Here's my next attempt. It's smaller, thinner, anything I missed?
A few things to consider
- Biggest issue, what happens if we ask somebody to put up a Works With Wine button, and then they release a new version that doesn't? Do they take the button down? See below for a possible resolution to that problem.
- Where does the button link to? I vote for a page that introduces Wine and perhaps also Linux, how they relate etc - ie assume zero knowledge about free software. The page then has a link to the appdb entry for the program. The "intro" page would simply be have a dynamically generated link to the appdb, so it acts as a kind of forwarding page. If a new version is released and it no longer works in Wine, this can be noted in the appdb.
- Could it be used as the start of trying to get Wine accepted as just another version of Windows? Once the button is up on the site, I should think the app maintainers would want to keep it there, after all if it works in Wine then their app has a bigger market right? I started thinking about how to get more people helping out on Wine, and remembered that in the early days of X some of the developers signed NDAs with hardware makers to get the driver specs. Perhaps if there is an app that for whatever reason doesn't work with Wine, a developer could sign an NDA, get access to the source, and either improve Wine so it works, or alter the program (possibly both). We win, as Wine improves. They win, as their app now works on Linux too. Of course, it'd be nicer to have native apps, but hey.
- The button is just there if site owners would like it, I'd be happy to settle for a textual link as well.
- Should the intro page explain about the 3 streams of Wine? IE "if the app that linked to this page is a business app, you may have success with CodeWeavers Crossover. If it was a game, then you might want to investigate WineX, or you can get the latest sources direct from WineHQ" etc
I'm happy to knock up an intro page that can be integrated into the wine site if that's what people would like.
thanks -mike
