This is very good news!
> I can think of some reasons why this is a good idea, but also why I
> would personally not make this choice:
>
> - as far as I can see there is not much support for Motif other than as
> a widget set on top of X11
Incorrect. Almost every PC X-windows package supports Motif, almost every
UNIX platforms supports Motif, Even Mac-X supports Motif.. Remember,
once the application is compiled and linked with Motif libraries,
the Widget set is INDEPENDENT of the supplied X-windows system since
everything folds down to Xlib. The server does not have to have
Motif on it at all..
> - although X11 is available on several platforms, not all of them
> include Motif, that is for a reasonable price; practically speaking,
> I think that this means the end of window-based development using
> Python on non-unix systems
Motif is going into the public domain. It will no longer be owned by OSF
in the very near future. it will be similar to X then. You will
be able to FTP and grab the Motif sources (Don't ask me the source
of my info).
> - what is the purpose a of window-system binding for Python and wouldn't
> we rather have some portable Xlib level kind of window functionality
> on all the obvious platforms (mac/pc/unix-x11); we could think of the
> XVT type of solution, which is more or less an extension of the
> thoughts behind STDWIN, but developed from the other end, i.e. from
> existing window systems
Motif is more standard then STDWIN. People like the look and feel of
Motif. The first time I ran a STDWIN program, I thought it looked
like a toy. Put a nice Motif look to it and it can become a product.
> I think that the underlying question is: who is using Python and for
> what? As a newcomer to Python and this list I have no idea about that.
> My own main interest is cross-platform non-standard (so: not MS-Win,
> Motif, OpenLook etc.) GUI prototyping.
^^^^^^^^ OpenLook is dead. Sun is dropping it completely.
I know that I will very much enjoy the Motif interface for Python!
I am creating a commercial product based on Python and the STDWIN
interface does not look professional enough. There is no
need to discontinue to use STDWIN for those that need it, but I
for one need Motif.
Lance Ellinghouse
lance@markv.com