Mac on Intel - NWE?

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shades
Posts: 118
Joined: 2002-11-12 18:51:49

Mac on Intel - NWE?

Post by shades »

Given all the attention today on the announcement of Macs on Intel, a few questions arise:

Does Nisus feel a de javu experience similar to the "now it's OpenDoc, now it's not" events of the 1990's?

Will that change have a significant impact on NWE development?

Will Rosetta 'solve" most of the problems?
MBP 2.4 GHz, OS X 10.5.6
NWP 1.2, Mellel 2.6, iWork 08
midwinter
Posts: 333
Joined: 2004-09-09 18:07:11
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Post by midwinter »

NWE is a cocoa app, isn't it? I'm curious to hear the devs talk about how much pain and anguish a "minor tweak" and recompile will bring.
MikeKazlow
Posts: 34
Joined: 2004-12-30 12:54:30

Post by MikeKazlow »

Cocoa isn't sufficient for ease of translation. Xcode code = relatively simple, Metroworks code = real work. At least thats what I've read. We will need to see what Nisus says about what they use and what they say they need to do.
bbrowncashdollar
Posts: 19
Joined: 2003-05-19 17:33:34

Post by bbrowncashdollar »

MikeKazlow wrote:Cocoa isn't sufficient for ease of translation. Xcode code = relatively simple, Metroworks code = real work. At least thats what I've read. We will need to see what Nisus says about what they use and what they say they need to do.
If it's cocoa it has to be done with Apple's Developer Tools. So it should be tweakable. Whatever in the Steve Jobs that means. :wink:
charles
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Post by charles »

Hi:

We've just started looking at this issue, but here is what we know so far:

First off, your existing copies of Nisus Writer Express (and any future versions we have out by then) should just work out of the box because of Rosetta. The biggest drawback to Rosetta is that it can be slow for some types of applications. Our word processor, however, should generally run just fine.

Nisus Writer Express is mostly Cocoa and its built in Xcode. Only the older applications, such as Microsoft Office and maybe Adobe are still built in Metrowerks. There are a few parts of our applications that are not pure Cocoa; we have some code that we used from Nisus Writer Classic and we have a component from an open source project that we support that helps us read Word documents. We don't expect these to be huge, monstrous projects, but they will take some time to adapt.

Compared to switching programming interfaces, such as the switching from Mac OS Classic to OpenDoc or to Cocoa, switching processors is not that big of a deal. This is especially true since we are using Cocoa. One interesting point of trivia, by the way: had we decided to try to port Nisus Writer Classic several years ago, this switch would be a very big deal and we would probably be faced with having to start over on Cocoa anyway. So I think we definitely made the right choice in choosing Cocoa three years ago.

In short, it will be some time before anyone is going to need an Intel-based version of Nisus Writer Express. We are planning for this transition, however, and we will make the shift around the time Intel boxes become available.

-Charles
Charles Jolley
Nisus Software, Inc.
shades
Posts: 118
Joined: 2002-11-12 18:51:49

Post by shades »

Charles, thanks for taking the time to explain the issues related to NWE and the Intel move. It is very much appreciated.
charles wrote: First off, your existing copies of Nisus Writer Express (and any future versions we have out by then) should just work out of the box because of Rosetta. The biggest drawback to Rosetta is that it can be slow for some types of applications. Our word processor, however, should generally run just fine.
That is good to know.
Nisus Writer Express is mostly Cocoa and its built in Xcode. Only the older applications, such as Microsoft Office and maybe Adobe are still built in Metrowerks. There are a few parts of our applications that are not pure Cocoa; we have some code that we used from Nisus Writer Classic and we have a component from an open source project that we support that helps us read Word documents. We don't expect these to be huge, monstrous projects, but they will take some time to adapt.

Compared to switching programming interfaces, such as the switching from Mac OS Classic to OpenDoc or to Cocoa, switching processors is not that big of a deal. This is especially true since we are using Cocoa. One interesting point of trivia, by the way: had we decided to try to port Nisus Writer Classic several years ago, this switch would be a very big deal and we would probably be faced with having to start over on Cocoa anyway. So I think we definitely made the right choice in choosing Cocoa three years ago.
The wisdom of your choice is vindicated. Congratulations and well-done!!
In short, it will be some time before anyone is going to need an Intel-based version of Nisus Writer Express. We are planning for this transition, however, and we will make the shift around the time Intel boxes become available.
Nisus' forward thinking on the Cocoa decision will pay dividends for years to come.

Thanks again, Charles.
MBP 2.4 GHz, OS X 10.5.6
NWP 1.2, Mellel 2.6, iWork 08
Reiner
Posts: 38
Joined: 2005-03-12 02:47:59

Post by Reiner »

It looks like as if the Classic-Environment will no longer work on the new Intel-Macs, which means: forget about Classic Nisus Writer on new Macs! And this means, that you Nisus-guys should hurry up and implement all the old Nisus Writer features in NWE. It is time to do this finally!
irev
Posts: 22
Joined: 2003-03-06 15:16:43

Post by irev »

Very open and transparent answer. That’s why I’ll continue to support Nisus. Thanks Charles
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