Re: Integrate VMware and Gnome

[famrom idecnet com (Guillermo S. Romero / Familia Romero)]

>Cool title eh? I'm in charge of making sure that VMware installs on
>Linux as beautifully as it does on Windows, and I have a few questions 
>and remarks about this. I know this mail is long. My goal is triple:

A suggestion: make expert mode, where the user decides everything. One of
the reasons I like Unix is because I can choose to do all by hand (from
making my own distro to RH6.1 newbie mode, passing by Slackware). I am feed
up of "click, click... kaboom". I read somewhere something like "I dictate
how Linux works, Linux does not dictates how I work" (s/Linux/Unix/g). This
is a new market, new rules, new tactics.

> . I want to solve a real-world case: a third party company wants to
>   install its product on top of your software, and I want to make sure that
>   it is possible without you needing an access to that third company
>   sources. I would like to share my needs with you, so that other
>   companies won't have to do so.

Ummm, why do not you contract one of those Gnome Support companies? They
will be glad to help you. You share needs, what we get? Press ads? Discounts?

I have read the other messages (a bit harsh sometimes), but I always think
in similar way (less radical, more calm): this is a one to one thing, I get
free things, I give free things. Everyone helps as he can. I do not code,
but I report bugs and help new users. Help us and we help you.

In another message:
>VMware has put the same amount of detail and work in its own software, 
>but our code is not open source (yet) for reasons I will not discuss
>here.

I hope that "yet" means something interesting.

> . I would like this email and its answers to be the foundation of a
>   future 'Third party software installation on top of Gnome HOWTO'
>   because more and more companies will need to do so, and will need
>   that kind of documentation

Will you write that doc? That is a way to contribute. Another is to help
with company coders or writers (patches & docs). From you investigations,
you could also write a "Gnome Config Tricks" HOWTO, explaing interesting
things, not only about commercial app - Gnome integration.

In another message:
>In short: today it is trivial to install a product on top of the
>Windows desktop (create a group in the startup menu, make sure to
>install icons on all user desktops...). I just want to make sure that
>it is possible and as easy to install a product on top of Gnome.

Hehehe. Yeah. When it likes to install, it installs. If it does not, bad
luck. No real control over it. I think that is one thing companies must
start to understand. Some companies (or plain people) distribute a zip
autoxec file (so you can run zip and control it), expands in a directory,
you read the docs about personalization and start to work, no more magic
installs or backstage hidden actions.

BTW: Have you seen RPMs? DEBs? Loki installer project? GIP? Study those,
maybe they are the solution. tar.gz + README is good solution too for ppl
like me (it comes in my package system or I install it by hand, no in betweens).

>Ideally, during the phase of configuration of VMware, I would like
>to prompt the sysadmin to put VMware icons on the desktop of users.

Argh!!! More desktop icons... And if the user does not want them? What if
root does not want to force things into users? Why everybody must think like
the rest? Users are not stupid, and this is not a TV, it is a computer (no
computer should ever start a non requested action, inform the user, and he
will be more happy).

>Q: Is there a way to run a program each time a user opens its first
>   gmc session? This program could prompt the user 'do you want VMware 
>   icons on your desktop?' And if the user says yes, it would create
>   the icons. Of course, the program should be given the user's
>   desktop directory as an argument

Good suggestion. My answer would be "no" (to the icons, I mean). BTW, I do
not run gmc. You should read about gnome-sesion or something like that.

>Menus
>-----
>I would like to create menu entries for VMware (something similar to a
>'VMware' entry in the start menu of Windows)

Wrong selection. Really wrong. Menus a la "Tycoon Soft -> Tycoon App" is a
really bad GUI. Please use "Emulators -> VMWare" (or any other thing that
fits, VMWare is not a traditional emu). Gnome menus are organized with tasks
in mind, not companies (MSWindows should have done that too, but...). Do not
expect that to change.

>Well, I think that's all for the moment. Oh no, I forgot to tell you
>(and to make it a little more spicy. Competition always benefit the
>customer:) that I will post a similar mail on the KDE mailing list in
>a few days.

And? You should have posted to both mailing list the same day, showing no
preferences nor sounding like a threat (I suppose it is not, but it sounds
like one easily).

GSR