Interview With Andreas Pour of KDE 203
friedmud writes "I just read a great interview over at OPEN for Business. It is with KDE contributor Andreas Pour. He goes over many topics - not only including KDE. My favorite part: 'they are basically saying, if you stop obeying us, we will stop you from viewing the documents you and your friends created. Who are they to say where and when I read my documents? Now I need a monopolist's permission to view my own creations? The audacity is mind-boggling, and that the Justice Department is permitting it is simply astounding.' - Wow"
I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:3, Insightful)
"Now I need a monopolist's permission to view my own creations? The audacity is mind-boggling, and that the Justice Department is permitting it is simply astounding."
This is something like patenting keys and locks. Obviously, if Microsoft ever tried to say something like: "No, you can't view your documents", I think the justice department would immediately step in and cry foul, much as if the person who invented the key demanded that all people who owned and used keys for operating locks pay him a surcharge or discontinue their use.
"But I can't get into my house!", people would cry. They'd use the key anyway, and popular demand would win; much the same in the Microsoft case. The point is: someone allowed Microsoft to patent a key and license it, and now they're trying to figure out ways around this.
Hm.
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:1, Redundant)
I would recommend Notepad, personally.
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:1)
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not sure that Justice would be so quick to do that. The real concern is that a situation such as this would arise.....
1. You create document/opus/graphic with propriety tool X, document great_work.msx
2. Propreitary software maker patents the file format, and includes methods (Palladium, anyone) which make it impossible to open in anything other than proprietary tool X.
3. You, as artist, no longer agree with the licensing terms (which changed during a bugfix that was automatically installed).
4. You're screwed.
Now, the old way of remedying this would be,
5. Write new program that can read file format so that you can continue to use your work, but then;
6. You've violated the DMCA if you do that.
It's not a pretty picture.
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:2)
Can anyone paint a different picture? Like, lets say, a best case scenario?
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:2)
1) You create document.
2) Software maker patents format.
3) Patent ruled invalid because the software maker didn't follow basic patent law and apply for the patent prior to testing or release (depends on the country, but most of Europe and Japan requires patent applications to be filed prior to testing. The US gives a 1 year grace period, but the patent still has to be applied for prior to commercial usage -- the product can only be used for testing purposes in that grace period)
Ok, so assume that the company isn't absolutely stupid and knows basic intellectual property law.
1) Company files for patent, releases software.
2) For some idiotic reason you still use software to create your own document.
3) Company changes rules for using said software, which you don't agree with.
4) You retain copyright on the documents, start a class action suit to sue Company for unlawfully restricting your access to your own intellectual property. Patent is ruled unenforcable, or it's ruled that you have an implicit license to the patent since that capability was given to you through the software.
People are being overly stupid with this. They're thinking of worst case scenarios that won't happen because they can't. I don't care how dimly you may view MS, the Justice department, the RIAA, etc. -- this kind of thing won't be allowed. Companies won't allow someone to seize their property in such a manner, nor will consumers. Nor will the government, which uses the same software as the majority of the world. Maybe in some dark, twisted universe of your own self-hatred, but not in this one.
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:2)
I agree the situation would be so bad that the courts would "stretch" to try to change it, but I don't see how even a big stretch could consider the company to have done anything unlawful. IANAL though.
If it happens, a large number of people are still going to be screwed for a long time until either congress or the courts manage to change the rules.
-
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:2)
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:2)
Ok, I'll paint 3, derived from the original senario. Let me know which one you'd like to go with.
Senario One
1. You never use a propriety tool to create document/opus/graphic.
Note that for this to be a general solution replace "You never use" with "No one ever uses"
Scenario Two
1. You create document/opus/graphic with propriety tool X, document great_work.msx
2. No propreitary software maker ever patents the file format or they never include methods (Palladium, anyone) which make it impossible to open in anything other than proprietary tool X.
Scenario Three
1. You create document/opus/graphic with propriety tool X, document great_work.msx
2. Propreitary software maker patents the file format, and includes methods (Palladium, anyone) which make it impossible to open in anything other than proprietary tool X.
3. No software vendor ever add new objectionable licensing terms.
-
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:2)
The entire open source community is still having touble writing a complete decoder for microsoft documents, and mere formatted text at that.
Not to mention that creating the decoder could be a patent violation, EULA violation, DMCA violation, or even impossible if it uses Palladium (short of cracking Palladium itself).
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:2)
This is why open non-patent-incumbered file formats are so essential to the future of general computing.
Companies that insist their proprietary formats are necessary to protect their business should be boycotted, because this excuse is simply unfounded. A file format is pure data. If it is architected well, it can store what it needs to store without giving up any secrets about the algorithms and other tricks implemented in the software. Any software product can and should compete on the quality of the implementation, where robustness, completeness, and user-friendliness would all be rewarded by the consumers. File formats are simply an excuse put forth by companies like Microsoft to protect their unfairly gained stake in the software industry.
