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[Graham]

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On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:35:55 +0000
Neil Winchurst <neil at holsdev.vispa.com> wrote:

> But again I come back to the idea
> of the all in one package where the "front-end" is part of it already.
[snipped]

Linux is a modular system.  Take an application like Claws-Mail as an
example: the core of the program is there with a GTK+ interface, but
spelll checking is done by aspell or ispell, a whole load of plugins
allow other applications to perform specific functions (such as spam
checking, encryption, html being shown, etc).

Each application is developed by a small team (often of one!) and
updated as needed.  The Claws-Mail developers have nothing to do with
Bogofilter (for instance) but use its array of functions, which are
also available to other applications (KMail uses Bogofilter, for
instance).

Using the "front end" should call the application automagically, so
there's no problem for the user, and it gives the maximum amount of
flexibility, and avoids "reinventing the wheel".  In Windows, you
download a monolithic bunch of code that is often duplicated if you
download a similar application, and this is for the most part avoided
in Linux.

This is the "Linux way", a deliberate design strategy when Gnu/Linux
was developed.  I believe its one of its strengths as it allows small
group of coders to keep applications up-to-date.  So I wouldn't think
that there's any place for the "all-in-one package", except the
appearance of one for users.

- -- 

Graham Todd
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