Open and Shut - Picasa no es mi casa!
There is only one reason in my mind for making Wine* a pre-requisite for a Linux application - the Picasa program is not written for Linux! This approach to application development for Linux is up-side-down and backwards. In my simple view it is kowtowing to Windows while paying lip service to Linux.
Note to Google: Either support Linux or don't but do not insult us.
* Wine is not the villan or the problem here. Wine in an exceptional program suite designed to meet a very specific need - access and integration into a Windows networking environment.
Ok, now Papa you have really stepped in a pile of doo-doo this time... What about all the real Linux users that just want to use a Microsoft application (without having to have a complete Windows system)???
THIS IS MY POINT EXACTLY!!! Instead of properly developing programs and applications for Linux we are relegated to second-class citizen status - stuffed inside a Microsoft box.
Let my software go!
[Follow-up - Added 01/10/08 in response to comments.]
About Picasa for Linux
So, how does it work? Picasa for Linux runs the current Windows version of Picasa using a carefully tested version of Wine, an open-source implementation of the Windows application-programming interface (API). Wine runs on top of the X Window System and Linux or Unix. But it’s not a Windows emulator; instead, it provides a Windows API middleware layer that enables Windows programs to run on Linux without the slowing effects of OS emulation or a virtual machine.
Hi William,
ReplyDeleteWine is not a prerequisite for Picasa.
You can install Picasa without installing
a separate copy of Wine.
Picasa doesn't interfere with whatever
copy of Wine you might already have
installed on your system.
Hope that helps,
Dan Kegel
Uh, what ever was I thinking???
ReplyDeleteSo, how does it work? Picasa for Linux runs the current Windows version of Picasa using a carefully tested version of Wine, an open-source implementation of the Windows application-programming interface (API). Wine runs on top of the X Window System and Linux or Unix. But it’s not a Windows emulator; instead, it provides a Windows API middleware layer that enables Windows programs to run on Linux without the slowing effects of OS emulation or a virtual machine.
http://picasa.google.com/linux/learn_more.html#requirements
We clearly need to update our web
ReplyDeletepage to, er, make that clearer!
Wine is designed so that multiple
versions can peacefully coexist
on one machine. (This is achieved
by having an environment variable
that points to the active version
of wine; this lets you start app A
with wine version X, and app B
with wine version Y.) So Picasa
includes its own copy of Wine, and
sets that environment variable
when it starts to point to its own
copy of Wine.
Make sense?
Dan:
ReplyDeleteAll due respect but you are not seeing the program for the code.
As I stated in my original post, "Wine is not the villan or the problem here. Wine in an exceptional program suite designed to meet a very specific need - access and integration into a Windows networking environment."
I fail to see how an instance of Picasa needs to access or integrate into a Windows networking environment.
Please write/port a version of Picasa that is specifically for Linux.
Respectfully,
William "Papa" Meloney
I think perhaps your definition of
ReplyDeletethe purpose of Wine's a bit narrow.
If you have found a bug in Picasa
that affects its usability, please
submit a report to the picasa linux
forum, we'd be happy to look into it.
For what it's worth, I'm a 100%
linux / free software enthusiast
myself. I happen to subscribe to the
idea that improving Wine will help
hasten the day that Linux will become
popular enough that companies like
Adobe will release native apps for Linux. (Think of Wine as a catalyst -
it decreases the energy of the
transition state.)