[Uml-devel] UML Future

[Gustavo Madrigal]

I'm sorry I haven't been in contact lately, but I'm stuck in a huge CORBA 
project at work, as soon as I finish it I will start programming again.

On Saturday 06 July 2002 22:21, Paul wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I have been getting alot of request for the program to run under Windows.

That is because the program is a really good tool :-) .

>
> I have been thinking of this myself due to the following reasons:
>
> 1) Alot of people use Windows.
>
> 2) Isn't really a good free UML editor that runs under Windows (that I know
> of).

The idea of freedom is much more apreciated by linux users than windows 
users. Besides that, they have commercial options and some free java options; 
what good options do we (linux users) have? This project.

>
> 3) Have to use Windows myself.
>
> 4) Code needs a really good redesign as it was only designed for a small
> University project to start with.

This is true, but it is not an indicator of a windows version.
It has been hard to develop the project and specially for you Paul, now 
imagen how much more time it will take for release management and even more 
for customer support. Remember that windows users are much more harder to 
work with; must of them will complain more offen than linux users about 
things they can fix by themselves before even taking a look at the code.
I think is better to focus on one platform, the project needs to live by 
itself (we need more developers) before targeting other platforms, otherwise 
the project won't move as fast as we (linux users) need it to.

>
> So I am wondering what you think the future of this program should be:
>
> 1) Keep going as it is. i.e. KDE only program.

	I think this is the best option. I think of this project as the future "de 
facto" tool for UML modelling under linux (and some other unixes). I would 
like to see it integrated into KDevelop someday (with some reverse 
engineering features). Last week there was a huge discussion about back 
library compatibility in KDE devel list (from v2 to v3). Everybody knows 
linux lacks of a good software design application, they talked about some 
software design issues that they need to solve in order to increase quality 
and maintenance. I mentioned our project to the list and some of them were 
interested in the project. So there is a really good possibility for the 
project to become a huge success in the KDE world ( and obviously in the 
linux world).

>
> 2) Release 1.0.4. then convert to be QT only program and let anyone who
> wants to use it on Windows buy QT. (Not really worth it)

	No, it won't be as attractive as it is right know for the KDE people.

>
> 3) Rewrite and Redesign (really needed) using a cross platform toolkit that
> is available on all platforms (Windows/Linux). I was thinking of
> Delphi/Klyix but Java could be used.

	Nop (same as above) plus, as other people said there is already a java based 
tool (ArgoUML) in that case it would be better to join ArgoUML project, they 
already have a lot of things done.
>
> Please let me know asap if you want a say.

I vote for the project to remain KDE only.

Regards, 

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
P. Eng. Gustavo Madrigal
Technology Research Department Manager
Nextphere Corp.
http://www.nextphere.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------