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Internet / Re: Mypal68: A possible alternative browser?
« on: March 15, 2026, 07:46:02 pm »
"I've been in discussion with winflector about partnering with them to offer the hosted solution, and also talked to them about making a native client software for os/2, but it seems they are not interested:
"I'm afraid it's not so easy. To engage in software development for a niche environment, you need hardware, software, and application development tools. In addition, you need to learn a new, unfamiliar environment, and above all, you need to distract the team from the ongoing work of maintaining and developing the core versions of our software. It's probably safe to assume that a dedicated client for OS/2 won't be created, but you can try using the browser version, assuming there are modern versions of Opera, Chrome, or Firefox that work on OS/2." "
Winflector is a commercial company, with proprietary software/code. But, the above still seems like it's possible, it just needs:
1. a free ArcaOS license (possibly two ... I've offered to buy this for them)
2. an OS/2 (emx?) build VM ... we should be able to get this detailed and built for them
3. an OS/2 developer ... (without "distracting" their existing devs)
The last one is on us ... Winflector just need to bend a little. Sign up Paul S., or KOMH, or anyone else (with a non-disclosure and other legalese), and now they have a dev dedicated to the effort (of just porting the linux 32-bit to an OS/2 native). If it's not these two, and there could be plenty of reasons why not, then we need to find/develop others, starting with detailed "here's a build environment" (emx, gcc, whatever) plans.
All are big asks ... Winflector has to bend (open up that piece of software), existing devs have to participate (or we grow more of them), AN could help by revealing "seat count" data, if not restricted in some way (their business practices, IBM, etc.) ... we all have to help with $$$ (I have offered $$$, in licensing terms, and could offer other help).
A native Winflector OS/2 client is the last piece of the AToF puzzle for me ... the HTML5 client (Firefox v45) gets me 95% of the way, and everything works. But ... the OS/2 native client would be the finishing touch!
"I'm afraid it's not so easy. To engage in software development for a niche environment, you need hardware, software, and application development tools. In addition, you need to learn a new, unfamiliar environment, and above all, you need to distract the team from the ongoing work of maintaining and developing the core versions of our software. It's probably safe to assume that a dedicated client for OS/2 won't be created, but you can try using the browser version, assuming there are modern versions of Opera, Chrome, or Firefox that work on OS/2." "
Winflector is a commercial company, with proprietary software/code. But, the above still seems like it's possible, it just needs:
1. a free ArcaOS license (possibly two ... I've offered to buy this for them)
2. an OS/2 (emx?) build VM ... we should be able to get this detailed and built for them
3. an OS/2 developer ... (without "distracting" their existing devs)
The last one is on us ... Winflector just need to bend a little. Sign up Paul S., or KOMH, or anyone else (with a non-disclosure and other legalese), and now they have a dev dedicated to the effort (of just porting the linux 32-bit to an OS/2 native). If it's not these two, and there could be plenty of reasons why not, then we need to find/develop others, starting with detailed "here's a build environment" (emx, gcc, whatever) plans.
All are big asks ... Winflector has to bend (open up that piece of software), existing devs have to participate (or we grow more of them), AN could help by revealing "seat count" data, if not restricted in some way (their business practices, IBM, etc.) ... we all have to help with $$$ (I have offered $$$, in licensing terms, and could offer other help).
A native Winflector OS/2 client is the last piece of the AToF puzzle for me ... the HTML5 client (Firefox v45) gets me 95% of the way, and everything works. But ... the OS/2 native client would be the finishing touch!