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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 30/05/2016 17:07, Benjamin wrote:<br>
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<blockquote
cite="mid:CANwt24JzeLLHMpJcnVCk3OpbSh_ysZJoZ96xEHmvnpRZn9D38g@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
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<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 29 May 2016 at 00:37, Dirk Hohndel
<span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:dirk@hohndel.org" target="_blank">dirk@hohndel.org</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">I have
been focused on other things for a while (and the why and
the what will become public fairly soon) and decided to
use that chance to figure out what would happen if I just
stopped paying attention here for a while.<br>
<br>
So what should we be working on...? Should we...<br>
<br>
(1) just shut this down and move on?<br>
(2) move things to maintenance mode, abandon
Subsurface-mobile, fix bugs in Subsurface whenever we find
time but otherwise declare victory? It won't be too
painful to track libdicecomputer and keep making 4.5.x
releases for a while, I guess...<br>
(3) focus on Subsurface-mobile, release the iOS version,
update the Android version and see if there is a single
person besides me who is willing to invest time into that?<br>
(4) focus on Subsurface 4.6, fix the dive site management
and create a list of prioritized features that we want to
get in place?<br>
(5) focus on Subsurface 5.0, write a completely new UI and
abandon what we have in 4.5?<br>
<br>
If your vote is for 3, 4, or 5 I assume that you are
volunteering to carry some of the work that is needed to
get there.<br>
If you don't vote, I will count that as a vote for 1.<br>
<br>
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Good afternoon all,<br>
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<div class="gmail_extra">As one of the many lurkers, I suppose
that my 2 cents is worth slightly less than that. To be
honest, my life and work balance went to hell in the past few
months for various reasons.<br>
<br>
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<div class="gmail_extra">Having said that, I would vote for 4
and 3, in that order. 5 sounds like a fun challenge, but as
both KDE and Gnome have shown, it is rather painful...<br>
<br>
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<div class="gmail_extra">Given some time, I'm more than willing
to help. I just need to a.) get through this mess that I'm
currently stuck in (Let's hear it for work politics...), and
b.) learn how the hell the QT interface code works (are there
any good tutorials for C/assembly programmers?).<br>
<br>
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<div class="gmail_extra">Benjamin<br>
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</blockquote>
The decision for the future of Subsurface depends on how we see dive
log software is likely to operate in future. Currently, by far the
largest degree of innovation is on the different forms of mobile
platforms. I would expect that this trend will continue for at least
another decade. I would expect that smartphones will become more
powerful, screen management and UI will develop significantly, and
that the standard laptop and desktop will become less ubiquitous and
used mostly by individuals with a serious IT function in some way.
For subsurface this means that, in the longer term, the mobile
versions could likely become more important and more frequently used
than the desktop version. If one has to guess at the future, I would
think: chug away steadily at the desktop version (perhaps making
location management more intuitive and more robust [works well for
me because I (think) I understand it as is]. I am not convinced that
a totally redesigned UI is the priority now. While updating the
desktop version, keep an eye on what our own needs are, what new
hardware turns up and what other dive computers and dive management
software do that may be cool. Then, at the same time focus on the
mobile versions. As we all know, this is the conundrum. Amongst us,
the skills base for mobile development is pretty meagre. I see this
as the major challenge going forward. Knowing nothing about mobile
software design, the current KDS-Qt platform appears pretty
sophisticated, mostly because it offers cross-platform functionality
starting with C++ with which many are familiar. For me, personally,
the open source aspect of this is also important. Therefore I am
very uncomfortable with myself to ask the question: is the current
Qt platform the one that will serve future development of Subsurface
the best? I do not have the insight to be able to say anything
coherently about this, but I really hope Qt is indeed the viable
route. For Subsurface to advance, several diver-developers will have
to either learn how to do mobile software development, or we need to
find divers who have these mobile skills and who are prepared to
contribute materially.<br>
<br>
A hardware-based implementation of libdivecomputer appears very
attractive, given that digital technology at the OS level appears to
change much faster than the dive computers that are still being used
(on occasion I still deal with a VR3). I suspect that IrDA will be
used quite some time into the future for one reason: several of the
dive computers that use IrDA have proved to be either workhorses for
technical and other more demanding diving, or are still very popular
in (at least in some circles, e.g. Poseidon). A hardware solution
therefore offers opportunities for significantly extending the life
of dive computers using older technology.<br>
<br>
So my vote goes for a combination of 3 and 4.<br>
Kind regards,<br>
willem<br>
<br>
<br>
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