Another Steem Hardfork in a Day and Still No Windows Support...
I have been writing about this issue with previous hardforks as well, but since we have another upcoming hardfork in a day to Steem 0.15.0 it is time to rise it once more... The problem that many crypto currencies have in common is they do not put a lot of attention on Windows support and releasing official Windows binaries. Like it or not Windows is the major operating system used by most users and not having proper support for it is a real problem for a lot of people. Most people using Windows are not so advanced users, often they are not programmers or developers, so providing them with a source to compile something themselves and not official binary release is an issue. When the source you have does not even compile on Windows without some significant modifications things get even worse like in the case of Steem!
You cannot say to Windows users just go for Linux it is easy, the answer to this is just to go and F#CK yourself and the users going away to another crypto currency that does have proper support for the operating system they use. You want wider adoption, but are not providing proper support for the average user that uses Windows and that is not an advanced programmer or developer, he/she is just a regular user willing to support your project in some way or another, but you not willing to make the effort to make it easy for him/her to do so is just driving people away.
The situation with Steem is a bit different though, as the main user functionality is the Steemit platform and most of the users don't have to actually run steemd for anything they would normally need to do. However this is still limiting users on Windows that want to try mining Steem Power, no matter how hard it may be due to users with private GPU miners taking most of the mined tokens. I know that mining Steem is not a larger part of the ecosystem supporting Steem, witnesses do have much more important role, but still people that run a Steem node for mining are also supporting the network and they should not be denied that ability due to the lack of Windows release. Also, some developers or programmers that do want to work on a bot or a service related to Steem may also want to work on a local Windows-based node at least for the development part and them not being able to even compile the official source straight off GitHub on Windows is an issue.
We do not need to have to wait for some user to take the time to modify the source code to compile on Windows or to release a Windows binary of the latest Steem after some time (no guarantees that this will happen at all). We either need the source to also be easily compilable on Windows or at least the official Steem dev team to also release Windows binaries ahead of hardforks. This is a must have thing in order not to drive away users, but to attract more instead... an issue that needs to be addressed and the sooner the better.
If you have a question or want to add something, then please leave a comment below.
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In the upcomming ChainBase version we will drop support for windows all together. Not because we "want to", but because the Boost libraries we are using to get these amazing features are not compatible with Windows.
Not very happy to hear that, but then again you should at least consider releasing a separate miner that will be supported on all major operating systems.
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https://steemit.com/india/@ishan-pandey/how-narendra-modi-the-prime-minister-of-india-ended-black-money-and-corruption-in-india-in-one-night
Maybe we could have a fund to contribute towards making an official windows and OS X binary? I would donate a few SBD dollars towards it and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Part of being a mature platform and being truly decentralised means making it easy for anyone to be able to mine - that means working binaries for Windows and OS X as well as Linux. People should be able to mine with a bare minimum of expertise if they want to.
Seems like there are Windows binaries available now, compiled by @contentjunkie - https://steemit.com/steemit/@contentjunkie/steemd-exe-and-cliwallet-exe-v0-15-0-windows-64-binaries
@steem-id does have a MinGW binary up - https://steemit.com/steem/@steem-id/steem-v0-15-0-mingw-binary-for-windows-x64
However, I'm not sure if that works for mining as previously only VS compiled binaries have worked.
I hope @alphabeta has something up soon. Their releases have been reliable. (https://github.com/alphab3ta/steem/releases)
I agree that having official Windows binaries should be a must for attracting miners to Steem. They have done the right thing by planning a move to Equihash and increasing miner's fee, this needs to be the next step to increase demand.
On the other hand, perhaps someone from the community can see this as an opportunity...
MinGW cross-compiled releases for Windows are not working very well based on my experience so far, so a native Windows binary is much better - not only regarding mining support, but in general.
Yes, I haven't had much luck with the MinGW binaries either.
I can understand not having your favorite program on your favorite operating system. It sucks. Especially when you know that 90% of the internal workings are identical on each platform.
However, speaking as someone who has done programming, it is not a simple case of just work a little harder. Usually all time units are used up. There is no more time to allocate.
It is also not an issue of just get someone to port it. Even in Qt, there are lots of little things to do to get an app to look and act correct on each OS. It still takes a hella lot of time.
So, the end result does not include the option of getting a little done on each platform. It usually only includes get it done on one platform (we hope).
I have a different take on this @cryptos:
You run windows actively and call yourself @cryptos?
For shame, for shame sir! You are not retarded, and thus can surely use linux. This isn't anyone telling you to go and fuck yourself. This is me telling you how to achieve computational salvation.
Also, macos is about a hundred times better than Windows, too. It's not open source, but still, a hundred times better.
Oh, and software development, at least the serious kind, requires POSIX. Windows != POSIX.
I'm an advanced user myself and I use many different operating systems, including Linux and OSX, however I'm not talking about myself in this post... I'm talking about the many normal users out there that use only Windows and believe me there are a lot of these. Now, regarding myself... I'm not a professional developer or a programmer, even though I know a bit of programming and for my kind of work I actually need to use mainly Windows.
You cannot look at things only from a developer's perspective or a programmer's, especially if you want everyone to be able to use your product or service fully and you are targeting the mainstream market... it needs to be easy and accessible. For that Windows support is a must have, regardless if you like it or not. What if somebody told you need to use Linux in order to be able to be on Facebook for example?
But you don't need to use linux to be on Steemit, far from it, right?
Also, I did just check the codebase and there's build compatiblity fixes for VisualStudio in it.
BTW, just to be balanced: I, too run multiple OSes, mostly because I have to in order to get things done in a timely fashion.
@faddat
Come on buddy.... Do you think everyone including your mom, knows how to code and has time too.
Windows support is a no-brainer, the links below are some stats that prove Windows is the leading software. So anytime a new update is released a working Windows update must be included for everyone.
https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems
Actually the vast majority of software never gets a windows version, and no one gives a shit, because the vast majority of software is written for the web, and runs on linux servers.
99.99% of Moms will not mine steem
Because they don't have a windows update.
I agree, windows needs more attention.
I totally agree with you. Unfortunately windows is the most widespread :D
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