OS independent FontLab

[Ray Larabie]

I wish the next version of FLS could be completely platform independent. The reason I use Windows is because I spend most of my time in FontLab and it doesn't run as stable on a Mac. It would be nice if it ran in Adobe Air or similar. I assume Adobe Air will eventually run on ChromeOS so that would give FontLab users another option.

[Glagolitic]

You can run Windows on the Mac, right?

[Ray Larabie]

But the point is: it should be platform independent. I shouldn't have to install multiple operating systems to use this app.

[Glagolitic]

But the point is: it should be platform independent. I shouldn't have to install multiple operating systems to use this app.

There is no such thing as platform independent software. Generally things are made for a particular platform. Except Java or something, but that is not realistic for such a big app.

Many things aren't available for some particular OS. Install Windows on your Mac and enjoy. There's nothing wrong with it.

[Ray Larabie]

Perhaps I'm using the wrong term. What do you call Air applications? The same Air apps run on various operating systems.

If you looked at some of the apps running on Air you might not think FontLab would be too powerful for it. Isn't it kind of stupid to waste resources on multiple OS support? There are always more bugs to fix, areas to improve rather than worrying about getting multiple versions working identically. The Mac OS upgrades (unlike Windows) tend to break existing apps. I'd rather that those resources went to improving FontLab. Since FontLab's PCU demand is so low, I don't think you'd see too much of a noticeable drop in performance in Air.

[mekkablue]

I don't agree. Metaplatform apps usually do not work well, have significant UI drawbacks, perform badly, and very often behave opaquely since they don't make use of system libraries. Plus, you're only moving from the frying pan into the fire when it comes to dependancy on other systems. An AIR or Flash update might just as well break an existing AIR app. Thus, I recommend the completely opposite way: Make FL Cocoa on a Mac (which was announced at Robothon last year). I understand your frustration with the lack of updates, but believe me, making FL a Flash app is not the solution you're looking for.

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