Re: Apache proposal for NetBeans

On Oct 15, 2016 2:42 PM, "Eirik Bakke" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> At the same time, there are still valid use cases for desktop
applications. Desktop applications, however, are expected to look and feel
like other desktop applications on the same platform, whether the user is
running Windows, MacOS, or Linux.  A button, a combobox, or a context menu
looks the same whether you're running Microsoft Outlook, Adobe Photoshop,
Sibelius, or Tableau. For these kinds of applications, Swing serves a use
case that is neither served by JavaFX nor HTML5--providing a
platform-specific Look & Feel out of the box. And Swing is still being
updated to keep the Look & Feels up to date with newest OS versions.
>

Yes, I see the platform perhaps running or choosing an OSGI engine, as it
does now, but not necessarily "running on one". Too, Swing IMO should not
only continue, but could be driven further; some of us probably should get
more involved with OpenJDK at this point. It has been a very reliable
technology for desktop apps and NB RCP. It would be nice if some how the NB
RCP could change to support different view technologies from the ground up,
including HTML5, but that seems a long way off. I wouldn't want to see
Swing "unsupported" though. I see it sort of like Qt and Qt Quick.

It has been a real shame there was never a push to have Java build
application bundles versus things which run on a system level JVM for
mobiles, much like what we see with Xamarin. Were that to be the case then
NB RCP could even be a mobile platform. It is quite sad with all the old
momentum, we now see JS with Electron, and look at the arguments for why
that, Cordova, and Ionic make sense...could have been all these tech that
had the momentum, and yet now they are playing catch-up in that regard.

Wade