Erik Funkenbusch wrote:
On Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:32:59 -0500, Matt wrote:
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS4824952673.html?kc=rss
[Updated Mar. 4] -- Nokia-owned Qt Software is shipping Qt 4.5, a
cross-platform library now available under a commerce-friendly LGPL
license. Additionally, Qt launched a new cross-platform IDE (integrated
development environment) and SDK, and said it would discontinue the
Linux-only Qt Extended stack (formerly "Qtopia").
Gee... dated at least 6 days ago.. I wonder how Roy "missed" this bit of
Linux news?
Or could it be that Roy only publishes "news" he thinks is positive about
Linux, or negative about Microsoft or Novell? Nah, that can't be it.. that
would be biased and unethical for a so called "journalist".
1) I found the very text quoted above in two of Roy's posts---one on
March 3 (38 days ago) and one yesterday, so that part of your premise is
to say the least a little off. Still I haven't been able to figure out
why Roy forms his subject lines as he does.
2) Discontinuing Qtopia is not bad news for Linux. Qtopia is a Linux
kernel integrated with a version of Qt, both adapted for embedded use.
The apps for it won't run unmodified on anything else. IMO it is
usually good for Linux when Linux-only software dies. But as the last
paragraph quoted in my OP shows, the programs built for Qtopia aren't
thoroughly Linux-only, as the Qtopia call interface differs little from
that of Qt, and the apps need not die. There is a rather clear path for
Qtopia apps to evolve to cross-platform apps. So really it looks like
it is bad news mainly for Qtopia.
For years I thought Qtopia was self contradictory, as it restricts
cross-platform GUI capability to a specific platform. But it seems that
those who wrote Qtopia apps will have a soft landing. Eventually those
apps can evolve to be used on any of several kinds of Linux (or other
OS!) on smartphones and MIDs, while their users can load the data onto
their home PCs and use the data with the same apps on Linux, Mac, or
Windows. It didn't make sense to me until now, but it represents
Trolltech thinking ahead by putting an abstraction layer between the GUI
app and the embedded OS, even though the layer is not exactly distinct
and its existence is not even obvious to the casual observer.
This is related to the theme I mentioned about a week ago, that there
may be many projects on a cross-platform development path, even though
they are available so far for only one or two of the three major
platforms. Certainly we can name a few projects that are known to be on
that development course.
3) Qtopia's demise is the smaller story here: Qt is now LGPL. It looks
like Nokia may be making good on its "Qt everywhere" slogan.
We may look back and see that that is the biggest Linux story of the year.
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