XNotesplus - calendar support (and comments on Grumpy Editor column) [LWN.net]

From:		"Michael J. Hammel" <mjhammel-AT-graphics-muse.org>
To:		lwn-AT-lwn.net
Subject:		XNotesplus - calendar support (and comments on Grumpy Editor column)
Date:		19 Mar 2004 16:57:54 -0600

Anyway, there were some comments made about XNotesPlus that I need to
add some clarification to.

1. XNotesPlus is shareware. There have been 1000's of downloads of it.
To date, I think I've had 5 people pay for it. Anyone complaining about
it not being free ought to see it from my end. It'd be nice if people
paid for it, but I'm not tracking anyone down who doesn't. I just ask
that they do. I just didn't want it being added to GNOME or any
distribution without my getting something for it. I designed it
specifically for end users, not for distributions. It doesn't even
install in system directories, it installs in the users HOME directory
(something I may change in the future, however, so it can be used on
university systems).

2. The post from "utidjian" was just plain silly. XNotesPlus builds on
just about any Unix platform if you have the proper prerequisites (and
what desktop application doesn't have prerequisites?). The "pspell"
issue is configurable in the config.h (it doesn't use autoconf cuz I
just haven't gotten around to learning that yet - I still use imake) and
is not required but is turned on by default. The RH7.3 binaries are
available for purchase on CD but then so is the source and so are - now
- the RH 9 binaries. I use RH 9 at home and have built XNotesPlus on
probably 20 different platforms. And the RH9 binary version is even on
the web site, available for download *WITHOUT PAYMENT*. So this guy is
just whining without really doing his homework (and I certainly have not
received any email from him asking about these issues).

The calendar feature of XNotesPlus was just added to the 3.6 release and
may be buggy. I found a crash today that I need to fix. But I use the
calendar at work and at home and, from the KISS perspective, it works
fine. Its not full featured - it doesn't do group scheduling or the
like. But its not meant to. Its meant to be the home users calendar.
Eventually I may add groupwise support (its on the grand plan) but I'm
not anywhere near adding it yet. It also doesn't allow breaking an
appointment (ie the "exceptions" that the PalmOS allows) yet. I'm
considering how to add that feature. The hooks are there, but the UI is
not implemented.

Anyway, I wish people would spend a little time sending *me* the
feedback on problems with XNotesPlus instead of whining in public. I
have answered *every* email with request for help in getting it running
and, to my knowledge, have only failed to get it working once (with
someone who was new to programmning). Just cuz its shareware doesn't
mean the author isn't willing to help. I'm just asking you to offer an
honest dollar for an honest days work.

Feel free to post this as a reply if you want, or anywhere else. Like I
said, I tried to reply but couldn't for some reason.

--
Michael J. Hammel The Graphics Muse
mjhammel@graphics-muse.org http://www.graphics-muse.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bumper Sticker: Some people just don't know how to drive... I call these people
"Everybody But Me."

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XNotesplus - calendar support (and comments on Grumpy Editor column)

Posted Mar 26, 2004 3:07 UTC (Fri) by utidjian (subscriber, #444) [Link]

Michael,
My post at LWN seem "silly" to you but, for me, it was with one exception, based on fact. The exception is I didn't like the default theme of the XNotesplus application as seen here:
http://www.graphics-muse.com/xnotes/screenshots.html

The rest is all fact: (quoting myself)

"XNotesPlus is not "free"." Fact see: http://www.graphics-muse.com/xnotes/ordering.html

"It is shareware." Fact (see above).

"Yes, the source is available... but it doesn't build on my system (something about pspell)." Fact: There is no pspell in Fedora Core 1 (my current distro (see below))

"J-pilot does." Fact: Not only can I build the latest version... it is included with Red Hat 9 and Fedora Core 1. Check your RH9 distro media.

"It also has a horrendously ugly interface (from the screenshots)." NOT Fact. It is my opinion.

"I suppose the interface is adjustable but it is hard to tell when it won't build." Fact (see above).

"Seems that supported binaries (US$10) are available up to Red Hat 7.3. RH7.3 is no longer supported by Red Hat." Fact see:
http://www.graphics-muse.com/xnotes/ordering.html and
http://www.graphics-muse.com/xnotes/download.html

"In other words... XNotesPlus seems to be an even more deadend proposition than ical." Fact: As far as I could tell from your website the app is only supported up to RH7.3. Sure, perhaps I could fiddle the source into working but what good what would that do?

"ical, BTW, still builds and installs correctly on my system (Fedora Core 1)." Fact: It does work.

Quoting you:

"The "pspell" issue is configurable in the config.h" How?

"And the RH9 binary version is even on the web site, available for download *WITHOUT PAYMENT*." Where? I looked in http://www.graphics-muse.org/source/XNotesPlus/ those are all tarballs.

"So this guy is just whining without really doing his homework (and I certainly have not received any email from him asking about these issues)."
Perhaps you should do YOUR homework and update your site. Why should I go through any more effort in order to get your software to work? Why should I email you for working out problems in your software when there is no way of sharing or resolving those problems via your website? jpilot.org has a mailing list and archives. I would much rather search for solutions to my problems with your software that others may have offered than bother you with the details (hardly worth my $10 if you have to respond to support requests).

Since reading your letter I did even MORE homework. I found a machine at work that still has a stock and fully updated Red Hat 9 install. I downloaded this file:
http://www.graphics-muse.org/source/XNotesPlus/XNotesPlus-v3.6.1.tar.gz
Then followed the directions in the README. It built and installed fine on the RH9 box (it has pspell and I did not edit config.h)... then this:

[utidjian@dellbert utidjian]$ bin/xnotes+
XNotesPlus: GTK configuration file - /home/utidjian/.xnotesplus/XNotesPlus.cfg
Register file: /home/utidjian/.xnotesplus/.register
Segmentation fault
[utidjian@dellbert utidjian]$

All I can say is.... (thud).

I re-read the README... I looked over your site... no help. I could have emailed you about it but I think you are getting this message now. I really can't see how "shared source" shareware is worth my time... or yours at $10/user. If it was open source and I really needed or liked the software at least my efforts (and yours) could continue to exist... even if you get fed up with the project. Your software will only live as long as YOU are interested in it. Fully Open Source projects will live as long as the the community of users is interested in it. At $10/user I can't imagine why you would want to keep supporting the software on your own. Because of this XNotesplus seems to me to be even more deadend than ical.

BTW ical is still alive and well, see:
http://www.annexia.org/freeware/ical/
That could never happen with XNotesplus under its current license.
Think about it.

The only thing I feel "silly" about in this whole thing is that I actually spent a lot of time on it.

-David Utidjian-
Physics Lab Coordinator
Ramapo College of new Jersey
dutidjia -AT- ramapo.edu