Choosing between Motif, Qt, and GTK on Solaris or Linux


Summary If you would like to write a control application on Solaris or Linux, you have three widget sets to choose from: Motif, Qt and GTK.

One major factor in whether you should use Motif, Qt, or GTK will be your programming experience: if you are already familiar with one, that will make your ArcObjects experience easier. In addition, each has both benefits and disadvantages.

Pros

Motif
GTK
Qt
"traditional" Unix look-and-feel
multi-platform availability
multi-platform availability
well supported and documented
widely used for newer projects
widely used for newer projects
pre-installed on Solaris
easier to program
easier to program
long-established industry standard
standard part of most Linux distributions
standard part of most Linux distributions
free licenses available
active development
active development
 
flexible L-GPL license
 

Cons

Motif
GTK
Qt
not very easy to program
non-centralized support
less flexible and/or costly licensing
little active development
documentation is lacking
 
Unix-only availability
no mature gui-builder
 
dated design
 
 
no mature gui-builder