Re: flexfax: Hylafax future (*not* on NT, please!)

[Davide Bolcioni <davide.bolcioni@aster.it>]

I second this, and some comments my o(1) worth:

>It's sentiments like this, true as they are, that make me look upon
>efforts to make HylaFAX work on NT with total revulsion.

I just want to add that while having HylaFAX run on NT server looks like
a waste of effort to me too, I think that having a NT (Workstation, but I
think it would not make a big difference except maybe for the limitation on
10 connections) client would be a good thing IMHO.

>Microsoft has historically used its applications arm as leverage to push
>its own OS and OS upgrades. Want the new version of Office? Gotta buy the
>new Windows.

Well, to counter this .
>Similar leverage has frequently been used by Microsoft to drive a wedge
>into the Unix market. Why do people switch from Unix to NT? Not because
>NT is faster or cheaper or more flexible, but because that's where the
>applications are. If Microsoft is as Java-friendly as it claims, why is it
>now forcing all Java applets to be taken off the Microsoft Network?

In case anyone doubts, a Java client for HylaFAX would also be welcome. Has
anybody tried the one from Germany, called susefax I believe ?

>HylaFAX operation is the antithesis of the NT way of doing things.
>Command-line administration, chains of compact tools rather than
>monolythic programs, no fancy GUIs, documentation in FAQs and manpages --
>all classic Unix methods. How much work would be required to make this
>usable in the NT world?

Has anybody considered layering a GUI *on top* of this ? Most efforts in the
Linux world do not remove traditional Unix strengths, just build on them a
two-way interface (read conf files to fill fields when GUI is brought up,
rewrite them when saving changes). I think this could become simpler if configuration file access were abstracted away in a library or C++ hierarchy, but there is no real code work behind this statement.

>Sorry. Call this the rantings of someone who's being a cranky old fart
>tonight if you wish --- but the notion that scarce HylaFAX R&D hours may
>be diverted to shoehorn it into NT's limitations makes me sick. While we
>may not be able to stop the lemmings from falling for the NT hype, IMO we
>ought not to encourage such action either.

I also think that the problem is scarce R&D hours; I set myself to the task of
writing a Windows 95 device driver + client application for HylaFAX in my spare time. That's what I am trying to contribute, in GPL to make sure the source will be around for others to improve.

Davide Bolcioni