Re: Forgive my ignorance...

[Derek Simkowiak <dereks kd-dev com>]

-> 2. What does it mean for an application to be "gnome compliant" or to
->   "depend on gnome"?

	From a technical standpoint, it means it links against the Gnome
libraries.  I don't know if there's any official/political/marketing
"Gnome Compliant" spec that's like the "Windows 2000 Certified" sticker.

-> What services are offered that would convince a
->   developer to use the core gnome libraries?

	A ton of stuff.  Everything from useful widgets to the MDI.  See
http://developer.gnome.org .

	This is similar to asking, "What services are offered that would
convince a developer to use MSFC and/or COM?"

-> Drag and Drop?

	Yes.

-> What else?

	Install Gnome, and use some of the Gnome apps.  The stuff that is
common between them is (usually) the stuff that is made easy to do using
the Gnome libraries.

->   And is there a huge sacrifice in not offereing these services?

	Depends on the app.  If you're writing Quake 3, you don't need
drag'n'drop editing or embedded spreadsheet tables.  If you're writing a
word processor or visualization app, not having to re-code a menu widget
or a display canvas saves a ton of time.

	Gnome is cool.  Install it, play with it, follow one or two of the
tutorials for writing Gnome apps, and you'll have a better idea.


--Derek