome-db org>]

> But that's where I'm coming from. In the end I want to ship a working
> desktop that has a nice UI and I want to ship it frequently enough
> that I actually get to use the improvements. I just honestly, on a
> technical level, do not see how using Bonobo pervasively is helping to
> do that.  Please convince me!
> 
although I like the idea of "bonobizing" everything, I agree with you in
that it does not make sense to put Bonobo everywhere. As Michael noted,
it is not a good idea to componentize the widget set, for instance. And,
another example, I wouldn't introduce Bonobo at the GLib level.

But I do think it makes a lot of sense on the GNOME level, that is,
libgnome* and applications. Having the desktop and applications based on
a component system allows us to reuse everything, as is being done in
Windows for years (you can reuse the export component of Oracle, the PDF
viewer, some shell-related components can be replaced without affecting
the rest of the desktop, etc, etc).

And yes, you can reuse everything through C APIs, but it adds a lot of
complexity to users (lots of libraries you depend on, etc) and to app
developers, since you depend on the releases of several libraries, which
may be developed at your same pace, or be a PITA to try to catch up with
the latest released versions. Doing it via well-known, standardized
methods (Bonobo), is easier for developers, and makes applications have
a lot of extra functionality.

Also, on the GNOME core applications level, having all as components
will allow us to replace any part of the GNOME core without affecting
other parts of the desktop. This will make GNOME an easy to maintain and
extend desktop.

Of course, Bonobo has still some problems, but nothing that, IMO, would
not make it work in a scenario like this one I say.

cheers
-- 
Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo gnome-db org> - <rodrigo ximian com>
http://www.gnome-db.org/ - http://www.ximian.com/