[muglo] Re: The GIMP (a Photoshop substitute for $0)

>  I'll read the rest later, but I had GIMP running under X11, but with a
>reinstall of OSX, X11 seems to have dissappeared. I had thought I had it
>on the Developers disk with my 10.3.5 disks, but consequent reinstalls
>have only give me the X11 SDK package. Thansk for the URL.

Yep, a re-install wouldn't install it since it's not really part of the OS 
(yet).

I hope that Apple incorporates it into 10.4 because then it'll "legitimise" 
X Windows on Mac OS X and open up a whole new world of apps to the *typical* 
computer-ignoramus Mac user. All of the apps from the X-Windows world 
(GNOME/KDE) will then become available to the Mac user with a simple 
re-compile.

There are some pretty robust apps available to X Windows (Linux/UNIX) that 
are still partly shut-out of Mac. With X Windows support built-in we'll get 
access to PHENOMENAL apps like AbiWord and OOO (OpenOffice.org; a MS Office 
replacement) without having to have someone devote time and effort to 
adapting the app specially to Mac OS X (look at how "primitive" the Mac OS 
X-native OOO is compared to its X Windows version).

Someone will still have to devote time to building the supporting libraries 
and figuring out how to put them into a simple, easy-to-distribute package 
(like The GIMP) BUT that effort is MUCH less than what is required to 
re-write significant portions of the app for Aqua/Quartz. With a lot of time 
and effort I probably have enough know-how to do the former (for a simple 
project), but I certainly couldn't do the latter without properly learning 
how to programme in C and C++, and in C and C++ ON THE MAC.

PS Keep your eyes open for AbiWord 
(<http://www.abisource.com/information/about/>) - they're working on a 
native port for Mac OS X and there are suggestions it'll run under X11 as 
is. It is poised to take off as a _real_ (& free) alternative to Microsoft 
Word (much less bloated than OOO & Word it's got a simple interface (& I 
suspect its the open source progeny of the AbiWord word processor that blew 
me away back in 1993 on Windows for its elegance and usefulness).

Eric.


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