I can’t say I disagree with them…
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/05/hands-on-google-chromium-browser-alpha-for-linux.ars
I think Ben Goodger sums up Linux development quite nicely…
First of all let me generally comment that this entire situation is a clusterfuck.
More precisely…
“There isn’t dominant consensus around toolkit and HIG, there seems to be variance in commonly used software as to how it’s constructed and what it matches, and I’ve not heard anyone glow about how they can create the coolest looking UIs with GTK.
I have to say I agree whole heartedly with Mr. Goodger. I use Linux a lot and have done a lot of development one it. And every time I develop something for Linux I’m amazed at the lack of any kind of standards. Don’t get me wrong I understand that happens when no single entity controls an operating system, which is one of Linux’s greatest strengths in my book. But it’s a pain in the ass for developers.
For instance there were several sound sub systems common on Linux (ALSA seems to be the most common now). You couldn’t know what system any user would use so you ended up having to throw in code to support multiple systems.
This problem is still alive and well with graphical interface. You don’t know if a person is using KDE (based on Qt) or Gnome (Based on GTK+) or maybe even some other completely different system. I generally use Gnome (no flame wars please) and I don’t like installing a bunch of libraries I don’t need so I steer away from Qt based applications. The same goes for many KDE users they don’t want to install the GTK+ libraries. Hence you either have to say tough shit to some users or support both libraries.
This kind of cluster fucking is all over in Linux which is one of the things I hate about it. Don’t get me wrong overall I love Linux but not when I have to write code beyond the command line for it.
It’s nice to see even the geniuses at Google are having a pain in the ass time with it. Yes I know it’s petty but it makes me feel better when a company full of super geniuses have the same problems I do.