Question: tools for business apps development

[Carlos Ribeiro]

On Sun, 5 Sep 2004 18:41:03 +0200, Alex Martelli <aleaxit at yahoo.com> wrote:
> OK, but, native to WHAT platform...?  Later you mention it must be all
> done with free tools... Qt on Windows isn't.  QtDesigner is good, but Qt
> only free for (free-software dev't on) Unix/Linux and Mac, not for (any
> kind of dev't on) Windows.

It will run in Windows, but it's supposed to be multiplatform -
whatever it means nowadays :-) My friend is toying with the idea to
turn his company into a full Linux based shop. Unfortunately, it's not
a decision that he can't take alone. For now he already managed to
convince his partners to use OpenOffice for a lot of stuff, but a few
things still are done using MS Office based tools. Some internal apps
use MS Access -- the company is small, so there is no need for SQL
Server. And web-based apps are thought to be limited, not interactive
or responsive enough for the job (the dependence on heavy Javascript
programming doesn't help it either).

So I can't use Qt. I've evaluated some wxWidgets-based tools, but
found them not quite ready for prime time. And I'm not inclined to
study XUL just to do it, but I can change my mind. I don't feel
comfortable to use a browser extension to write a full fledged app --
it may be a prejudice of mine (I don't like browser-based Java apps,
either, although its a completely different beast), and a little
reading may help to dispell it.

If I was running a commercial shop now, I would probably use Delphi.
That's what I used a long time ago, and there is still a sizeable
local community still using it (regardless of Borland's diminishing
market share). I'm still pondering my choices.

-- 
Carlos Ribeiro
Consultoria em Projetos
blog: http://rascunhosrotos.blogspot.com
blog: http://pythonnotes.blogspot.com
mail: carribeiro at gmail.com
mail: carribeiro at yahoo.com