Hi, I' m not a PD advanced user but here is my story: I think the dilemma is "Do we need more users for PD (and make it work perfectly in Windows too) or we need to aim the PD development for Linux/ Mac users (and don't waste our "limited resources")?"
*Well , I have seen on youtube etc people using windows and they are
experts of PureData* but how many are they really? One of the reasons I chose to run GNU-Linux on my previous setup (besides the xp partition) are things you can have in it. And yes, PD was one of
my major reasons! I unfortunately had then to buy a Mac because of the
support of audio applications generally.Ok , most of people using a computer have Windows on their setup and in countries like Greece ... you have to even use it in your university. BUT: Do really people care about programs like PD or the
ideology/democratic openess behind GNU-Linux when they use windows? Most of us had the first choice for our system of windows and we MOVED when we saw what we can
and we cannot do in it.So, my opinion is to just be more consentrated on Mac/GNU-Linux support. There are not too many people who will really have the interest to learn
Pd in depth and then browsing with IE7 their Facebook accounts.I honestly don't want to make Pd/Win users feel stupid.
No, but you just said something like "pd is too valuable for windows,
these guys can't appreciate the beauty of it, and they just want to be fed
whatever the big bo$$ puts in their mouths", and advocate to stop
maintaining Pd for windows. And curiously, at the same time you said
GNU-Linux is so great, you moved out of it to Mac - where you have to pay
double the amount for the hardware, and the manufacturer even goes to the
trouble of making sure every laptop model has a different electricity
cable, so that you have to spend more money you case you loose it. And
you're worried about people not following ideology?
I'm a windows user, I don't know if I'm an "advanced pd user" (or what
that is), but I've been using pd only for several years, have done my
contributions to pd-ext (extra/jmmmp and donations in $), have patches for
people to download if they want to, taken and given Pd workshops, was
present in the Floss session, have worked on documentation, and partly
organise the pd berlin users meeting. So, I don't appreciate when people
judge windows users as idiots which don't know better, because I am one.
At least I don't call mac users a bunch of preformatted hipsters who stand
for hours in line to be the first to buy whatever crap Jobs launches on
the market.
By the way, I don't use IE7, I use Opera for 10 years now (which I
configured to acess my accounts and mails from both windows and ubuntu). I
have a facebook account, which I use to see how other people are doing -
including some of the most advanced pd users present on this list, they
post more on it than I do.
If you want to advocate segregation go ahead, but be honest about it.
After all you use unix, you have the moral advantage (or you like to say
you do).
João Pais