To all my fellow developers, I can see that I am not going to get anywhere with anyone in this group regarding my GTK issue, so I am abandoning my GTK+ project and moving on because it was a critical problem. But before I move on, I think other programmers like myself should know why I choose GTK+ in the first place.
Good things about GTK+: 1) Cross-OS. I can use it on Mac, Windows, and Linux. All I need to do is change linkers to do so. 2) Glade. Even a programmer wannabee could almost learn how to make cross-OS programs using Glade. I especially like how you could use it with the gtk_builder() functions. I will really, really miss this part of GTK. 3) Simplicity. It is far, far easier to program the GTK+ GUI than it is with the Windows or Mac GUI. The code is smaller, has less bloat, is consistent in it's use of functions, and is therefore far easier to read. 4) Mature. It has all the functionality you need. Nice looking components, themes, etc. Thoroughly documented as it should be. Bad things about GTK+: 1) Not exactly end-user friendly. I could package the GTK+ runtimes with my application, but it would turn my little tiny program into a massive download. I could avoid this by telling my end-users to install GTK+ for themselves, but the vast majority of end-users are not programmers and do not want to have to perform the necessary steps to install a compiler to use to compile the GTK+ libraries. Grandmama and grandpapa just want everything to be plug and play, and GTK+ is definitely not plug and play. 2) Not exactly programmer friendly. Because of number one above, I would have to create another project just to provide another application to install GTK+, or I would have to create a horrible-to-maintain manual for end-users to install GTK+ that would be too complicated for most grandmamas and grandpapas to understand anyways. 3) Licensing. If I provide my own installer for the GTK+ libraries, I will have to provide and maintain my own separate copy of the code. This is way too much work for such a simple thing. 4) Little to no community support. This forum was a perfect example of that, but it isn't just GTK, it is the entire Linux community. I remember running into a problem with Ubuntu when it first came out. If I lost power or accidentally removed my USB stick before unmounting it, it would brick my stick and only a Windows computer could unbrick it (with Window's scan and repair, which Ubuntu couldn't do because it said the stick had an "unknown file system"). The community response was horrid. I had a workaround but Ubuntu never got it fixed to my knowledge. 5) Scary group. Like Microsoft and their dramatic move from Win7 to Win8, GTK had a winning formula but then threw it all away and started from scratch again. If you have a winning formula, stick to it!! GTK got lucky because GTK3 appears to be just as good as GTK2, but their dramatic move caused a loss of customers, just like Win8 and Win10 has or will. It also makes me leery of the GTK project leaders because how do we know they won't throw GTK3 out the window with the next release of GTK4, making all my previous programs obsolete? With the release of Win8 and Win10, I *WILL* abandon Windows. Microsoft has abandoned me, a loyal customer, for what I think are purely profit based reasons, so I will abandon them. But where to go? While there is a lot to like about Linux, there is a lot to dislike about it too, so it is the lessor of two evils instead of an actual choice. Mac is very good but way too expensive and has limited hardware. Imagine trying to create a startup up on a limited budget, and equipping all your users with a Mac. You could go broke before you even started. You can develop custom hardware, but it can only be USB or Bluetooth based only. Good luck trying to develop any other type of hardware to run on a Mac. And if you find a programming issue with a Mac, good luck trying to get them to admit it or change it, unless you are a multi-billion dollar corp. So I am becoming homeless in the OS world, with no one to turn to and nowhere to go. But in the meantime, I can pretend to still be going somewhere eventually, hence the reason for turning to GTK. But with that out of the picture, my current choices are: AntTweakBar, MyGuy, Agar, QT, oZone, MiniGUI, Awesome, Awesomium, Crazy Eddies' GUI, OpenGUI, and TK. There are many more, but these are the only ones I am going to look at. Wish me luck and I will wish you luck, Andrew _______________________________________________ gtk-app-devel-list mailing list gtk-app-devel-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gtk-app-devel-list