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, but the WHY is missing .... (Score:2)
If you have diversity and competition, you can't control data. And that's what media/content resellers are asking the goverment to do.
On the one hand you have the citizens not knowing MS is getting ready to be the cyber-cop for a huge profit. On the other hand you have entire industries crying for a solution that involves allowing a Monopoly to solve all their problems.
(sorry for the caps)
Re:TCP/IP? WWW? GIF? Sound familiar? (Score:2)
Only developer that are not married with MS actually outcry the need for open standard, and some services sectors like Banks and the such (ie: products where MS could easily turn into some kind of unavoidable ManInTheMiddle)
Re:I think he raises the interesting point... (Score:2)
All things computery and digital seem to be viewed differently from meat-space things. Take the same lock ananlogy, if digital laws were applied to locks, it would be illegal to not only break into other people's houses, but to break into your own house, or to own a set of lock-picks or to distribute information on how to pick locks - all of which is perfectly legal in the real world.
Findings of 'Face?' (Score:1)
spot the difference (Score:1)
buh?
Re:spot the difference (Score:1)
Re:spot the difference (Score:1)
I know theres more than just KDE and Gnome, but do we ever hear about them in the Slashdot comments? - well, maybe windowmaker.
Re:spot the difference (Score:2)
Enlightenment does come with a "task manager" - try loading up it's "icon box". This is a small bar that does just what a task manager does - if you minimize a program it goes into your "icon box" and you can retrieve it by clicking on it (or dragging its icon to the desired location - including into the pager so it can show up on another desktop
Enlightenment is an incredible WM - but I have switched full time to KDE now. I am a C++/QT programmer so it only makes sense.....
Derek
User interaction overrated. (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm glad they retreat. I think there's more to this than simple overload - I think alot of OSS devs are probably sick of backseat drivers trying to dictate features and direction of something they're doing for free anyway. The more OSS project mailing lists and forums I read, the more I am glad that developers choose to ignore more and more user requests. Everyone is quick to point out how "developers don't know what users need" and how "difficult" certain OSS developers are when dealing with users.
I for one am glad when developers choose to ignore some users and just go away and code. If you're ever bored, go check out the INVALID or WONTFIX bugs in Mozilla, for example. I swear, the next moron that wants mozilla to render ALT tags as popups, or ask for colored scrollbars should get drawn and quartered. We're screaming for standards and these guys think its their right to dictate what Mozilla should be doing.
We, as users, should take a step back and trust the developers for a bit. There are certain things in KDE that I feel are totally wrong, and there are certain things in there that I'm glad someone figured out for me. There's nothing wrong with giving constructive criticism
Mayor Quimby said it best when the citizens wanted a Bear patrol but wouldn't accept higher taxes
Re:User interaction overrated. (Score:2)
The whole point of free software is that we do it for US, not them, US!. The moral freedom to do this is that them can share in the fruits of our labour freely.
Be glad that there is an (absurd) movement afoot to make free softeare illegal -- that's far better than taxing it.
Re:User interaction overrated. (Score:2)
While this can, and does, lead to unstable code, sometimes the coding process is part of trying to discover what reasonable requirements are, by experimenting and seeing what kind of programs best fit a desired work flow.
We've all seen applications that are clumsy and awkward to use, as well as bits and pieces of code that have to be tied together in order to do anything useful: the former may have rigid well-refined requirements, but the wrong ones and result in code that is stable but not useful. The latter can be made useful, and if not constantly tweaked, stable too, and can be of use in suggesting what reasonable requirements for an application that meets a desired subset of the possible problem solution space is.
The point is that much of the free software development mindset revolves around sharing code in order to find out what the best way to tackle the problem is in the first place: you might have an idea for reasonable requirements, but they might fail to address a very significant way in which the app might reasonably want to be used.
Architecturally, the conflicting desires to close requirements up and keep things open is addressed by punting: trying to identify areas for dynamic, and user, extensibility (viz. plugins), and providing APIs for them. Of course, even this isn't perfect.
From (a lot) of experience, I can say too that rigid requirements never are (rigid, that is). Mistakes happen, requirements change, and code changes to meet them. Yes, this introduces instability, and must be managed as any other risk. But a design process that is based on the mantra "Produce formal requirements that will never change" is a self-deceiving lie: my bullshit radar goes off whenever I hear the word "never". People make mistakes, and while an error-free requirements and design phase might lead to a pleasant, and perhaps even automated, implementation phase that results in a stable product, that just ain't gonna happen: mistakes will be made in the requirements phase, and like any other change, the risks involved in correcting those mistakes must be assessed.
So, like a skyscraper built in an earthquake zone, requirements must have a designed-in degree of flexibility, so that within certain reasonable parameters, change can be accomodated without unduly increasing the risk of resulting instability.
