Traveller Software

[Beastttt]

why not build the software in something that works across any platform like java

then all the user needs is a version of java for their machine
look at Hero designer for the Hero system
1 program works on any machine that can run Java 5

According to Net Applications Windows overall share of the desktop market is currently 88%. MacOSX market share is rising, but is still below 10% even now and Linux is at approximately 1%. This is roughly in line with surveys and reports I've seen previously. Actually I'm surprised Windows has finally dropped below 90%.

This is data collected from browser statistics, so it's reflective of what's actually in use by people who are regular internet users so you'd expect it to favour users who are likely to be more technically knowledgeable and active on the internet, such as ... er... Mac and Linux users. ..... oh dear.

And this from a guy who converted to the Mac over 2 years ago. I have no particular reason to love Windows, but we're talking about facts here, not preferences.

Simon Hibbs

 

[Paladin]

+ JAVA isn't all that great for stand alone programs

All of which is true for anything more than a simple data tracking application which is what this is.

 

[zbessler]

I made a set of GM tools for traveller for my own personal use in flex (flash). It had a world generator, NPC generator, all the encounter generators (including the crazy wilderness one) mission generators and some other stuff.

My players convinced me to tell Mongoose about it and they said they were interesting in buying it but then never got back to me. ::shrug:: apparently they arnt that dedicated to getting software to people

 

[Stainless]

Windows 7 will be out before the end of 2009 (release candidate is to be released on April 10th).

All reports, and I menan all, claim it is as good and usually better than XP in terms of performance and is far more feature rich. It seems likely that those who did not adopt Vista will finally adopt Win7 (even corporate). Thus, I would be;

i) Writing in java
ii) Or writing for Win7

 

[simonh]

I'd say Java isn't a prime candidate. We use it at work, but if it wasn't for the investment already sunk into it we'd drop it in a second. The GUI story for Java hasn't progressed significantly since around 2000 and isn't going anywhere. Mac support was dropped years ago so it's not even cross platform any more except for legacy versions. It's a dead end on the desktop.

The .NET framework is modern and easy to develop for with plenty of good free or even open source tools, but the cross-platform variants are still a work in progress and developing cross platform apps is still a lot more problematic than it needs to be. I did a bit of work in it a year ago and it was workable, but there were too many unexpected roadblocks. Almost there, but not quite. Maybe in a year or two.

Adobe Air (Flex, Actionscript, all that) is a true cross-platform desktop app framework that's pretty well proven now. I don't have any personal experience with it though.

QT is going LGPL so that's looking very promising. I've used the Python binding library (PyQT) and it rocks. The GUI builder application is world class, and the framework as a whole is rock solid. It's fully cross-platform and easily rivals the Microsoft development stack. In fact I much prefer the signals-slots mechanism for wiring up the back end code to the GUI compared to the far more brittle system of callbacks Microsoft still uses.

Simon Hibbs

 

[simonh]

QT has it's own set's of problems mainly that (unlike JAVA) you have to re-compile/re-link for each target environment and at least currently it is either a commercial licence or you have to support the GPL freetards.

Not any more. From QT 4.4 (due out in less than a month now) it will be available under the LGPL as well, which means it'll be free for commercial development. I'm a Python guy so I'd want to use PyQT which is probably still going to be commercial or GPL only, but it's just a few hundred bucks per developer. Any commercial project that can't cover that has serious problems.

Given that "fan only" has it's fair share of problems (Abandoned Projects/Half done stuff, Projects full of often unmarked HouseRules, So-So Interface and QA) I'd prefer commercial software on the pricing level of SJG's Character Builders

I agree. I'd love to be part of a development community on this and work on something truly worth having, but I think that would require Mongoose support and from the history of Traveller and RPG software development it's clear that the independent route has never matched what can be done commercially. What SJG and their licensees have come out with (character builder, vehicle design tools, etc) is an excellent case in point.

Simon Hibbs

 

[Stainless]

And I would not hold my breath for W7 in 2009. They are getting RC1 ready and normally there is at least an RC2 before the final version. I'd say March 2010 at the earliest for a official end user version.

Yep, who knows with Microsoft, but the rumours abound. E.g.,

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12268&Itemid=1

 

[CaptnBrazil]

I think there are enough flame wars going on in Traveller without people starting a "this software is better!" one

Have to agree - all are good platforms, and all have their strengths & weaknesses.

For Traveller development I probably would go with Windows simply because it is the dominant desktop and has a really easy development platform (which also explains why there is so much crappy stuff out there for Windows as well...)

Especially when, as of this posting, 74% or so of the users use Windows XP or Vista. And, as per another thread here, this is really a niche market of a niche market. There is simply not enough volume for a professional software house to really make a profit, the BITS Universe perhaps being an exception, but that is, as far as I can tell, one person doing it in his spare time (but I could be wrong)

 

[Paladin]

And the infrastructure for testing/distribution/tech support/updates/marketting/loss of time by staff working on other projections to review/etc fits in that budget where?