Re: Performance issues on Windows, suggests a MSVC build

[Ben Abbott]

On Jun 22, 2011, at 12:24 PM, John W. Eaton wrote:

> On 22-Jun-2011, Ben Abbott wrote:
> 
> | I expect that Octave has more to gain from Windows and MacOS users
> | than there are liabilities,
> 
> Can you explain a bit more what you mean?  How do you see more users
> being helpful?  I'd say it depends on the users we attract.  Are they
> supporting us with funds or code or something, or do they just want
> support for free?  If the former, then I say great, but if the latter,
> then I don't see how we gain much.

My thought is that more users are better than less. I appreciate the trouble 
and frustration related to those who expect active support for fee ... very 
annoying crowd for me.

> | and am troubled by the decreased support for Windows
> 
> We have many Windows users, but not much in the way of Windows
> developers.  How can we change this?  If the Windows users want
> something to improve, then they need to provide some resources for
> that, either by volunteering to do the work, or paying someone to do
> the work.  Working on Windows systems makes me want to gag, but I'd be
> willing to do it in exchange for $$.

Agreed. Windows looks like a large opportunity, but I don't have any ideas how 
to tap into it.

> | and rumored changes to development on MacOS (clang and
> | such) which may make using gcc monre difficult.
> 
> I'm not sure I understand the issues, but Octave is not tied to a
> particular compiler.  What prevents either using GCC when it is not
> the system compiler (I've done that many times on many different types
> of systems in the past) or building Octave with clang?

My concern is that MacOS may end up like Windows. Meaning that OS's libraries 
and development tools aren't particularly useful. The result may be a smaller 
number of Octave developers on MacOS, and an apparent (or real) increase in 
those who expect support for free.

Personally, I'm expecting to move to Linux full time once I'm able to use 
gadgets like iPods, iPhone, iPads & such without the need to lock them to a 
computer.

In any event, perhaps my concerns are pointless, since I have no constructive 
ideas for improving the situation.

Ben