UserLinux Will Support KDE

kollum writes "Bruce Perens has revealed that UserLinux will now support KDE commercially. It seems there is a demand for a KDE plan afterall."

Perens LLC, not UserLinux

[valkadesh]

What Perens is saying is that is own consulting company will offer support for KDE as a service provider. Gnome is still the only chosen GUI for UserLinux.

Nothing new here

[TrentC]

This is just a rehash of what Bruce Perens has been saying all along [slashdot.org]; even though UserLinux's standard GUI desktop environment will be GNOME, KDE will still work on it, and will be supported on demand for customers who want it.

I already have a customer asking for Perens LLC to provide commercial support for KDE on the UserLinux platform. [emphasis mine] And we will do so, even though KDE is not the chosen GUI of the UserLinux project. This is an option for any UserLinux service provider.

So really, nothing has changed.

Jay (=

The article has confused wording

[mjrauhal]

This is not about UserLinux including KDE
or supporting it. This is about Perens LLC offering
support for UserLinux with KDE added on for paying
customers. Perens has always maintained
that this is an option for any support provider,
as any support provider may offer support for,
say, UserLinux with MySQL added on.

This also means that a service provider supporting UserLinux
does not have to support KDE (or MySQL for that
matter) to live up to their advertising.

Re:Perens LLC

[_Pinky_]

I'm just guessing all this animosity toward Bruce is done without the recollection of how much he has given back to the opensource community...

• He co-founded the Open Source Initiative with ESR..
  
• He was a primary author of the Debian Social Contract..
  
• He helped introduce Linux into the main stream corporate world by being a Linux proponent at HP.
  
• He stood his ground, touting Linux over Microsoft, with disregard toward his employment with HP...
  
• He routinely has showed up any SCO claims...
  
• He often posts here on slashdot!
  
• And, my favorite, he authored ElectricFence, which many of us have used...
  

And there are probably many, MANY other contributions he has given which I have overlooked..

So please, do give some consideration toward what he has done for all of the Linux community...

Re:Nothing new here

[Anonymous Coward]

> And we will do so, even though I DIDN'T CHOOSE KDE AS THE GUI of the UserLinux project.

What a dumbass, calls out the community to help him with this project but then decides on his own (ignoring over 60 KDE developers that were subscribed there that time).

Re:Nothing new here

[LarryRiedel]

"So really, nothing has changed."
Something has changed. This customer will not have to go out of his way to get Qt/KDE onto his systems, as Perens LLC will make sure that they are preloaded.

I do not see anything in the referenced message which states, implies, or even remotely suggests that Perens LLC will make sure that Qt or KDE is preloaded anywhere. Where did he say that?

Larry

Re:Nothing new here

[TrentC]

You seem to be confusing "Bruce Perens notes that he has a customer who wants a UserLinux system with KDE, which he will provide" with "UserLinux will offer both GNOME by default and KDE as an option".

This is not a change for the UserLinux project. GNOME is still the only officially supported desktop environment for the project, and Perens has said all along that providers using UserLinux can customize the distro however their customers want.

Jay (=

Re:Perens LLC, not UserLinux

[jrexilius]

I dont think the support is overwhelming and I I think Perens discussed the issues earlier surounding this debate. He is a level-headed guy and laid out good reasons why he was opting for one particular desktop.

The two key points are that 1) there is the licensing issue with Qt and 2) the desire to simplify end-user configurations that need to be supported by vendors and service providers.

The second point, in my opinion, is the more important of the two. UserLinux is just another distro for a specific purpose and shaping it to suit that purpose is effectively is Perens job.

If you want KDE on a desktop distro get suse or lindows. He is not eliminating choice just by customizing a distro for a specific purpose.

Re:QT license issues

[tackat]

> As a software developer, you are better
> with Gnome or Microsoft than with QT.

This would be correct if the cost of the Qt license would actually matter compared to the benefits you get by actually using Qt.

In reality the licensing costs for Qt are being weight out by the advantages that you get when using Qt and amortize within less than a month.

Just guess why companies like Adobe, Ati, Boeing, BP, Daimler Chrysler, Disney, Fujitsu, General Electric, Hitachi, Honda, HP, IBM, Intel, Motorola, NASA, NEC, Samsung, Sharp, Shell, Siemens, Sony, Toshiba, Toyota are actually using Qt already for their products.

> But if you want to see Adobe Photoshop on Linux, ... you are wrong concerning this as well.
Adobe already _does_ use Qt for their Adobe PhotoAlbum and there are rumors that they will use it for their other software as well.

Tackat

Re:Makes good business sense...

[TrentC]

I haven't seen Perens Vaporware yet.

You're not looking very hard if you can't find the installation instructions [userlinux.com] using Debian unstable as a base (once a couple of needed dependancies filter down into testing, that will be the minimum required).

True, there is no install CD yet, but that's because UserLinux is going to use the new Debian installer for sarge.

Jay (=