[Xastir] Time to discard VMware as an option?

[David Flood]

I originally asked the question in this thread due to the somewhat alarming changes that have been made by VMWare in regards to the Player.

I see now that I opened a large can of worms almost on the scale of VI vs EMACS.

Each suggestion and thought has its own merit.  But, taken as a whole, a move by a manufacturer from "free, no registration or serial number (I never had to enter one at all to use the Player in the past)" to "only installs on certain systems with the right cpu and you must have an account to even download it" is a step in the wrong direction when it comes to supporting as many different hardware and software systems as possible with Xastir.

Unfortunately the Player has become yet another victim of the "neighborhood crack dealer syndrome".  Give them something at a discount at first and then, when they are hooked, jack up the cost/price/repercussions.  I'd like to see Xastir escape before it is so hooked that there is no escape so I asked the question.

I guess I had better dust off my programming skills and see if I can come up with a free way to create a Windows native executable.  Either that or go find and submit fixes to Cygwin to make it a viable option again.

Dave
KD7MYC