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hacker · 08-25-2004, 12:28 AM

I've tried the original Sunrise, and now the 0.2 version, and both fail to get through the first document I've created (the online copy of the FreeBSD handbook, if anyone is curious =). I've tried it under 2000, XP, and 2003, all with the latest service packs and patches installed. It gets about 80% of the way through (grinding the machine to an absolute halt), then throws a Java exception (org.eclipse.swt.SWTException, Failed to execute runnable (java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Argument cannot be null)), and the whole thing closes itself. Nice.

But the UI looks fairly nice. Unfortunately it uses SWT. Most Java professionals will tell you to stay miles away from that if you ask them, because it is implemented with native binaries, thus destroying Java's portability (more here). SWT is no more responsive than well-written Swing. At least there are alternatives to using that, and the JPluck project is definately not going to be dying anytime soon.

I can't reveal our plans, but Sunrise will have a huge amount of healthy competition very soon, and the JPluck codebase will be retrofit, renamed, and relicensed to allow a lot more contributors to help out with the new project.

08-25-2004, 12:28 AM	#13
hacker Technology Mercenary Posts: 617 Karma: 2561 Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: East Lyme, CT Device: Direct Neural Implant	I've tried the original Sunrise, and now the 0.2 version, and both fail to get through the first document I've created (the online copy of the FreeBSD handbook, if anyone is curious =). I've tried it under 2000, XP, and 2003, all with the latest service packs and patches installed. It gets about 80% of the way through (grinding the machine to an absolute halt), then throws a Java exception (org.eclipse.swt.SWTException, Failed to execute runnable (java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Argument cannot be null)), and the whole thing closes itself. Nice. But the UI looks fairly nice. Unfortunately it uses SWT. Most Java professionals will tell you to stay miles away from that if you ask them, because it is implemented with native binaries, thus destroying Java's portability (more here). SWT is no more responsive than well-written Swing. At least there are alternatives to using that, and the JPluck project is definately not going to be dying anytime soon. I can't reveal our plans, but Sunrise will have a huge amount of healthy competition very soon, and the JPluck codebase will be retrofit, renamed, and relicensed to allow a lot more contributors to help out with the new project.