Re: Unable to flush all Mac Abiword config files

James Greenidge wrote:
>
> Ryan Pavlik wrote:
>> For a non-programmer, the best thing to do is QA - reporting bugs,
>> verifying bugs already in the database, and clarifying/simplifying
>> bugs (creating/simplifying test cases, etc) If you look around on
>> the web site a bit there is more information on this.
>> (The bug database is at http://bugzilla.abisource.com/ )
>>
>> Ryan
>>
>
> Okay, I was all pumped up to do this except I'm getting
> confidential-requested e-mail from folks telling me not to waste my
> time and that the Mac version "hasn't moved squat" for over two years,
> and that the latest Mac AbiWord was a "step back" in rendering, and
> that NeoOffice killed all user interest in Mac AbiWord. I need a small
> but agile Mac WP that can eat Word files and other formats (except
> Mariner Write -- please!) and it seems AbiWord fits the bill in every
> way, but I really want to know the candid story whether my eager
> input's going to matter. Please info me.
>
> James Greenidge
I would say, don't hold back, but don't hold your breath. I'd love to
see the Mac version with some new energy (as I have recently added a Mac
to my stable of computers), and we've got a great start already. I'm
not sure about the user thing - I would imagine the text rendering bug
has more to do with any possible decrease in users than NeoOffice, since
as a standalone word processor without major commercial backing we tend
to keep a low profile compared to OO.o and NeoOffice. In open source,
however, it's not the user interest that moves things forward (except
indirectly), but rather developer interest. Probably the best favor you
could do the port is find a Mac OS X developer who's interested in
getting involved and bringing the port up to speed. (It hasn't been
completely neglected, it just hasn't been in a buildable and releasable
state since 2.4.5 is my impression, and Hub has mentioned he is
disinclined to pursue that work.)

That said, as long as you take care not to file duplicates of bugs that
are already filed, any input you can get in Bugzilla will a) help all
platforms if it is in fact a cross-platform bug, and/or b) help any
future developer who might want to come along and carry the flag, so to
speak. Having well-written bug reports can make the limited time of a
volunteer Mac OS X expert dev (or even just a hobbyist who has the
skills or can learn them) that much more valuable - it keeps developers
doing developer stuff.

(Now, if you know of a developer and care to incentivize them a bit, I
can't say that would hurt either :D )

Hopefully this makes more sense to you, and I wish I could offer a more
positive response. I'm not sure where all the Mac OS X open source devs
have gone - my guess is perhaps where most of the Windows ones have, too
- but there is a fair amount of open source software for the Mac. Now
if we could just "buy out ", say, the Adium developer community.... ;)

Ryan

(PS - The toolbar color bug was fixed with a change Apple presumably
made with Rosetta in Leopard.)

-- 
Ryan Pavlik
www.cleardefinition.com
#282  +  (442) -  [X]
A programmer started to cuss
Because getting to sleep was a fuss
As he lay there in bed
Looping 'round in his head
was: while(!asleep()) sheep++;
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