--- In pythoncard@[...]., Roman Suzi <rnd-list@[...]..>  wrote:
>  On Thu, 21 Jun 2001, Kevin Altis wrote:
> 
>  >> From: Skip Montanaro [mailto:skip@[...]..]
>  >>
>  >> It runs on Windows, not on Mac that I'm aware of.  It does
apparently work
>  >> on BeOS.  I assume the Mac will come along with greater
>  >> availability of Mac
>  >> OS X. It doesn't look "native" on either Windows or Unix
>  >> platforms (is there
>  >> a "native" Unix look?)
>  >>
>  >> As for what it looks like, take a look at the screenshots link on
>  >> http://www.gtk.org/.  Other related stuff to look at include
Gnome
>  >> (http://www.gnome.org/) and the GUI builder Glade
(http://glade.pn.org/ I
>  >> think), and specific applications (GIMP, Gnumeric, AbiWord, etc).
>  >
>  >Well, that makes gtk a non-starter, at least for me.
Native-looking widgets
>  >and window types that respond like their native versions is a must.
> 
>  For me gtk is more native, than Qt or Win ;-)

Historically, of course, the cross-platform GUI argument has been the
same: native widgets (and resulting code complexity and necessity of
multiple code repositories) vs. "new-standard" look and feel (and
resulting loss of platform-specific UI). I have bounced back and
forth
myself.

I am currently of the view that the ubiquity of the Web browser has
all
but eliminated the need for a platform-specific look and feel, and am
supportive of the idea of creating a new UI with the best of the
available UI platforms merged together (or ignored completely) in a
new
user experience.

I've been doing a lot of work in Squeak Smalltalk of late. It has a
set
of built-in classes for building very strongly HyperCard-like things.
The look and feel isn't inherently native but the widget architecture
does nothing to prevent one from implementing such a UI if desired.

In the end, it seems to me that two truths need to be brought to bear
on discussions of this topic:

(1) The desktop UI metaphor has about outlived its usefulness. A
strong
argument can be made for just tossing it in the trash can (which can
be
found right there on the desktop, just like it is in your office! :-)
)

(2) Web-based apps and services have, if not eliminated, at least
rendered less important the platform-specific pieces of user
interface
that most users neither care about nor are aware of. The fact is,
users
are smarter than we think. Faced with a new UI that is similar but
hardly identical to what they are used to seeing, they will adapt if
they are given a good reason to do so.