From the dot: “Trolltech announced today that they will release a GPL version of Qt/Mac on June 23rd at the Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference in San Francisco taking their successful dual licensing strategy for Qt/X11 to the Mac. Also the upcoming Qt Script for Applications (QSA), Trolltech’s scripting toolkit for Qt-based applications, will be available under a dual license on Mac OS X.
Sam Magnuson from Trolltech already got much of KDE building on Qt/Mac a while ago (screenshots showing Konqueror,
Kontact, Games and KOffice). The new license now offered allows to distribute binary builds of KDE for Qt/Mac soon.” KDE aside, this will help many other developers to deliver multi-platform apps.
Trolltech to Release Qt/Mac Under the GPL
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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If Qt/Mac doesn’t require the Mac implementation of XFree, I will be very happy. As easy as Cocoa is to develop with it doesn’t make me feel comfortable. And carbon… rather not talk about carbon.
Wow, the screenshot site was really responsive before I put that story up. Three minutes later this story gone live, it is barely giving 3-4 KB/sec here..
This is huge for all kde desktop apps. Same code, no need for a x server, running fast! Qt for MacOSX is much more stable and complete than other major free options. seems like Apple, KDE and trolltech have a lot of synergy: more apps for the Mac plataform, more users for KDE apps and more clients for Trolltech in the future!
With a bigger user base (and picky about usability), I see a bright future for KDE apps. And very good arguments for using the KDE framework for developing free software apps.
>This is huge for all kde desktop apps.
This is a good deal for all devs who want to create multi-platform apps. With KDE or not.
that now any app written using Qt will now run with the native Mac widget toolset without any code rewrite?
This is great news. I didn’t even realize the project existed let alone at such a finished state. I can hardly wait to try it out.
The big problem is still the support under windows. I am a happy developper with QT under linux, but there is no GPL ( not even free for hobby developpers like me ) version of a recent version of QT.
Why no dual licensing on windows ( i guess there are good reasons, but I really don’t see them … )
No, Qt/Mac already did that. The news here is that a developer would no longer need to purchase a license for Qt/Mac so long as the application is a GPL’d, open-source product.
Did you notice that kontact screenshot…
http://balance.wiw.org/~zachsman/kde/
Perhaps there’s to be a nice future of cooperation between Apple and Trolltech? Apple’s been steadily improving KHTML through Safari and those changes are making their way back into Konqueror, and OS X could certainly benefit from a new world of apps really. Sure you could install these before with an x server running, but it’d be nice if I didn’t have to even load X11. (Currently only using it for the GIMP, GQView (no naitive image browsers appeal to me that much), and GTetrinet (:D).)
Apple to work on KOffice like it has KHTML?
Will it’s behavior be the same as in Linux or still behave like MacOSX? What I mean is, if I browse my hard drive using Konqueror, and press <ENTER> on a file will it open the file or trigger the file renaming text field? Can I press DELETE and send a file straight to the trash? Right now we either have to bring up the context menu over the file(s) and select Move To Trash or drag and drop into Trash. Lastly, a friend of mine asked me if in OSX is it possible to do SHIFT+DEL to delete file(s) but bypass the Trash bin altogether. Can these things be done using Konqueror as a file manager in OSX?
And it’s not even on slashdot yet.
My blog is served off my DSL at home, and I only have 384kbit bandwidth upstream. Be gentle.
Well right now you can use it via X11 and it can do pretty much everything it can in linux. The thing is it’s not integrated into OS X at all. I’m not sure if they would take the time to rewrite it do be so either. So it’ll probably behave just like it does in linux.
>>>Perhaps there’s to be a nice future of cooperation between Apple and Trolltech? Apple’s been steadily improving KHTML through Safari and those changes are making their way back into Konqueror, and OS X could certainly benefit from a new world of apps really.
What Apple did was a beautiful end-run against both Trolltech and Opera. Apple wrote a wrapper around khtml so that they don’t have to pay Trolltech a single cent for QT license. Apple kept the development secret (and all their code improvements) until the day they announced it and then Apple just posted their source code tree (khtml’s people has to incorporate all the changes themselves). Since khtml is LPGL, 99% of Safari is closed source.
What Apple had done was demostrating that Opera’s business is basically over. Opera DOESN’T make their money from desktop browsers, they make their money from cell-phones and pda’s. (Opera’s windows offering is a good PR stab against Microsoft, but little actual revenue.) It doesn’t take a genius to know that someone like Nokia is going to think about doing the samething as Apple — i.e. develops the khtml wrapper in secret, ditches opera and put their version of khtml on cellphones (and without paying Trolltech a single cent).
Hello,
So what really sucks about the X server?
Regards,
Mystilleef
Doesn’t really suck. However even Apple’s implementation is distinctly not naitive. The apps can be convinced to look and act relatively so but you’re still loading a different windowing layer on top of one. I try to avoid using it just like I try to avoid classic. Only use it for apps I have no good alternative for.
