[Protux-devel] about Java migration, Remon's kickout and fork

[Martin Herren]

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Reading through my mailbox has not been much fun over the last few weeks.

Sorry for not having reacted earlier, but due to work and military
obligations i'm just completely lacking of time. And also i didn't know
how to react to Luciano's first announcement and request of comments
without starting a war. In the meantime it has already started.

There was a lot i wanted to comment about Luciano's "perceptions" about
why to migrate. But i think i'll rather keep them for me now.

In the last few years i had almost no time to work on Protux. I didn't
even have much time to use it. But each time i used it i was missing
small features, which i just hoped to have time to implement soon. I
still didn't have this time yet. But i like Protux. I like to use it,
and i like to develop on it. I was looking forward for this
winter/spring where i should have been able to work again some more on
Protux. Now i don't know what will happen then.

There are other free tools available out there which do what i usually
need. Necessity i not the reason i started working on Protux. Main
reason is Fun. The fun of developing a project i like, i a language and
environment i like, which people with whom it is fun to work with. The
fun of developing something i will use myself, the fun of learning new
interesting stuff while working on it. Now the fun part seems to have gone.

I haven't seen an official statement from Luciano that the Java switch
is definitively decided... but it looks a lot like it. I'm not a Java
guy... i'm mainly a C guy... but i like a lot C++ too. I don't like
IDEs... so for the moment i could not imagine myself developing Java
code using eclipse. But perhaps i would like it... who knows ? I just
don't want to be forced to use a specific IDE to do my work on a Open
Source Project. I love Freedom... as in speak. But this includes also
the freedom to choose my weapons, my editor to code.
Also i can't see any justification in this switch. I'm not sure a wider
developer base will be found than now. And even if yes, it will take a
lot of time to get back to the point Protux is now.
This quest of productivity which Luciano seems to strive at is what i
try to avoid working on Protux. Of course i want a fully functional
Protux. But i already spend most of my time at work programing in order
to meet the deadlines. I want the programing which i do in my free time
to be fun. And usually i'm much more productive when i'm having fun than
when i'm forced to do something.

But these are not the main reasons why i'm sad about what happens now.
Kicking someone out of a project is no fun. Having an Open Source
project forking is no fun. We have already not many developers.
Separating them on two projects is not how we will speed up development.

There was a time long ago i almost got Luciano angry when i mentioned
the possibility to have Protux running on other (proprietary) operating
systems like Solaris and Irix... These times seems far away... now
running Protux will force users to have proprietary code. I'm not
against proprietary things, sometimes they are necessary. But there
seems to be changes in the heart of the project.
Also i don't like software patents.

There is just one quote about the last thread on the mailing list i want
to comment.

Luciano wrote:
| It is not too much to remember that the names Mustux, JMB, Protux are
| not allowed to be used in another forked project.

While i can understand that Luciano doesn't want the forked project to
be called something like Mustux or Protux (but i hope a mention of these
two projects is still allowed if not mandatory), i have difficulties to
accept it with JMB.
JMB is a UI concept, implemented by Mustux. Of course it has been
originally created for Mustux by Luciano and his team, but JMB is a
concept which can be used in many more places. Calling any other JMB
implementation (the UI concept, not the library) other than JMB will
just be more confusion and will serve neither the original nor the
forked project. This is like if in M$ Word you call an UI concept
"drag'n'drop" but in OpenOffice you are not allowed to use the same term
for the same UI concept/operation.
Why would a word processor not be able to be advertised as "implementing
Mustux' revolutionary JMB UI concept" ? Why would an Audio
Editor/Recorder not be allowed to do the same ? Just because
historically they had a common code base ?

<ironic>
And how long and Protux will be a proprietary commercial application and
the Protux holding will own the JMB patent ? I hope never but there
begins to be trends i don't like too much.
</ironic>


I'm still not decided about what my future participation will be as the
Java switch decision has not been officially announced yet.
And sorry i don't consider linking my participation on this decision as
unpolite. To spend a few month to integrate a new development
environment and then lot more time of porting everything is a lot of
work. In the same time a lot of more productive work and more useful
stuff could be done on the current version of Protux. I'm already
lacking time... so i rather use the little time i'm got to do something
more useful.
If the switch is decided i won't continue on Mustux/Protux. If the
switch doesn't happen but the project stays forked i don't know. I'll
see when i'll have time again to work on it again. But beside the
Java/C++ question Remon's ideas on
what to do on Protux and how to do it are usually much closer to my
ideas than Luciano's... so there is a bigger chance i'll switch off to
the forked Qt/C++ version. But as i said i'll see when i'll be able
again to do some work.


In the meantime i wish both projects a lot of success... i hope both
projects can end up as complementary projects rather than both projects
will starve due to lack of developer...

Time will tell.

I had lot of fun with all of you guys and i hope you won't take anything
i wrote here personal, it wouldn't have been my intention.


/Martin


- --
Teach me passion for I fear it's gone. Show me love, hold the lorn.
So much more I wanted to give to the ones who love me. I'm sorry.
Time will tell (this bitter farewell)
I live no more to shame nor me nor you
And you... I wish I didn't feel for you anymore...

- -- Nightwish
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