[Pythonmac-SIG] MacPython 2.3 - Carbon only?

Nathan Heagy nathan@vividworks.com
Fri, 4 Jan 2002 15:31:14 -0600 (CST)


> I do not know our break down of OS customers. One thing we keep in mind is
> we want to run on hand-me-down systems. Dad/Mom got the latest and greatest,
> John/Susie gets this box.  So the trend is towards Mac OS x...with new
> boxes. But because of our lag with hand-me-down machines, we also lag behind
> the trends.

That's an interesting point. Kids *do* tend to get hand me downs. iMacs
work particularly good because they're do durable (unlike some of the more
damaged PCs I've seen).

Nathan

> 		-----Original Message-----
> 		From:	Nathan Heagy [mailto:nathan@vividworks.com]
> 		Sent:	Friday, January 04, 2002 11:54 AM
> 		To:	Magladry, Stephen
> 		Cc:	'Jack Jansen'; pythonmac-sig@python.org
> 		Subject:	RE: [Pythonmac-SIG] MacPython 2.3 - Carbon
> only?
>
> 		Fair enough. Also very interesting. Sounds like you are
> using Python's RAD
> 		properties well.
>
> 		While there is a big difference in time between 3 years and
> 6 years in
> 		terms of technology both are very old. For certain halving
> the minimum age
> 		of supported OSes would not cut you off from half your
> potential
> 		customers. Please don't get angry with me for pressing the
> issue, I am
> 		mearly curious. Do you know how many of your customers use
> these older
> 		versions of your OSes?
>
> 		Also the issue is complicated by the trends of Macintosh
> users. PC users
> 		tend to accept that a 3 year old OS is obsolete. To compound
> that PC
> 		developers already have a larger audience so they do not
> feel as much
> 		pressure to reach all of their potential customers. Mac
> users tend to
> 		expect their machines to be supported longer.
>
> 		Just as when Apple started using PowerPC CPUs something
> similar is
> 		occuring now with the transition to OS X. For the next few
> years Mac OSes
> 		will be obsolete earlier than the generations before them.
>
> 		Nathan
>
>
>
> 		On Fri, 4 Jan 2002, Magladry, Stephen wrote:
>
> 		> Our cross platform code is already under development. Our
> first title is to
> 		> be released in about nine months. True 2.3 wouldn't be
> usable for us at that
> 		> time, but this engine will be reused many times, maybe
> even concurrently
> 		> with this first project. So a release three months after
> the release of 2.3
> 		> wouldn't be totally out of the question. That would make
> 8.6 not even 3 and
> 		> a half years old. Our current support of System 7.5.5,
> released in August
> 		> 1996, makes our support go back almost 6 years. 3 and a
> half years, even 4
> 		> years,  is considerably shorter that 6 years.
> 		>
> 		> 		-----Original Message-----
> 		> 		From:	Nathan Heagy
> [mailto:nathan@vividworks.com]
> 		> 		Sent:	Friday, January 04, 2002 11:17 AM
> 		> 		To:	Magladry, Stephen
> 		> 		Cc:	'Jack Jansen';
> pythonmac-sig@python.org
> 		> 		Subject:	RE: [Pythonmac-SIG]
> MacPython 2.3 - Carbon
> 		> only?
> 		>
> 		> 		> 		1. MacPython wouldn't run on
> 8.5 anymore
> 		> (for 8.1 MacPython
> 		> 		> 2.2 is the last release anyway), and on
> 8.6 you would need
> 		> to manually
> 		> 		> install CarbonLib.
> 		>
> 		> 		I stand corrected. Since I do think that
> Carbon is the right
> 		> way to go let
> 		> 		me then say this: while, "8.6 is only about
> 2 and a half
> 		> years old," that
> 		> 		is only right now. Python 2.3 will probably
> not be released
> 		> for nine
> 		> 		months judging from 2.1's release. Add to
> that the
> 		> development time for a
