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Ask HN: What Is the Current State of the GNUstep Project?
Hello. I have been using Mac OS X for ten years; I migrated from a Windows XP/FreeBSD 5 dual-boot configuration a decade ago and bought a Core Duo MacBook, and I am currently using a three year-old MacBook Air. Like many other people I was disappointed with the MacBook Pro announcement last Thursday, and I'm assessing the landscape, looking for alternatives to the Mac ecosystem that provide a stable, secure operating system with a well-designed interface and support for commercial applications such as Microsoft Office.
One of the ideas that came to mind was my contributing to the GNUstep and Darling projects in order to create an environment for Linux or BSD that is compatible with Cocoa apps. However, I don't know the current status of the GNUstep project; I know that there has been many changes made to the Cocoa API since the OpenStep specification was released. In addition, Mac OS X has the Core Foundation API. While parts of it are open-source, many portions of it, such as Core Audio and Core Data, aren't, and it is important to have Core Foundation implemented in order to get Mac OS X applications running on Linux or BSD. I wonder if there has been any initiatives to get the rest of Core Foundation implemented.
I'm wondering if providing open-source workalikes to Cocoa and Core Foundation is feasible or if it's just as ambitious a project as the WINE project?