On Tuesday 22 January 2002 11:32 am, you wrote:
> I'd like to follow up on a thread, and attempt to consolidate some thoughts
> on the topic of abstracted GUI APIs. 
<snip>

I too would like to make a summary of my obvious displeasure with this 
thread.  This subject has been beat to death on this ML more than once.  I 
hate it when such threads show up because they seem to foment such great 
globs of half-truth, writhing with bravado and enthusiasm.  But, I am a lover 
of and a student of good machine-human interface.  I am also a very old 
programmer who has cheered a lot of crap bouncing merrily on the surface, 
only to see it waterlog and sink to the bottom.  I am both an optimist and a 
sceptic.  So I am reluctantly, but irresistably, drawn to such threads.  But 
I am invariably disappointed.  This thread is no exception.  I felt as if I 
were trapped in some Sales meeting, complete with cheerleaders.  I really 
don't know why I even bother to post.  I think it's that some statments are 
so outrageous that it seems sinful not to challenge them.  But you guys go on 
and build the next Big Thing.  You will succeed or you will fail.  I know 
that the cautions that you encountered here will come back to haunt you.  As 
the old story goes: When you are up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to 
remember that your original intent was to drain the swamp.  In parting I 
offer something from my wish list for the next Big Thing:

You never really defined a GUI toolkit.  You just assumed that everyone else 
meant the same thing when they said the word.  I see GUI toolkits as of two 
basic types: (1) a bag of widgets and (2) a bag of widget building tools.  I 
wouldn't be interested  in a bag of widgets.  Most of what is called a 
toolkit today is just a bag of widgets.  And what most on this thread have 
apparently meant by the word is just a bag of widgets.  Personally, I would 
prefer a true toolkit.  This kit may not even contain a single ready made 
widget.  But would rather contain widget parts and the tools for connecting 
those parts into, not only the traditional widgets, but new, not yet 
imagined, widgets. (BTW, what I like about Tk is what most detractors dislike 
about Tk:  it's a type 2 toolkit)  Have fun with Ruby.

-- 
Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of