Mac Front Ends=Dead - Page 2

2k1Toaster · 07-28-2007, 09:15 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by iamgnat

I disagree with this idea. We (most of us anyway) selected a different OS/hardware because we believe it offers something that the others do not (regardless of if it is features or familiarity).

Given that, I believe it is the duty of the Front End to resemble the OS it runs on and make use of it's underlying features.

If the OS is not important to the user, then by all means they should go with the hardware/OS of the FE that meets their needs and is usable for them.

-dave

An OS is an OS though. They all have the same features just different ways of going about getting to them. There is not a single thing that is useful for a CarPC that an OS has an advantage over another one.

iamgnat · 07-28-2007, 09:50 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

There is not a single thing that is useful for a CarPC that an OS has an advantage over another one.

I think that entirely depends on what you want to do. If you are simply talking about playing music/videos, then I would agree. I would also agree that it is possible to perform the same task at the OS level on any of the 3 major platforms, but some some things will always be easier in different operating systems. No OS is perfect by any means, my original point was that it should not be a function of the Front End (or any application without a very good reason) to "hide" the OS it should instead look to extend it (e.g. continuity of the look and feel from app to app).

-dave

Bitoholic · 07-30-2007, 02:04 AM

I have been working on my front end architecture now since 2003. MMC was built on Mono and follow Mono closely; I am a contributor to Mono. I have built MMC in such a way that it is not a Windows Forms based application. Windows Forms is where Mono is weak. I stayed away from it. I have a slick away of dealing with a lot of the issues. I will be posting a version of my application in about 4 weeks that runs seamlessly on Windows, Mac, and Linux. This is a first for any front end and I am excited to show it to you guys. I program on a Mac Book Pro, so getting a Mac version with all the features is a huge priority for me. So... I have to disagree that front end for Mac is dead. I can not wait to show you guys, I am sure you will be happy with the app, when you get to see it.

Jirka Jirout · 07-30-2007, 04:53 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by iamgnat

I disagree with this idea. We (most of us anyway) selected a different OS/hardware because we believe it offers something that the others do not (regardless of if it is features or familiarity).

Given that, I believe it is the duty of the Front End to resemble the OS it runs on and make use of it's underlying features.

If the OS is not important to the user, then by all means they should go with the hardware/OS of the FE that meets their needs and is usable for them.

Well I do and do not agree with you. The frontend should completely isolate the user from the underlying operating system. The frontend should provide the function the user wants, regardless of the OS used. HOWEVER the underlying OS makes a *huge* difference for a developer who wants to provide the user with the functions the user expects. To be honest - most of things you can program under OS X you can program under Windows too. The only difference is the time and effort needed, since in OS X you are getting many things free-of-charge.

I know people who do freelance programming in Cocoa and charge their customers 3 times more hours than what they actually need to accomplish the task. If they charged the real time spent, no one woud hire them, because no one would believe it is possible to write good software in that time.