Qt

[nuzzle]

Unless you didn't know, Qt, the cross-platform GUI, has been open sourced!

http://www.qtsoftware.com/

To me this is exciting news. Qt has been bought by Nokia, the big mobile phone maker, and it looks like they're putting a lot of effort into it. I've looked into Qt before but found it too expensive, especially the yearly upgrade fees. I think many have felt the same. But that's in the past now. For all practical purposes Qt is now free also for use in commersial applications.

I'm certain this will have big implications for C++ as a language. I my view C++ were in desperate need of an ambitious GUI package to meet the flack from C# and Java on the desktop. Stroustrup has said he would like to see a GUI standard for C++ but that it wasn't a very realistic proposition. Well, this may be even better; A big company putting money into a freely available GUI.

The only slight drawback I can see with Qt is that it uses a pre-processor so one's source code isn't pure standard C++. But the output from the pre-processor is so this can probably be considered a minor nuisance.

Still, I think C++/Qt is a winning combination that can help regain ground lost to C# and Java. Who needs those languages really? Or rather, who needs them now? And with the new standard coming up it really is spring-time for C++

[Peter_APIIT]

There are two versions of QT software.

[nuzzle]

There are two versions of QT software.

Or even three. The one I'm talking about is called LGPL/Free.

Here are the implications for use under the LGPL license,

http://www.ics.com/files/docs/Qt_LGPL.pdf

[nuzzle]

Anyone has had any personal experience with Qt, postive or negative?