Re: [VANILLA-LIST:3160] Developers Must Play

[Jeffrey Nowakowski <jeffno@ccs.neu.edu>]

James Cameron <quozl@us.netrek.org> wrote:
>
> If you are part of the Vanilla project, I personally would prefer you
> to spend as much time playing as coding or reading this list.

I don't see the problem as developers not playing enough.  I play way
too much as it is.  I see Dave Ahn, Trent, Karthik, Sheldon, and
Carlos playing a fair amount.  None of this has changed what people
work on.

The problem is people will work on what they consider interesting.
That always isn't what is best for Netrek, but I don't see how you
change that.

I think the single biggest problem we face is the number of forked
development efforts going on with the clients.  The ideal would be a
single client that worked on both Unix and Windows, with smooth
graphics and an intelligent user interface.  Instead we have Paradise
(Unix only, Trent's version non-open source), COW (works on both
Windows and Unix, not sure how well on Windows), Netrek1999 (Windows
only), a Java client (devolopment ceased), BRMH (Unix only), Ted
Turner (Unix only?), and other various un-released projects.

Right now I'm working on improving cambot support in COW.  But what
about all the other clients?  I'm not going to port my changes to
them.

-Jeff