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Do you know how easy it is to port touch-friendly UI frameworks/SDK's such as MOAI (http://getmoai.com/ http://getmoai.com/) to Ubuntu? Damn easy. In fact, it
by primitur 14y ago
Do you know how easy it is to port touch-friendly UI frameworks/SDK's such as MOAI (http://getmoai.com/ http://getmoai.com/) to Ubuntu? Damn easy.
In fact, its already done: and right now, MOAI - and similar tools, just like it (Love2D, Cocos2D, &etc.) - are already out there, running on the existing OS's, and providing multi-touch interfaces that definitely compete with existing Frameworks/SDK's. There is little that Cocoa does, for the 2D gamer/mobile developer, that MOAI cannot do, also. (Granted: native interfaces are a weakness, but then again: non-native, truly cross-platform UI's are a STRENGTH in the face of the existing market)
By making this move, Canonical has just invalidated all the proprietary bullshit the average Objective-C developer has to contend with, in order to develop an app for the mobile platform. Same with Android - both Objective-C and Android investments have just been bumped down a few tens of points, in my opinion. Why bother learning proprietary locked-in crap, when you can pick a framework that will run easily on all of the platforms, including the up and coming new Ubuntu-Mobile?
Where once we have over-specialization and a slavish devotion to technocratic dogma from an oppressive regime (Apple, and in lesser yet still significant ways, Android too), we now have a real ability to choose our tools and standardize on the ones with which we most feel comfortable.
Make no mistake, this is a genius move. Not only do we have Mobile becoming Desktop becoming the Cloud, finally, but we have it with Open Tools, that no other company has the balls to produce.
- elithrar 14y ago> Do you know how easy it is to port touch-friendly UI frameworks/SDK's such as MOAI (http://getmoai.com/ http://getmoai.com/) to Ubuntu? Damn easy. Starting from an existing touch framework/application is not the problem. "Porting" a desktop application to a touch application is not "just" (to quote polshaw) adding a new UI. There's a world of difference between a desktop GUI--esp. in the Linux world, where many apps are remarkably different due to the ecosystem--and a touch GUI. Touch target sizing, what information to get rid of (if any?), what to add, speed (arguably more important on a mobile device), hardware acceleration (read: being gentle on battery life & improving touch responsiveness)... it goes on. The OS might have Ubuntu/Linux roots, but it doesn't automatically mean it gets a free ride to a great touch-friendly mobile app library.
- robmcm 14y agoYou also have to be aware of context, otherwise you will have apps downloading crap loads of data over your limited SIM contract, or eating up your battery for something that only makes a difference on desktop...