Thoughts on the future of open source desktop development: "Why is a high-level language and runtime important? Why are these projects considering a move?
Coding efficiency. High-level languages are simply technically superior to C/C++ for most uses, desktop applications in particular.
XAML. Microsoft is trying to take over the Internet and replace HTML. There are many more possibilities for an effective open alternative to XAML given a managed-runtime language.
Component technology. A managed language solves some of the same problems COM was designed to solve, such as ABI encapsulation, versioning, and modularization.
Unification of server and desktop APIs. By allowing programmers to use the same set of class libs to write a desktop app or a server-side app, we get advantages in terms of training and code reuse.
ISV appeal. A familiar language with cross-platform capabilities is a relatively friendly porting target.
The rest of the world is moving, and companies are angling to get their particular technology accepted. It's important for the open source world to proactively and consciously make its own decision. "
Thursday, March 18, 2004
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