[gmpi] Re: Decision Time: 7.1.2

On Sat, 14 Jun 2003, Tim Hockin wrote:

> yes, I am starting to see the problem.  If we allow F32 and F64 types, some
> developers will start to write F64 plugs, JUST for marketing.  Then, when
> they fail to load in some host, we have to say "Oh that host supports GMPI
> v1.0 and this is a GMPI v1.0 plugin, but that host doesn't support this
> plug".  We thereby (kinda) force all hosts to support F64, just so they aren't
> incompatible with plugs.  Especially as F64 gains momentum.

I disagree. "Just for marketing" implies a developer that cares about
sales figures. If you're in that category, you want to be sure of
compatibility with multiple hosts right off the bat. Now, it may be
marketing-savvy for a plugin to have F64 support, but it would be
shortsighted of that developer to not include an F32 version in the
package as well. I don't think any sane plugin developer would try and
break compatibility for the sake of marketing.

> So I THINK I am starting to believe
> a) supporting multiple datatypes costs plugins nothing (they choose one)
> b) supporting multiple datatypes costs hosts because they need to support
> the different types or be less competitive.
> I don't really think B is all that bad, but we don't have a good reason to
> do it.

Sorry, can someone explain again the argument regarding UV22 and other
dithering plugins? Are they somehow able to keep using floats as their
output?

Also, we should expect type-conversion plugins to be very readily
available, so that's not an issue - the only real cost for hosts is in
supporting different types of inter-plug "wire", and in knowing when to
load a format-converter.

Regards,
        Angus.


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