The idea sounds wierd, but in my opinion, it's a great idea.
Basically, if Microsoft Windows programmers could write C++ code that can be compiled for LINUX or WINDOWS, that would be awesome. It's not like it would be TOO difficult either (Same function names, same class names, different behavior for different operating systems under the hood). I am aware there are some things that are operating system specific, but this wouldn't have the same drawbacks as using Java would. I also realize some of the file operations in the UNIX environment wouldn't work in the Windows and vice versa, but it would increase the amount of programmers for the Linux platform (If I can code something that will work on both Linux and Windows, i'll choose it over a Windows-Only solution any day). It wouldn't affect security for Linux either. Virus programmers could still write programs to screw up windows, but these programs wouldn't screw up Linux since Linux doesn't have the same problems Windows does. And sorry for the Mac users, I didn't mean to exclude you. If product developers could provide to all three platforms at once with C++, considering there would be more money to be made, why not? Opportunity can mean more money for companies, and most companies are driven by their profits. The amount of money Microsoft may penalize companies for doing this would be made up by the extra profits, and with the greater audience they may even get more. Basically, it's not impossible to do this, and if you get some clever programmers involved, i'm sure something great could happen. One of the reasons Windows hobbist programmers write code is because most of their audience uses Windows. If they could increase their audience without having to learn a new programming language, they probably would provide binaries for Mac and Linux.
If something like this already exists /w C++, please tell me.
[ February 15, 2004: Message edited by: anphanax ]
