31 Jul
2005
31 Jul
'05
5:38 a.m.
On Sunday 31 July 2005 07:04, hanaghan(a)starband.net wrote:
(snip)
Very well put, thanks. This is indeed the question I hope the core KDE
multumedia devs contemplate. Like I mentioned, once some non-JACK based
system is decided upon then it's all over and only fragmented retrofits
will be available after that.
I can well imagine the "KDE" focus of the previous thread would irritate
the Gnome, and otherwise, folks but the point is that if one of the 2
main desktop systems get a chance to explore a "deeper" and "better"
sound susb-system then the other will benefit as a co-absorber of any
positive results without going through the exploratory development pain.
This thread has not come about because LAU
desperately needs KDE. It has
come about because the audio professionals in your Linux familiy see an
opportunity to move the Linux environment forward in an area where it
currently lags and languishes in indecision and neglect. KDE can choose
to say "We're not interested," but that will only push the problem on
for the next group which comes to a major rearchitecting. But, sooner or
later, the issues will be addressed -- or this environment will wither.
I'm convinced it's that fundamental--but that's another email. The only
question for KDE is whether they want to be leaders or followers.
(snip-done)
... By that I
mean should the nature of open source be the driver in Linux audio and
leave it such that there a *many* options (applications) for you to do the
same job but none of them really "talk" to each other well or play nice
together. should more cohesive methods of application development be
created?
It's all about standards. Look at the world of disparate web browsers
from various open and closed sources... they all mostly work with
most web pages remarkably well. Anyone can point out the exceptions
where this analogy falls apart but that "they all work" is by dar the
greater attribute. Why ? Extensive W3C and IETF standards.
...
If you will indulge me, I want to know
what makes you spend the time you do on this stuff so guys like me can
pilfer legally and freely your hard works and then subsequently bitch at
random about how it doesn't work! :)
You make it sound like a one way street all about the developer(s).
A "project" cannot survive without users. If users do not use the
software the developers are sweating over then that software project
will go nowhere and die. Every bit as much as us users leach the
efforts of developers is the developers need us as users or else
their efforts will come to nothing... they also need to pay homage
to their userbase... or another project, that does so, will succeed
in the long term and their baby will not.
...
Personally, I don't think it can or should be done in large scale...but
the "low hanging fruit" in this topic could generate some interesting
perspective. And as the originating topic demonstrates, there certainly
seems to be conflicting conceptual opinion between development groups in
different corners of the OS in general...
There are so few documented "standards" in our open source audio world
that there is no, or very little, glue to bind us all. Somehow "fixing"
this issue will, I believe, sort out a lot of a the other issues you
raise.
--markc