Ken wrote:

>  The issue is not so much one of just getting someone to compile the most
> recent version and pop it onto the pov home page. Once they decide they
> will add support for a new platform they obligate themselves not only to
> the end user but also ethically to themselves to continue support for that
> platform. Just about anyone with access to a Sparc, UltraSparc can throw
> together a working compile of Pov but who is going to continue supporting
> that platform ?

What difference does it make?   Really?  Ask that question out loud and then go look
at
the "Official SunOS binaries" on the www.povray.org website.  While you are there,
look at
the text on the page ...  "SunOS version (version 3.02, not yet updated to 3.1)".

Again, ask the question.  What difference does it make if you support the build on
Solaris
at all.  It is NOT supported now.  There has not been an official release of POV-Ray
for
Sun Solaris in how long?  A year?  Two?  The current version for SunOS or UNIX on the
"Official" POV-Ray web site is so out of date that I am surprised that it is there at
all.

>   The pov team members that offer platform support cannot afford to go out
> and buy a system for each platform they wish to offer. 

This is lip-service.  There is no need to buy a HP9000 system to build POV-Ray for
HPUX. 
There is no need to buy a Sun Ultra 2300 for UltraSparc and Solaris 8.  (The
pre-release
for Solaris 8 is out)  Look at the size and number of the POV-Ray user community.  I
would
hazard to guess that most POV-Ray users are serious computer professionals.  How do
you
think that Linux bacame what it is today?  By allowing many people to participate in
the
open source concept and by using the talents of your vast user community.  POV-Ray is
probably more than a toy.  If it is a worthless toy then by all means let it rot on
your
web site.  Let it be a Windows toy or a Mac toy.  But if it has a future.  A future
that
could see a full rewrite that is multi-threaded ( not a PVM hack ) and network based
using
Java or what-ever the future holds.  Then you must see that there is a vibrant future
for
this fledgling render engine to become a corporate marketing tool that runs on large
scale
enterprise class systems.  Perhaps you will sit in a movie theatre three years from
now
and watch a new movie by Disney and PIXAR that ran POV-Ray on a massively parallel
render-farm.  Perhaps.  Or maybe it is a toy that produces 320x240 animations on a
single
Windows workstation.

> Chris Cason supports
> the windows version and probably the dos version as well, Thorsten Frolich
> (sorry if I misspelled that) is in charge of maintaining the Mac version,
> and Mark Gordon has ownership of supporting the unix version. 

I can not speak for Mark Gordon but I will bet $100.00 that he would want to see an up
to
date build on the web site that has the same level of support that the current UNIX
offering has.  None.  But at least the user would not have to compile it themselves.

> If you are
> offering long term dedicated support for a Sparc compile of the program they
> may listen to you but unless there are a lot of people begging for it you
> will most likely find it a better option to go ahead and maintain your own
> unofficial compile. Then advertise it's existence here on the news groups
> with a link to your page where it can be downloaded.

If anyone wants my build, they can send an email and ask for it.  No problem. 

     but ....  forget long term support  ....  

  Long term support is a myth.  It is a lie that marketing people say to customers
just
before they drop the technology.  Welcome to modern business.  The DEC Alpha is a dead
architecture with a rapidly shrinking market.  Compaq has announced that they will
stop NT
development. OS/2 was a beautiful 32 bit adventure on the part of IBM.  Gone.  People
simply leave and technology changes.  Long term support is a myth.  Never use the
concept
of long term support in a technology world where two years is a life time.  Linux is
here
and it is growing rapidly.  Sun stock has gone through the roof in the past year. 
Companies are buying bigger and bigger back-end servers for the smaller thinner
client. 
Its a rapidly changing world where billions of dollars are spent making networks of
computers 'talk' to each other for a user community that is baffled by the printer
tray. 
C'est la vie.  But there is no long term support.  Build what you need now, build it
again
in the future if there is a valid reason.  Its time for a more up to date version for
a
few UNIX platforms.

>  The Pov team, from what I understand, all have made long term commitments
> to the life of this program and support for individual platforms requires
> dedicated individuals willing to stay with it for the long term. Your kind
> offer to compile a working version from the current source code only indicates
> that you can compile it but does not show them that you are willing to
> maintain that in the next revision and the next version and into the next
> century. 

I may be dead next week.  I may step out in front of a truck.  Any organization of
people
that depends on a few individuals to maintain a product, is doomed.


Dennis Clarke
dcl### [at] interlogcom

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