Re: GRAND software
On Monday 16 May 2005 06:12, Tshepang Lekhonkhobe wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Which of the thousands of FLOSS packages do you truly respect, either for
> their effect on the community or their perceived difficulty in terms of
> coding?
I'm not sure this is on-topic, but I'll mention a few personal favorites
anyway:
Rather than Blender, I would choose K-3D as my favourite 3D app. Just in case
you're wondering, this is a GTK app, rather than a KDE one. The current
version in Debian doesn't look like much, but even that is quite powerful if
you look closer. For one thing, it's a procedural modeller, so you aren't
stuck with what you make. You have a timeline of your construction, and you
can alter or animate the first step in the modelling process, even if you've
done a thousand other steps since.
More important, though, is that the developers have truly listened to users.
The next version in CVS has changed dramatically, so that it now resembles 3D
Studio Max or Maya, in terms of both the user interface, and the powerful
plugin architecture. Blender *may* still have an edge for modelling, but
I've heard of important new modelling tools in CVS too, so I'm not sure; K-3D
may be better on that point, too.
Along similar lines, I would also mention Krita (the up-coming paint package
in the next KOffice release). GIMP continues to have an (arguably) awkward
multi-window interface, despite many users asking for MDI. But Krita looks
like it will provide a really good alternative. What's more, they seem to be
taking a real interest in innovation, with Fractal Painter-like natural media
and paint-on effects etc. Looks much more useable, and much more powerful to
me. I can't wait to see this in Debian so I can finally ditch GIMP :)
Also on Graphics, Inkscape deserves a mention. They made sodipodi useable,
which means that I can finally do vector drawing on Linux, and they may even
have something pretty competitive once they get plugins going well.
For kernels, I'll have to say Linux, just because it does so well and
progresses quickly. However, I would probably be happier if HURD or OpenBSD
or NetBSD were the top Free Software kernels in terms of users and
development. HURD seems to have more potential, and I sometimes wonder if
Linus actually cares about Free Software, so HURD being a true GNU project
would make me less worried about its future. OpenBSD's auditing process
sounds great, and NetBSD's portability is really good. Although it doesn't
seem to maintain the same version on all archs, so I'm not sure if they would
all really count as "supported platforms" in my book.
In languages, Python or Ruby for their rapid development and general coolness,
and also PHP and Apache since they're probably quite important in
keeping .NET and it's proprietary HTML from taking over the web.
In IDEs, KDevelop (version 3+) gets my vote.
Also, I'll add KStars, since they not only have a great astronomy app, but
they just won a $1500 prize, and decided to donate it back to KDE rather than
keep it :)
Finally, I'll have to mention gEDA and the other electronic tools in general,
since, like GCC, they provides the basic tools for a whole new world of
Free/Open development: hardware. I was just looking through the OpenCores
site last night, and it's amazing to see complete processors etc. available
there. This might be an important area in future, if DRM hardware becomes
the norm.
--
Lee.
Please send replies to the list, not to my email address.
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