Versions & mass-appeal

[Dimitrie O. Paun]

On October 30, 2002 01:57 am, Ender wrote:
>      - Many apps do not work without Desktop enabled. This is far worse
> than it sounds, because most newbies try managed non-desktop first. People
> think WINE should be able to do seemless intergration. Then when an
> application hangs, they think it's incompatible and give up. However in
> many cases the Application will work fine in Desktop mode. BAD, these apps
> should either be made to work... or non-desktop mode should be removed!

IMO desktop mode exists only because our integration is not very good.
It should die sooner, rather than later, it's just a big hack. So we should
rather focus on getting apps to work in non-desktop more, rather then
resurrecting the silly desktop option.

>      - Getting the right set of dlloverrides and registry entries correct
> for a large portion of software is irritating. [snip]

We should aim at delivering a 0.8/0.9/1.0 that does not require native
DLLs to run apps. And so, there should be no need for dlloverrides...

>       - The amount of cross-dependency in WINE code makes it very hard for
> a newbie developer to try and debug a problem in an application he uses.
> This also means that to trace most of this inter-dependency you need to
> debug so many parts that the amount if debug info becomes pretty difficult
> to work with. So to begin with, you need a good idea of WINEs internal
> structure and DLL cross-calling before you even start to play with it.

That is true, but we're much better than 5 years ago. MUCH, MUCH BETTER.
The DLL separation, and sticking t Win32 API have simplified Wine programming
enormously, to the point where most Windows programmers can help on Wine
right off the bat. The project is huge, what do you expect? :)

-- 
Dimi.