[sane-devel] discussion: Future of SANE-project

[Major A]

> But, if the ultimate goal of SANE is to supplant TWAIN as the
> standard for accessing image devices, shouldn't more effort be put

I don't think it is. TWAIN and SANE act on completely different
levels. I suppose that once a sufficiently large number of
manufacturers support SANE with their code (binary or open-source),
they will begin to see that there's no point in wasting time and money
writing a separate Windows/MacOS driver, they will just use SANE on
these platforms too, with the cross-platform SANE backend they had to
write anyway (possibly with their own frontend optimized for their
scanners). TWAIN is still going to be the interface between the
frontend and the application the image is to be imported to.

> Perhaps working examples demonstrating how scanner makers can
> leverage their investment in TWAIN support while migrating to SANE
> might be useful for getting scanner makers to take notice of
> SANE. If an upgrade path was readily shown, techno-geeks at the
> manufacturer might prefer and sell the SANE idea to managers within
> the company.

I don't think we can do a lot at the moment. There's no update path
from TWAIN to SANE that I can see, and you can't tell who the
techno-geeks in a company are without having had prior contact with
them. I think that more and more developers of proprietary software
realize that open-source can save them money and effort and create
superior products (they already see that the first time they pop that
Knoppix CD into their Windows computer), so it's only a matter of time
before they start lobbying within the company.

> Formal propoganda of industry heavyweight support (a consortium of
> scanner makers and front-end application development houses) on the
> web-site might make other makers feel the need to join in.

That sounds a bit like Darl McBride to me. I don't think any of us
hobbyist SANE developers have the financial and legal backing needed
to claim any heavyweight industry support.

> Without this kind of direction, I simply see SANE as being a
> hobbyist-level effort which is why I questioned the future of
> it. Thanks for listening and answering my questions.

That's how all open-source projects start out, just like Linux, GIMP,
etc. Look at what's become of them, I'm quite confident that SANE will
have a similar future.

  Andras