KHTML has little to do with QT. This is why it was so easy to remove QT from it, for safari use.
It was developed using the LGPL precisely for people like Apple and Nokia to use it. It makes me sad for Opera, but this subject has little to do with QT licencing for Mac. Gecko is also bad for Opera.
don’t be so skinned loli. People slag Linux all the time on OS.
The truth is the one OS you could afford to drop coverage of is
Windows.
The one that you can least afford to is Linux.
Linux is where it is at ,whether youl like it or not.
whether it deserves it or not.
Tux can not be moderated down.
He is unbound.
Apple just posted their source code tree (khtml’s people has to incorporate all the changes themselves).
Actually they also posted the patches/changes and explained them in detail. There is a pretty healthy relationship between KHTML and Webcore.
Trolltech may not be getting cash off of Safari, but Apple has made their changes and improvements quite availible to the KHTML and KJS teams. Any improvements Apple makes get shared with them so Konqueror only has increased compatibility and performance enhancements to gain. Nothing important to a webbrowser at all.
>>>KHTML has little to do with QT. This is why it was so easy to remove QT from it, for safari use. It was developed using the LGPL precisely for people like Apple and Nokia to use it. It makes me sad for Opera, but this subject has little to do with QT licencing for Mac. Gecko is also bad for Opera.
>>>>Actually they also posted the patches/changes and explained them in detail. There is a pretty healthy relationship between KHTML and Webcore.
I know, I know…. Perhaps I should have re-phrased it as big bad smart companies will always shop around and look for any weakness in these small open-source start-ups business models and they will exploit them to the fullness. Completely legal.
Whereas small stupid companies who doesn’t have the foresight to spend hundreds of lawyer hours will have something like Corel/Lindows problem with distributing closed beta’s with NDA’s — contrary to GPL/LGPL and created a big PR mess.
that now any app written using Qt will now run with the native Mac widget toolset without any code
rewrite?
Qt does not use the native widget toolset of any platform, it emulates it. But if they follow the UI specifications of the platform and user can’t tell, what’s the difference? Just the fact that many ppl think Qt uses native widgets is proof enough for me.
> Qt does not use the native widget toolset of any platform, it emulates it. But if they follow the UI specifications of the platform and user can’t tell, what’s the difference? Just the fact that many ppl think Qt uses native widgets is proof enough for me.
Actually that’s not true anymore. In WindowsXP, Qt (at least 3.2b, probably 3.1) uses the Visual Styles API, and on MacOSX, Qt/Mac has always used the Carbon themeing API (which Apple and TrollTech cooperated with). So, in some cases, Qt DOES use native widgets.
“What Apple did was a beautiful end-run against both Trolltech and Opera. Apple wrote a wrapper around khtml so that they don’t have to pay Trolltech a single cent for QT license. Apple kept the development secret (and all their code improvements) until the day they announced it and then Apple just posted their source code tree (khtml’s people has to incorporate all the changes themselves). Since khtml is LPGL, 99% of Safari is closed source.”
Baloney. Apple didn’t end around anybody. KDE built KHTML to be utilized exactly as Apple used it. They should be thankful. (The only legit complaint they have is that Apple will make numerous updates in seclusion before distribution so the workload of incorporating improvements comes in huge bursts rather than incremental updates. But this is minor and they should still be happy to have Apple as a user and contributor.)
There is nothing wrong with Safari being “closed source.” They have an open source engine that anyone can use for their own purposes. They contribute code back properly. They aren’t exploiting anybody.
Trolltech has nothing to do with it. Apple shouldn’t build their apps with QT. No one should expect hat or can rationalize that. I’m sure Trolltech doesn’t expect it.
“I know, I know…. Perhaps I should have re-phrased it as big bad smart companies will always shop around and look for any weakness in these small open-source start-ups business models and they will exploit them to the fullness. Completely legal.”
So you are whining about the model that you are advocating? What a hypocritical and whining position to take. Open source is good unless it’s big companies working with open source? Ridiculous. Pathetic. Are you suggesting that these small OS projects don’t want large enterprises to use them? They only want small dumb companies who cannot exploit the advantages of the model to use them so they malinger as pathetic little obscure projects in the ideological pure world?
Would this allow us OSX users to have that Evolution product that we see for linux? I know people that would pay for a native solution (i.e. without emulation)
Evolution uses the GTK toolkit, not Qt, so no.
However, KDE has their own Outlook-replacement in the works that is due in the KDE 3.2 timeframe. It will be possible to have a “native” exchange-compatible client when that gets released.
Evolution is a gnome based app not QT. I use Evolution at work on my Linux box. I prefer Apples Mail, Calendar, and Address Book because they are separated yet integrated. I can’t stand the fact that in Evolution everything gets loaded at once. Its so Microsoft like. That figures since its an Outlook clone.
Is this implemented in such a way that Cocoa services are usable for free?