For those wanting Orca-compatible Gno programs.

[glyn@gsb001.cs.ualberta.ca (G. Devin Reade)]

First, this is an explanation, not a flame.

It seems to be a recurring theme that when a good program or utility
comes out there is the inevitable question "Will there be a version
released that works with the Orca shell or as a stand-alone application?".

While it would be nice if all utils worked with the Orca shell, the fact
is that the Orca shell is just not powerful enough to do all the Neat
Things for which we use Gno.  After all, if Orca was able to do it, there
would have been no point in developing Gno.

I grant that many applications/utilities could be made Orca compatible
given enough effort, but here it's a case of trading off that compatibility
with the developer's time.  Unless it is trivial to do so, I have given up
trying to make an Orca-compatible version of anything.  Since the release
of v2.x, Gno has become a true users' and programmers' environment rather 
than a neat hack (no offense intended Jawaid), and productivity when using
Gno (vice Orca) has increased many times over.

Remember:  The more time a developer spends making something Orca-compatible,
the less time he is spending developing something else.

Regarding full-blown applications, it is again nice if they can run without
the Gno environment (and otherwise take advantage of Gno if it is active),
but I think we will begin to see more apps that _require_ Gno for reasons
similiar to those above.

In short, even when it is possible to program for the Orca environment,
it is often not practical to do so based on the time and effort required.
Gno is Not Just For Programmers, Anymore.  Considering the price/benefit
ratio, it is well worth its cost.  Buy it.

Disclaimer:  Other than being a satisfied customer, I have no relation
to Procyon Enterprises.  This article is in the public domain.

--
        G. Devin Reade          glyn@cs.ualberta.ca        <-- preferred
                                glyn@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca