> I can
> understand your reluctance to implement multiple look policies
> for a single
> platform for all widgets.  However, it might be very useful to implement
> such a policy for a few widgets.

It's only my reluctance, but this is open source!  If others find it useful,
then heck, there aren't any rules here!

>
> Here's a great daydream: what if we could create a new application using
> Squeak and set the look policies to "apply native look policies
> if they are
> available".  Thus, on an OS like Windoze, my Squeak app would approximate
> any other commercially available software.  But it would also run with the
> same functionality on a Unix box with no native support.  On that
> platform,
> the look policies would default to "generic" which, of course,
> would either
> be MVC or Morphic.

That would be great...but, I would settle for just being able to create two
versions of my UI...one as a platform independent UI and the other as a
native UI.  I've built applications that were platform independent, and
invariably the users wanted a native look and feel.  My argument is that
building a completely platform independent framework that can take advantage
of native widgets is a lot more difficult than simply building two separate
versions of your UI.  Heck, that's why we separate the UI from the domain
model isn't it?

>
> In order for Squeak to become widely accessible, I believe that it must
> support native controls and API calls for at least one or two
> platforms.  If
> we could produce "ready to sell" applications with Squeak, we
> could convince
> our respective employers that Squeak is a viable development environment.
> As it is today, Squeak is really cool, but it's a toy / research tool.  I
> don't know about your company, but mine won't be porting to Squeak anytime
> soon.

Well, I certainly wouldn't call it a toy...but, you have a point.  If you
want it to be a great environment, that's one thing...if you want it to be
widely accessible, that's an entirely different thing.  :)

As for your company, if Squeak had good database and Windows integration
(native widget support, callbacks, etc), would they be tempted to switch?

- Stephen