Windows ( Really porting between Mac, Amiga, and ST

[Brian Diehm]

>Until someone actually writes those libraries, I don't think one will
>see a lot of portable code between these machines, except for programs
>that use a simple command line user interface.
>
>This specs for the above mentioned libraries could be a fun topic
>to discuss ( certainly more interesting than curly braces and bouncing
>balls! ).
>
>Sounds like a job for an ANSI committee! :-)

Unfortunately, the ANSI bureaucracy has done just that, and called the result
GKS.  If anything it serves only to show the futility of the effort.  In order
to be all things to all people in all ways, any such implementation must be
huge, slow, unwieldy, and generally unusable.  Guess what?  GKS is huge, slow,
unwieldy, and generally unusable.  It is appropriate only for those with
giant machines, the likes of which the world doesn't use much any more.

-Brian Diehm
Tektronix, Inc. (In this case, my opinions directly oppose the official Tek
                 policy - Tektronix is publicly committed to GKS, and must
                 be to support a portion of its customer base.  But really,
                 if you probe deep enough, some of the people in charge don't
                 really like it . . .)