Missing parts of desktop

[Lauris Kaplinski <lauris helixcode com>]

Hello fellows!

I think somebody (somewhere, sometimes) should sit down and write down
outlines of bigger GNOME desktop that the one we currently have.

What bothers me, is lack of some essential libraries:
- audio, especially MIDI & similar
- gaming graphics (3D and 2D animation etc.)

There are certainly other missing pieces I am overlooking.

To have comlete desktop should mean, developers can rely on standard set
of libraries present. Not having standard audio and animation libs means,
that either they have to reimplement everything themselves (bad thing), or
their products will not spread widely. For large set of programs it will
be convenient to say 'hey, if you want to run that, you need latest Helix
Gnome' - and everybody is happy. Unfortunately there is no reference
platform for multimedia things - but hell of different libraries (plib,
SDL, CrystalSpace, clanlib etc. etc.) - so no multimedia program can be
easily ship with gnome.

I am not talking about big games - these implement ad hoc set of
multiplatform libraries themselves to reach maximum possible audience. I
mean little multimedia programs, such as children learning tools, that
could be otherwise written easily for gnome - but lack of standard
libraries make that mostly useless.

What is needed, is political consensus: we name such and such
libraries/projects as official part of GNOME desktop.

Lauris