I fully understand preferring some languages over others and hating other languages, but Qt has many bindings for other languages if you like things like Python, if that makes a difference, and is cross-platform and portable. I have recently heard the name Vala a few times. Maybe if I get time I should check it out, but at the moment learning the fundamentals and concepts is my focus.

I know and admit I don’t know the full store from both sides of the fence but the most compelling things I like about Qt is the event system using slots and signals and the layout framework. I just find the amount of code required to do something complex is worlds apart from other platforms I looked at. The most recent addition to Qt that I also really like is QtCreator.

I suppose my bias also stems from my love for KDE4 (>=4.3) and I am really not 100% sure about this Gnome Shell that is in development. In the end, unfortunately software development is often an emotional choice and I find emotions often get in the way of making the correct choice and often prevent progress, through open source into the pot and things can even get more distorted.

I will try to keep an open mind about GTK+ going forward, but I have to say that I am already sold on Qt. The pass of the progress and Nokia’s new found openness makes me feel very comfortable about Qt’s future.

REF:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_(toolkit)#Bindings

is there a ‘need’ for GTK+? Is there a ‘need’ for Qt? I don’t know. Both toolkits have their uses and both are (in my opinion) equaly usefull.

GTK+’s usefulness is in its easy portability and bind-ability. Especially with the recent progress to GObject introspection, it gets easier to use GObject (GTK+ is based upon GObject) code in all kinds of scripting languages. Gnome-shell (aka: next generation Gnome desktop) makes heavy use of GObject introspection and almost all ‘glue’ code is written in JavaScript. (I recently extended the gnome-shell calendar with calendar weeks, took about 10 lines of code)

My personal problem with Qt is its close relation to C++. While I tend to like C, I lead a personal vendetta against C++, that bastard language from hell. If you like C++, I guess Qt isn’t so bad. But I see Vala as a better solution. If you are new to programming and GUI development, I encourage you to take a look at Vala. It’s a nice, clean language, inspired by C#, has memory management, for-each loops, collections, generics and all kind of nice features. And it generates GObject code, so you’ll be able to use all Vala-coded objects in Python, Ruby, Javascript, et al. immediately.

I do agree with you, by the way; Qt keeps getting better.

But then again I am just a newbie when it comes to GUI development.

Sure, Murrine (A GTK+ 2 engine) has some RGBA features, but it only supports maybe a handful of apps… and they have to be precompiled for it or use a plugin. Not good.

So yes, a delivery date on RGBA support would make me very happy, as well as some themes that would use it.