> 		> 		kids' game - perhaps a year - and at that
> point 8.6 will be
> 		> nearly five
> 		> 		years old.
> 		>
> 		> 		Nathan
> 		>
> 		>
> 		> 		> 		-----Original Message-----
> 		> 		> 		From:	Nathan Heagy
> 		> [mailto:nathan@vividworks.com]
> 		> 		> 		Sent:	Friday, January 04,
> 2002 11:03 AM
> 		> 		> 		To:	Magladry, Stephen
> 		> 		> 		Cc:	'Jack Jansen';
> 		> pythonmac-sig@python.org
> 		> 		> 		Subject:	RE:
> [Pythonmac-SIG]
> 		> MacPython 2.3 - Carbon
> 		> 		> only?
> 		> 		>
> 		> 		> 		I think that this only
> limits what platform
> 		> can be used for
> 		> 		> development. I
> 		> 		> 		expect to be corrected if
> I'm wrong however.
> 		> 		>
> 		> 		> 		Nathan
> 		> 		>
> 		> 		>
> 		> 		>
> 		> 		> 		On Fri, 4 Jan 2002,
> Magladry, Stephen wrote:
> 		> 		>
> 		> 		> 		> I guess I'll be a voice of
> dissention. I
> 		> work for a game
> 		> 		> company writing
> 		> 		> 		> kids software. We try to
> keep our min
> 		> specs as broad as
> 		> 		> possible. As a point
> 		> 		> 		> of reference, our current
> min specs is
> 		> 7.5.5. In our up
> 		> 		> coming games we plan
> 		> 		> 		> to use Python. A
> requirement of 8.6 cuts
> 		> into our
> 		> 		> potential market. Also,
> 		> 		> 		> 8.6 is only about 2 and a
> half years old.
> 		> 		> 		>
> 		> 		> 		> True we can just stay with
> 2.2, but there
> 		> may be some
> 		> 		> feature in 2.3 that we
> 		> 		> 		> may really want to use. At
> that time, we
> 		> would be stuck
> 		> 		> between a rock
> 		> 		> 		> (wanting the new feature)
> and a hard place
> 		> (Having our min
> 		> 		> spec jump up).
> 		> 		> 		>
> 		> 		> 		>
> -----Original Message-----
> 		> 		> 		> 		From:	Jack
> Jansen
> 		> [mailto:jack@oratrix.nl]
> 		> 		> 		> 		Sent:
> Thursday, January
> 		> 03, 2002 2:47 PM
> 		> 		> 		> 		To:
> 		> pythonmac-sig@python.org
> 		> 		> 		> 		Subject:
> 		> [Pythonmac-SIG] MacPython
> 		> 		> 2.3 - Carbon only?
> 		> 		> 		>
> 		> 		> 		> 		Folks,
> 		> 		> 		> 		I'm toying
> with the idea of
> 		> making MacPython
> 		> 		> 2.3
> 		> 		> 		> Carbon-only, as this
> 		> 		> 		> 		would save a
> lot of
> 		> development effort. And
> 		> 		> there are a lot
> 		> 		> 		> of things
> 		> 		> 		> 		I'd like to
> do, for one
> 		> thing I would like
> 		> 		> all our MacPython
> 		> 		> 		> goodies
> 		> 		> 		> 		to run
> natively in
> 		> MachoPython by the time
> 		> 		> 2.3 is released.
> 		> 		> 		>
> 		> 		> 		> 		There are
> two drawbacks to
> 		> this plan:
> 		> 		> 		> 		1. MacPython
> wouldn't run on
> 		> 8.5 anymore
> 		> 		> (for 8.1 MacPython
> 		> 		> 		> 2.2 is the
> 		> 		> 		> 		last release
> anyway), and on
> 		> 8.6 you would
> 		> 		> need to manually
> 		> 		> 		> install
> 		> 		> 		> 		CarbonLib.
> 		> 		> 		> 		2. Tkinter
> is going to be a
> 		> problem, but I
> 		> 		> think it is a
> 		> 		> 		> solvable
> 		> 		> 		> 		problem (it
> is possible to
> 		> load
> 		> 		> InterfaceLib-based code into
> 		> 		> 		> a
> 		> 		> 		>
> CarbonLib-based main
> 		> program).
> 		> 		> 		>
> 		> 		> 		> 		What do
> people think?
> 		> 		> 		> 		--
> 		> 		> 		> 		Jack Jansen
> |
> 		> ++++ stop the
> 		> 		> execution of Mumia
> 		> 		> 		> Abu-Jamal ++++
> 		> 		> 		>
> Jack.Jansen@oratrix.com |
> 		> ++++ if you agree
> 		> 		> copy these lines
> 		> 		> 		> to your sig ++++
> 		> 		> 		>
> www.cwi.nl/~jack        |
> 		> ++++ see
> 		> 		> 		>
> http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/ ++++
> 		> 		> 		>
> 		> 		> 		>
> 		> 		> 		>
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