"Jon Masterson" <news@scruffyduck.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1qj9wt7x7alkn$.9xf82m3qdm4l$.dlg@40tude.net...
>
> Jim
>
> I have used REALBasic for the past 18 months. I have just stopped and
> moved everything over to VB.Net.
>
> REALBasic is a good product and great if you want to build cross platform
> applications. It also builds to a single executable (although this
> contains DLLs which is spawns temporarily when you run the program.)
>
> The langauge contructions and capabilities are very good and it is a
> match,
> in many ways, for VB. However, there are a few niggly things which affect
> it's implentation in the Win32 environment. Because it comes historically
> from the Mac environment there is still a lot of Mac about. The final
> thing for me is probably not going to affact most people but turned into a
> show stopper for me. I needed to be able to provide certain data in my
> Version resource for another application. REALBasic only provides a
> couple
> of fields (you cannot create a resource file). Also when I tried to
> change
> the version resource data using an external resource editor the exe
> crashed. I asked REALBasic about this - they only provide a fixed space
> for the version resource and any editing crashes the exe. This is
> probably
> not important for most people but is a pointer that other things are
> lurking. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the product but I am pleased now
> that I have moved on - sure to VB.Net not VB6
>
> Jon

> There is another alternative which looks promising - REALbasic.
>
> I have just downloaded the demo - so don't lynch me if I'm wrong - but
> REALbasic looks like a very strong contender to take over where Visual Basic
> died. Sure, it has plenty of room for growth....but bear with me for a
> minute.
>
> I am very intrigued with the notion of building apps for Windows, MAC and
> Linux from a single set of source code that is very similar to Visual
> Basic's syntax.
>
> -------from the website
> a.. Convert VB Apps to Linux Create new software or convert existing apps
> from VB to Linux. Use the included VB Project Converter to migrate tables,
> forms and code to REALbasic to give you a head-start to get your
> applications to Linux or Macintosh.
> b.. Visual Basic Similarity Now the properties and controls palettes can
> be docked and the message box command works comparably to VB.
> -------
>
> The single exe produced (i.e. no DLL Hell) thing also has peaked my
> interest.
>
> From my first look, there seems to not be a lot of drag and drop items in
> the toolbox, but I've had it open all of 5 minutes....so I'll be looking
> around the IDE a lot more tonight.
>
> It'd be nice to be able to build applications NOT dependent on any
> particular OS. From the website
>
> -------from the website
>
> a.. Cross-platform capabilities Build Linux applications from a single code
> base, from your Windows or Macintosh computer, just by clicking a check-box.
> View REALbasic's build settings on Windows XP.
> a.. Supported Distributions Any x86-based Linux distribution with GTK+ 2.0
> (or higher), Glibc-2.3 (or higher) and CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System),
> which includes:
> a.. Red Hat Enterprise 3
> a.. SuSE Linux 8.1 (and higher)
> a.. Mandrake Linux 9.1 (and higher)
> a.. (Note: User feedback indicates that those inexperienced with Linux may
> have an easier time installing Mandrake.)
>
> -------
>
> Of course, I'll need to build a Linux box this weekend and I can borrow a
> MAC box to test out a couple of simple apps....so - I should have more info
> by Monday.
>
> Meanwhile, do me a favor and DL the demo and let me know what you find.
> It's at http://www.realsoftware.com/.
>
> Jim Hubbard

Jim Hubbard wrote:
> Jon,
> I am also tired of the ridiculous prices that Microsoft charges for its
> OS and development tools. (OT: I looked at the new release of OSX 10.1.4
> Tiger - and frankly it kicks XP's ass. Tiger is out NOW with items only
> promised in Longhorn......whenever that is released.)

> I want an alternative to Microsoft that allows the ease of development
> that we had with VB6.