[Qt] Release V.172RC

[Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho]

On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 2:27 PM, Den Jean <Den.Jean at telenet.be> wrote:
> If you need an older distro (older than the current),
> you can install a newer Qt alongside the distro wide one and
> use LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

That isn't what I am talking about. I am not concerned about software
developers using LCL-Qt to write software, but about the users of the
end software developed with Lazarus and LCL-Qt.

And I also don't think it's a good idea, if we set a minimum Qt
version we should stick to it regardless of which Qt version is
installed in the developer machine. Why stablish a relation between
the minimum requirements of the software and the developer computer?
Is there a relation between the developer computer and the end user
computer?

Of the few places I know using Linux most of them use old
distributions, because there is simply no reason to waste time in
continuous updates even if they are free. How would software developed
with LCL-Qt run in these computers? Do you know any company updating
their Linux computers every year like we are updating Qt versions?

> current = Mandriva 2009.1 = Qt 4.5
> old = Mandriva 2009.0 (released in 2008) = Qt 4.4
> new = Mandriva 2010 (expected in Nov 2009) = Qt 4.5

How many people are using the latest Mandriva 2009 compared to all
other older versions? I suspect a minority.

I don't have Linux data, but the W3school statistics for Windows may help a bit:

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp

Windows XP was launched in 2001 but only had more then 50% of users in
2004. Windows Vista still has only 18% of users.

Will we be surporting Qt 4.5 in 2012? If not, I suspect we will never
be targeting the majority of the installed Linux base.

Compare with the Gtk2 interface. I think it requires Gtk 2.8 (could be
2.6, don't remember), which is supported in Madriva 2006 and superior.

What is more important: Producing software which runs on more
computers or using the latest Qt version?

-- 
Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho