[WEB4LIB] Re: K-Meleon 0.5 Availability

[Andrew I. Mutch]

Raymond makes some good points and I'll respond to them more fully in a
little bit. However, I don't want Richard's comments to give anyone the
wrong impression about K-Meleon.

K-Meleon is an open-source project using code from Mozilla and some
other components that are freely available.  The browser is available for
free to anyone to use.  There is no company or other infrastructure behind
the development of this browser. No one is being compensated for this
product, if you don't count personal satisfaction.
:)

K-Meleon is the product of several people trying to build a better mouse
trap using their own time and resources. The time that I have worked on
this project is nothing compared to the developers and others who
have been working on this since the M builds of Mozilla. Frankly, in light
of that, I think the end results are pretty darn good. It's pretty cool
when the open-source community creates new products for us, for free, no
matter what the environment.  


Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford, MI  




On Thu, 27 Sep 2001, Richard L. Goerwitz III wrote:

> Raymond Wood wrote:
> 
> > > K-Meleon is available for Win9X, ME, Windows2000 and XP operating
> > > systems only.
> > 
> > > Sorry Mac and Linux users!
> > 
> > Or perhaps 'Sorry K-Meleon'  :)  For my part, I simply won't use or
> > promote any software that is not considerate enough to provide cross-
> > platform alternatives for software users.
> 
> It's time-consuming and/or expensive to develop software, and not
> all firms can afford sophisticated enough development environments
> to cut code for, and support, multiple environments.
> 
> The fact is that the Library community is still moving very much
> in lockstep with Microsoft, particularly when it comes to desktops
> and cluster machines.  Very few libraries have significant systems
> staffs, and most that do have way more knowledge about Windows than
> any other operating system.
> 
> So it can actually make sense for a small firm to deploy software
> for Windows.
> 
> I agree that it's a shame (when cheaper, more secure, more reliable,
> and more standards-aware environments exist) that so much is still
> being done with Windows.  But until libraries begin to explore new
> operating systems and environments on a wider scale, and re-think
> old habits, you're best move is to develop for Windows.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Richard Goerwitz                               richard at Goerwitz.COM
> tel: 401 438 8978
>