Re: Computer System Survey

Joachim Heck - SunSoft wrote:
> 
> Alexander Williams writes:
> @:) On Thu, 14 Aug 1997, Joachim Heck - SunSoft wrote:
> 
> @:) > Java's the only sensible way to go.

As someone who would have liked to think so, JAVA still isn't ready for
real apps 
by the look of it.... mainly as the Runtimes stuff doesn't work right,
ESPECIALLY 
ON The MAC, which is a bummer when the same thing works fine on Windows!
 
Seems both Microsoft and Apple are working on that though. It is a
matter of 
time...

It seems to me the only 'easy' cross platform stuff that really works (
and is 
cheap) today is some Browser + JavaScript+ Perl/C/CGI ( maybe even Java
if you 
can prove what you want to do doesn't break on all the platforms) thing
that has 
to be fixed on each platform you want it on. ( tried Perl + http on a
mac and a 
similar thing on windows and both were broken in some ways that needed
hacks!) 
BUT I don't think this is something you really want to make into a
commercial 
application and TRY and sell to GZG customers ...

I've developed in MFC in VC++ on Windows for a few years, used Think C,
MPW and 
MacApp on a Mac , and making cross platform apps isn't easy ( without
rewritting 
the bloody thing each time!).

The MFC VC++ cross compiler for the Mac looked useful... but no new 5.0
version 
yet ( maybe never, maybe soon as they just swallowed, I mean invested
in, 
Apple). CodeWarrior on the Mac is supposed to spit out MFC stuff too,
but haven't 
tried it...... but these solutions leave out the few non-mac non-windows
users.	( 
Who from the numbers, don't matter in the business sense, but get pissed
off if 
they cannot use the software, computers are more like a religion to far
too 
many.....  I should probably run for cover now, but also use a Sun as
much as 
anything else for the Internet and would love a DEC Alpha running
Windows NT...) 

And when it comes to the application itself, I don't want it to need the
latest 
hardware! I'm typing this on a lowly Mac Performa 630  with System 7.1J,

20Megs of Ram and 1.5Gigs of Disc and a 16bit 14" display.  I'm looking
at a 
Windows 95 laptop though and couldn't imagine buying anything more than
a 
Pentium 166Mhz(133Mhz?) , 8bit LCD display, 32Megs of Ram and at least 2
gigs 
of disc and a CD-ROM drive.   I currently develop on a 200Mhz Pentium
with 
Accelerated 24bit color 17" monitor , some gigs of Disc , Windows 95 and

couldn't image even finding the space to put it at home. I originally
needed to 
move to this system as Windows 95 made my previously fast under Windows
3.1,  
crawl.

-- 
	Adrian Bruce   adrian@inetc.roland.co.jp
	    SF2D&I http://www.inetc.roland.co.jp/~adrian/