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Comment by riquito | Hacker News Reader

"the most popular desktop app development language" on MS Windows only, where GNOME doesn't run

its the most popular desktop app dev language period - by sheer numbers. I see these people as the target market for Linux, especially with the closed marketplace of Windows 8 RT.

I am not sure these developers would come onboard with knowledge of javascript - so the biggest advantage (ubiquity) is nullified.

I am not sure which developers is Gnome targeting by choosing javascript. At this point in the evolution of OSes, its all about the app marketplace.

Linux has always had an app marketplace, it just wasn't called a "marketplace" (when everything is free, the marketplace/store analogy isn't appropriate). At least in Debian and derivatives, everything is a one-click install since '98.

How JavaScript fits in this picture, however, is still beyond me.

an app marketplace is not simply about package managers. Its about an ecosystem that allows developers to develop high quality apps. Additionally its about payment systems, etc - but tgats not relevant fof this discussion.

I'm finding it hard to believe that you can woo quality desktop app developers using javascript.

Yeah, I totally agree about JS.

Otherwise, I'd call the Free Software Movement a pretty neat ecosystem :P I'm sure at least some people will agree :)

> its the most popular desktop app dev language period - by sheer numbers.

By what numbers? Number of projects using the language? Number of lines of code in the wild in that language? Number of users using apps written in the language? Because I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I seriously doubt that that's correct. Firefox, Chrome, iTunes, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Excel, Word, Powerpoint... None of these apps are written in C#. The most popular app dev language, period, is C++. (Maker help us all.)

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