RE: [gtk-list] GTK for Win32

["O'CONNOR, Steve" <SOCONNOR baea com au>]

We too have a similar situation.

We have a couple of vertical packages (General accounting system &
library system) that are Solaris based, but work just fine under Linux.
Both of these systems are being converted  from motif / oracle to use
GTK / postgres. The porting effort is trivial in both cases. (and yes,
they will be GPL'ed)

However, we do have customers who still insist on having Win32 based
clients. In some cases we have told the customers that we dont want
their business, but ... it would be nice to please all people all of the
time.

One of the problems I see in cross platform X-Win32 development kits
(and hence any efforts to port GTK down to Win32), is that you have this
nice toolkit that always seems to work terribly under the Windows
platform, even though it works like a charm under X. Or, if the
application gets tuned on Windows to run just as snappy as a VC++
application, the client is still not happy because the underlying OS
collapses under the weight, making your application look equally
pathetic.

A couple of quick and dirty solutions that actually accomplish the task
-

1) Run an X Server on the windows client, and run the application on a
Linux Box. A good (and cheap) K6-233 + 64MB linux box has the grunt to
serve approx 10 XTerminals running a graphically intense data entry and
reporting application. The only problem is finding a reasonably priced X
Server.  (XVision is rubbish, and very $$$). When the Windows machine
dies, there is no catastrophic effect on the application or data.

2) This is a bit harder ... We are considering adding an additional
daemon to all our applications to allow a Java enabled browser client to
perform basic data entry and reporting. This is by using a very thin
protocol on the wire (no JDBC at the client end thank you). This would
allow Windows machines and Macs to partake in the application without
getting too involved in all of the real processing.

Both alternative solutions would allow for NC clients, as an added
bonus.

Alternative 3 -

3) Develop your solution for Win32, using MS specific tools, and
optimize the hell out of it. Then, post the detailed specs, screen
shots, inter-task interfaces, etc to the Linux community. In effect 'do
a Netscape'. There is a school of thought that suggests that
applications should be written and optimized for a platform, not to a
lowest common demoninator. Take for example some of the more pathetic
attempts to port Playstation titles to N64 in order to make a quick
buck.

As a final point .. Nov 98 is looming rapidly, and I would love to put
in some time helping out on your project. Be it code reviews, GTK
development, or doing sales & support of your product in Australia .. I
would like to contribute in some way.

Steve O'Connor
Eljay Pty. Ltd.
Australia