%% Stig <stig_at_hackvan.com> writes:
s> I am. And I'm inviting other developers to come along and put
s> their efforts into another project that is going somewhere...
I would be glad to hear about alternatives to fvwm2.
However, last I looked Enlightenment was nowhere close to the kind of
thing I want... it's not an alternative "if you like fvwm, check this
out". It has a completely different set of goals, and almost all of
them are quite incompatible with what I want/need in a window manager.
I need my window manager manage my windows, and that's about it :).
However, the management I want is advanced enough, functionally, to sink
most window managers out there. Even fvwm2 currently doesn't quite cut
it; when the GSR happens, maybe.
After that I want a little bit of nice-to-look-at, but I've got an 8-bit
video card on my Sun workstation (and I want to keep the same setup at
work and home, for ease-of-use) and I've only got 28M of RAM on the
equivalent of a pentium-75 at home; between them I just don't have the
resources for all the "angry fruit salad" Enlightenment's display seems
to have. Who has time for all that stuff? Graphically, I just need a
clean, tidy, easy to navigate virtual desktop that's there when I need
it, and otherwise stays out of the way.
That's not to say that I think fvwm2 shouldn't have first-class graphic
support for those who want it... I just don't want to see that become
its _only_ mode of operation.
s> Fvwm2 development is for all intents and purposes stopped and dead.
This, I'd have to unfortunately agree with.
I'm sure everyone is appreciative of Chuck's efforts, but lets face it,
fvwm2 needs a coordinator who's got more free time than he's had in the
last couple of years if it wants to survive. I remember well over 18
months ago the "last beta before 2.1" was out; now it seems that every
new patchlevel is the "last beta before 2.1". I'm not optimistic about
_ever_ seeing 2.1 at this rate, much less the major changes that are
planned after it's released.
Believe me, I sympathize totally with Chuck. I wanted to get a new
version of GNU make out before the end of May, and here it is July and I
still haven't made the second pretest yet! I know exactly how
frustrating this is, when you have obligations which aren't part of your
"real" work, and you just can't seem to get to them. I'm no better at
juggling this, and I certainly don't have the bandwidth myself.
Nevertheless, Stig's point here is very important and if we're fair and
honest with ourselves I don't think it can be dismissed lightly.
IMO one of the major things keeping more dynamic development back is the
lack of regular, timely updates. People don't have incentive to keep
updating and making things better if no one sees the enhancements.
s> Meanwhile, there is an fvwm2 variant (AfterStep) that seems alive
s> and well.
AfterStep is intriguing, and I've considered grabbing that and taking a
look. However, it is documented to have some annoying limitations
(because it seems to want to be as faithful to NextStep as possible,
which can be restrictive) that make me wary so far.
s> Also, there are two other promising WM projects (Enlightenment, and
s> WindowMaker) that have been totally rewritten and that have large
s> and active user-bases.
Already discussed Enlightenment above; haven't heard of WindowMaker
before.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul D. Smith <psmith_at_baynetworks.com> Network Management Development
"Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These are my opinions--Bay Networks takes no responsibility for them.
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Received on Mon Jul 07 1997 - 14:37:52 BST