The Document Foundation Prepares For LibreOffice 5.0 Next Week

[TheBlackCat]

Even if we take it as given that Qt is the better way of doing things (and I mostly do FWIW) it's certainly possible for a Qt application to appear non-native, or a non-Qt app to appear native. So ask for what you want, not something that a user should never know about anyway - the underlying toolkit used shouldn't be something that matters one way or the other.

The underlying toolkit shouldn't matter, but it does. Some toolkits make it easier to make native-looking apps than others.

[smitty3268]

The underlying toolkit shouldn't matter, but it does. Some toolkits make it easier to make native-looking apps than others.

But why would a user care how easy it is? They'd care about whether the developers achieved the goal, not how much work it took.

[danielnez1]

But why would a user care how easy it is? They'd care about whether the developers achieved the goal, not how much work it took.

Sadly that seems to be one of the failings of the GTK+ devs.

[TheBlackCat]

But why would a user care how easy it is? They'd care about whether the developers achieved the goal, not how much work it took.

If it is so difficult that most developers don't bother, then it matter to users. If it is so difficult that it is almost impossible to make not buggy, then it matters to users. If upstream developers completely change things and forcing those trying to achieve the goal to start over from scratch, which takes months, then it matters to users.

[steveriley]

Libreoffice is written in vcl.

And Firefox in XUL. Sad that the two most-used applications aren't even in native toolkits.

[smitty3268]

If it is so difficult that most developers don't bother, then it matter to users. If it is so difficult that it is almost impossible to make not buggy, then it matters to users. If upstream developers completely change things and forcing those trying to achieve the goal to start over from scratch, which takes months, then it matters to users.

That was my next point. If the point is to make it easy on developers, why ask for something that will make it really, really hard on developers (throwing away all their current code and starting over again from scratch).

Wouldn't fixing the current code be easier than a rewrite? Maybe, maybe not.

I don't know, but i'd at least like to hear from one of the project's developers on the topic before assuming anything one way or the other. Another reason user's should ask for the result they want to see, not a behind the scenes change that they have no clue about how it would affect things.

Personally, I think this request was more about trying to promote Qt and/or KDE than it was about making LibreOffice feel native, which is why that's what they asked for.