Re: [aspell-devel] VC6 and BCB5.5 patches

[Gary Setter]

<snip>
> > FYI, I received an e-mail asking about Ole support for
libaspell.
> > Since that is the first step toward .NET support, I would
expect
> > a lot of interest in that development. Is there interest here
in
> > Ole support?
>
> This will sound like an OS religious war, but is the .NET
license compatible
> with the GNU license?
> Will the functionality seen by adding .NET stuff also translate
into stuff
> seen on other platforms such as BSD, Sun, Linux, CE, embedded,
etc?
> AFAIK, Microsoft did expose the .NET for other OS operators to
attempt using,
> but it was an initial attempt and I don't think neither
Microsoft nor anyone
> else is really putting much effort in keeping the other OS
versions of .NET
> up to date with the windows version of .NET.  Then there is
also the issue
> concerning patents. Perhaps there are no patent concerns with
.NET yet, but
> since from the Linux perspective, Linux would be following
microsoft's lead
> on .NET here, so if microsoft decided to issue patented
processes in .NET,
> would the linux users follow, or would the linux users end up
with an
> incompatible (broken as advertised by Microsoft) version of
Aspell?
> When it comes to .NET, linux is a case of the tail attempting
to wag the dog,
> so it would have little to no say in terms of updates or
improvements which
> may get patented in future.

The open source equivalent is Mono? I can search for issue
surrounding it, such as patents. For me the culture wars is not
so interesting. Fact is there are lots of ordinary people who
have to do projects based on decisions others make for them, and
if it comes down that .NET support is required, there is nothing
they can do. So the only question is, do those guys deserve our
support. And the most important question, will they give back?

If .NET is not compatible with the LGNU, then I can understand
that providing .NET support would be like aiding and abetting a
violation of the LGNU license. Bummer.

> Today, many computers are running windows, but just reading
www.slashdot.org
> today, there is a posting mentioning how cisco is moving a fair
bit of stuff
> to linux as well.
You can thank me for that ;-) Every tech. that I get involved
with becomes obs. Rember Pascal and VAX/VMS? Of course every
tech. becomse obsolute eventually.

> Tomorrow, if you look at the progress of computing, you should
see some of
> the portable computers... you've got palmtops and cellphones
with the
> computing power of computers of 10 years ago.
> I would prefer to take the ++ out of the C++, this would make
the whole thing
> more available across more platforms and OSes, but this is a
personal
> preference and I am not the maintainer.

When I first leaned about C++, I didn't like the idea that you
could see a statement like "a = b +c" and not know what it meant.
But now I love it. Classes provide a nice framework to organize
programs. Nothing I've worked with has the speed plus down to the
nuts and bolts reach plus the ability to build up highly abstract
classes.