Having done much cross-platform work, I find the process very
frustrating because you need to program to the lowest common
denominator. (A number of years back, I was forced to write my own
memory manager because the one MS provided at the time was a piece of
junk.) This is one of the benefits of languages like Java.
Platform-independent and full of useful libraries. Unfortunately, I
think one of the posters on this thread is correct. I think this is a
derivative of something from Jepp. The map interface looks a lot like
their FlightPro IFR simulator. I'm sure the program could have been
done in Java, but I would guess that the budget for the project was
small (understandably) and Jepp probably wanted the exposure. I do like
the ability of clicking on an airport and bringing up the IAPs or
airport diagrams that AOPA has on it's web site, but, again, this still
could have been cross-platform if desired.

Andrew Gideon wrote:
Gig Giacona wrote:


He did mention Mac OSX


I [probably] did. I don't use it myself, but I see it as the "up and
comer". While I don't myself deal much with office or home computing
(beyond my own home, anyway), I see a lot of traffic in groups where I
participate that describes people switching. More, I encourage it where I
can given the concerns about MSFT security and the more general monoculture
problem.

Further, while I'm a long time UNIX user (I've had some interesting desktops
at work: A SUN 3/50, a DEC Pro-350 running some UNIX, an HP "Bobcat" (I
forget the model number), a MicroVAX etc.), I recognize that this may not
be a good solution for those not technically inclined. The current Apple
product, though, appears a good choice for those people.

That is, it's a good choice except where companies permit programmers to
build single-vendor solutions. Note that we're not speaking of "porting".
Cross platform support should be designed in at the beginning, eliminating
the need for a "port". Even ten years ago, there were various libraries
that provided GUI constructs to programmers which worked on multiple
platforms, for example. Have these all disappeared?

- Andrew



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