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Message-ID: <2a1386f80801250553i266b4fcau90f765fbd5b34d92@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:53:14 -0500
From: "Hugh Guiney" <hugh.guiney@gmail.com>
To: gopher@complete.org
Subject: [gopher] Re: Strategy: end of Gopher in Mozilla
In-Reply-To: <200801160035.m0G0ZKkr011202@floodgap.com>
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Okay, so I'm not exactly current on these developments (last I heard this
was still just a "bug" in the process of being "addressed") but am I correct
in assuming that Gopher is out on only *official* Mozilla releases? If so,
are [Moz-hosted] offshoots like SeaMonkey—which is supposed to be less
memory-intensive and more feature-rich out-of-the-box than Firefox anyway—a
viable option? It's a little obscure, but probably a lot less so than an
entirely new client would be (not that I'm opposed to that idea, as it's a
project I myself have wanted to undertake at some point in the future). I
have no idea how the Moz dev community operates, but if it's a separate
codebase/more niche-appreciative crowd, maybe Gopher support would fair
better there.
Just a thought.

On Jan 15, 2008 7:35 PM, Cameron Kaiser <spectre@floodgap.com> wrote:

> Brandon Eich has spoken on 388195 and has stated that gopher will
> disappear
> in Mozilla 2, which means Firefox 3 will be the final version with gopher
> support. (And what a jerk he is. Wow. Did you read his comments on SOAP?)
> This is a crushing blow.
>
> At this point strategy needs to be discussed to have a workable,
> deployable
> modern client in place for when FF 3 becomes EOLed in a couple years.
>
> As I see it, we have two options:
>
> - FF add-on. This has the advantages of integration, but we have to play
> in their sandbox, including dumbing down features that don't work well in
> a browser environment. However, a lot of work is done for us, and it is
> cross-platform. We would need someone/ a team with good knowledge of how
> to do this.
>
> - Separate application. Either via Mozilla Prism or Adobe AIR, or even a
> cross-platform system like RealBASIC, as far as I'm concerned they'd still
> have to download something, but at least this way it's a product custom
> scoped for Gopher and can do things in a Gopher-like way. Downside is
> reinventing the UI wheel, but that may not be completely bad.
>
> - Custom clients for various deployments. This means mastery on a
> particular
> platform, but may be limiting due to fractured development cycles.
>
> As far as I'm concerned, with pulling Gopher out of core, there is no
> reason not to take our ball and play elsewhere, i.e., create a next-gen
> Gopher client and leave Firefox/Mozilla out of the equation. However, I
> can see advantages to either way, and neither option is exclusive.
>
> --
> ------------------------------------ personal:
> http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
>  Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com *
> ckaiser@floodgap.com
> -- In the end, everything is alright. -- Sarah Goldfarb, "Requiem for a
> Dream"
>
>
>