Krita on Windows

[Boudewijn Rempt]

Gals & Guys...

In the past week, we've seen a bunch of reports about Krita being slow on 
Windows. I have no doubt that on the reporters' systems Krita _was_ slow. 
And that's something I really want to investigate.

However: that doesn't mean that Krita on Windows is in general slower, 
laggier, or worse than Krita on Linux. Krita on Windows is not 
experimental. That's just not fair on all the effort I and Stuart and 
others have put into Krita on Windows. Windows being secondary is 
something we're accustomed to thinking and then to expressing -- oh, if 
you want to have the best experience, use Krita on Linux. That's where it 
comes form, that's where it belongs, that's where you need to go for the 
best experience.

Honestly, that's _bunk_. Windows has got its limitations, but using my 
Cintiq, I prefer using Krita on Windows above using it on Gnome. I cannot 
use Krita on KDE, with the Cintiq. Better use Linux is misinformation 
that we shouldn't spread around.

The problem is that Windows is not one, big, monolithic platform, it's a 
hugely variable landscape, and every system is significantly different 
from other systems, something which the users don't appreciate. Also, 
there are so bloody many Windows systems that it dwarves everything we 
know in the Linux world. A problem a half percent of a million 
experiences is going to mean a heck of a lot of bug reports. (And I love 
everyone who reports the issues!)

I've had this experience before, and with the 2.9 release, it's hitting us 
in the face again: supporting Windows properly is _impossible_ for a small 
team like we are. Not that I'm not going to try.

But it's still not _true_ that Krita on Windows is in all cases worse than 
Krita on Linux, is certain to be slower, laggier, not as good, just use 
Linux instead and so on. We need to get rid of that meme! Let's never give 
that as an answer to a windows user with problems!

Where there are problems that I can identify, I want to fix them. I take 
all reports really seriously. But for our collective sanity it's immensely 
important to realize that there will always be reports of problems with 
Krita on Windows, and they will _always_ be phrased as "all other apps run 
fine, only Krita exhibits undesirable behaviour X, so Krita is totally 
broken." That's just, like taxes, a fact of live... Just don't echo that 
back at our Windows users with problems.

Boudewijn