[Lazarus] Is Lazarus project in a downward spiral?

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Sun, 7 Mar 2010, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:

>
> To give you an example of what I meant by easier to maintain. For the
> last 6 months I have pretty much 99% of my time developing under Linux
> - that included adding new features and components to fpGUI. Just the
> other day I though I better test my work under Windows. Fired up the
> VM session and even to my surprise, everything worked 100% like it did
> under Linux. That's the benefit I'm talking about - more common code
> reduces the amount of bugs and maintenance.

Yes, but you disregard the native look and feel. As soon as you must
introduce that, there will be less common code.

>> And as soon as someone says 'I want native look and feel', you're
>
> That's what the themes are for. :) As for the "feel" - I haven't had a
> user complain yet. Most components (buttons, menus, comboboxes, grids
> etc.) all work like the users where used to under native Windows
> applications. So clearly it's just developers that have an issue with
> the "feel", not the common user.

This is manifestly uncorrect. Show your product and a competing product
with roughly similar features but using 'standard' windows controls, and 
you can be assured that the user will choose for the standard one.

I am not pulling this out of my hat, this is feedback from the sales
manager after demos for potential clients.

I can only guess, but I think the reason you are getting away with your 
path is that you're in a situation where there simply is no competing 
product.

>> If I was planning Lazarus' future (for clarity: I am not), I would lay out
>> for the LCL:
>
> See, now that is the type of thing I'm talking about. Have some goal
> for the LCL, and try and reach that goal. Currently, it's just from
> version to version, adding more features, introducing regression bugs
> and having no stable version of the IDE or LCL. Simply not ideal, and
> very hard to promote to others.

Personally, I don't have the impression that there are regressions,
and I work with Lazarus daily. But that doesn't show much, it can be
that I simply don't use the areas under development.

I can only regret that this happens to you, but it is up to the Lazarus 
devels to declare a complete feature stop and work to 1.0.

This is one of the benefits of commercial companies: there the pressure
for a feature stop and enter a bug-fixing phase is simply larger. As a
developer, one is paid for it, it is ones job. it probably shows in fpGUI. 
Lazarus is a hobby for most that work on it; so there is less pressure.

And for the record: none of what I write is meant to diminish the achievements
of fpGUI. I think it is a hell of a job to create a widgetset. But I do
believe that if the same time had been spent on the LCL, Lazarus might have
already been at 1.0.

Michael.