[GRASS5] Platform for next generation UI

[Trevor Wiens]

On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 18:08:18 +0100
Paolo Cavallini <cavallini at faunalia.it> wrote:

> Sorry if I'm rude, but I really don't understand why, with very limited 
> programming manpower, thinking of starting from scratch instead of joining 
> forces with an energetic project like qgis?
> It takes really so little to add tools to an already working tool, and there 
> is a very good tool, ready to use, with a number of important advantages over 
> the previous ones, that it seems very obvious to me to concentrate efforts on 
> this.
> I'm probably a bit frustrated by the fact that several important things are 
> missing for the day-to-day work, and they seem so close, but very few people 
> seems to think about them. As a result, "normal" users still have much 
> trouble in deploying real world freeGIS solutions.
> Your skills are precious to the (small!) freeGIS community - please direct 
> them to the most needed functions.
> Sorry again if someone get offended by my word - I do appreciate a lot your 
> contributions.
> pc

Paolo,

I don't consider the question rude at all. Good question however the
answer is not simple. From what I gather there had been consideration
about merging the projects some time ago about using QGIS as the GRASS
front end, however QGIS developers were not interested. From the GRASS
side there are many people who don't want to see GRASS relegated to a
library if the projects were not really merged but we simply acquiesced.
So what are we to do? Well, we can upgrade the current GUI and prepare
the backend for a proper GUI as Glynn has suggested. Whatever we do,
this will pretty much have to be done anyway to keep things working
and things are developed. Once complete, we will either continue to
enhance the existing GUI or do a complete rewrite in a different
toolkit.

There are limited resources but QGIS and GRASS are complimentary
projects, not the same. A new GRASS GUI can demonstrate that difference
and help GRASS fulfil its role better.  Some of the changes need to
facilitate that new GUI will help the QGIS projects support of GRASS.
So this isn't just a bunch of duplicate effort. 

Another thing to consider is that diversity is good. There are a huge
number of duplicate GNOME and KDE apps out there, never mind GNOME and
KDE themselves, but this healthy competition has produced better
applications. Similarly, with QGIS out there, it provides good
motivation to make the replacement GUI for GRASS more powerful and
easier to use.

I hope that in part answers your question. You may not agree, hopefully
you will better understand what is happening.

T
-- 
Trevor Wiens 
twiens at interbaun.com

The significant problems that we face cannot be solved at the same 
level of thinking we were at when we created them. 
(Albert Einstein)