Havoc On Longhorn

Havoc has some good thoughts on the Linux vs. Longhorn idea. The thing is, the platform needs developers. Right now there are a ton of excellent developers out there creating nifty GNOME apps, and (IMHO) they have an advantage because everything is open and there is a distinct attitude that if something needs to be fixed, it will be. I’ve never thought that as a single person I could influence anything that microsoft does. Maybe that’s true, maybe that’s not. But I see suggestions put out on the various Linux related mailling lists that are implemented and turned into features much quicker than say, any of my microsoft bitches.

But then again, I haven’t paid thousands of dollars for their development tools, ISV partner programs, or sold my soul or whatever you have to do to get something fixed in Redmond.

Anyway, the voodoo required to create nifty GNOME apps is still a bit of voodoo, and GNOME really needs something like KDevelop, or a mix of Anjuta and GLADE or something that will lower the barrier to entry for developing more applications. Visual Basic is evil for many, many reasons, but it does allow any idiot to program an application with pretty much 0 knowledge of the sytem he’s doing it for. Though I’m not convinced that’s a good or bad thing 🙂