Re:User interaction overrated. (Score:5, Insightful)
The day a developer stops listening to user requests directly or indirectly and starts to do whatever he likes most (in their free or payed time) is the day I'll want to switch to something else (personal choice here).
People usually don't ask for a response, they just ask for someone to listen to what they need. For a large project this may mean some people specialize in just that (communication between the org and the users) and for a small project these may be the same people developing.
I think developers will benefit from users feeback *if they know how to handle it*, and that does not necesarily mean they should be the users bitches or anything like that. There is no magic solution. They key is to be able to listen to good requests and ideas, ditch the bad ideas and have a way to balance the time it takes to read these and do actual work.
Use the bug tracking system (Score:2)
The day a developer stops listening to user requests directly or indirectly and starts to do whatever he likes most (in their free or payed time) is the day I'll want to switch to something else (personal choice here).
Which is why just about every OSS project (KDE included) that is large enough to use a bug-tracking system has a 'wishlist' category in the bug-tracker.
Just about every OSS project I know would LOVE to hear about new ideas and ways to improve the software - but PLEASE report these ideas in the appropriate place, which is in the bug-tracking system. If you post your ideas to a mailing list, then not only are your proposals far more likely to get lost in the noise of other posts, you are also creating extra work for the developers who have to wade through tons of feature requests, often for identical things, before they can use the mailing list for what it was designed for - which is communicating with each other. If the idea is in the bug tracking system, it is recorded for eternity, indexed and can be searched and reviewed by developers easily when they run out of pressing bugs to fix.
To repeat: if you have a killer idea, post it to the bug-tracking system, with a 'wishlist' category! Although you may not get an immediate response, my experience is that you have a far far better chance of seeing your idea implemented in the future than if you pollute project mailing lists.
Now, if you're prepared to implement your idea yourself, then by all means post to the mailing lists when you need help - that is what they're there for - but if you aren't, leave it to the bug tracking system.
There is no community if only certain members are (Score:2, Troll)
Just after I read your post mozilla crashed on me again, so I am going to respond.
I submitted one of those WONTFIX bugs, and I stand by my suggestion still today. I recommended that an unstripped nightly or a linux talkback nightly build be distributed ( either one ), just as talkback nightlies for windows are distributed. The sad thing is the suggestion is simple. They would have to *not* strip a binary before inclusion on the mozilla ftp server. This would require no code changes and only a minor build change.
I'm not just bitching about not being able to run nightlies under a debugger without building from scratch. I'm complaining about not being able to provide any reasonable information to the developers for those random crashes. And thus having to live with those crashes.
I'm complaining about being shut out of this "mozilla community" I keep hearing about.
Mozilla and other large OSS projects are turning their backs on one of the most important advantages of OSS, user feedback. As more and more of the decisions go corporate and behind closed doors, these projects will appeal less and less to many users.
Re:There is no community if only certain members a (Score:2)
it takes 3 hours and 1Gig of drive space on a P450. I did build my own for a while and I contributed a few bug fixes in that time as well. But I can't have such a huge build running everyday on my desktop.
Also, the unstripped binary would be in *addition* to the stripped and can clearly be labelled as such. eg. mozilla-linux-i686-unstripped.tar.gz, along with the others in ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla/nightly/lastest
But this is only an example, my point is that it is getting increasing difficult to give feedback in the larger OSS projects nowadays.
PS. This is meant as serious argument I've observed, not a troll ( as my previous post has seemed to be labelled )
Article sums it up with /. moderation.... (Score:1)
Quote : OfB: Thank-you Andreas, your remarks were very insightful.
food for thought... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:food for thought... (Score:2)
Re:food for thought... (Score:2)
Unthinkable... until we recall that they tried to sneak a clause into Frontpage that prevented us producing anti-Microsoft content with it.
So no, I don't believe that's unthinkable in the long term. But they'll work on cutting us off from our own content first.
Audacity? Only in being that stupid. (Score:1, Interesting)
Um, don't save your creations in the proprietary format created and maintained by a convicted felon. If a
And speaking of arbitrary, pointless and otherwise unnecessary divisions in the electronic desk-space, Gnome AND KDE both suck monkey nuts. Developers set up app installs to favor one over the other. The only way to effectively get around on the desktop is using something like Enlightenment or Ice for the default load. Then there's navigating the pointless folder nesting...
Oh I know, burn time tweaking the installs. Sorry, I'm now old enough to drive. I have to go earn a living.
Mike Nomad
Re:Audacity? Only in being that stupid. (Score:2)
Yeah right, welcome to the real world. I don't own any Microsoft products (not even illegal copies). I'm looking for a job, and I've been unable to apply for several because they demand my resume in Word format only, which I cannot save in. The worst offenders seem to be companies looking for unix help, companies looking for help with Windows don't have a problem with plain text.
Takes all kinds (Score:1)
"For example, there was a period not long ago where much ado was made about the incredible enhancements to the KDE themes and icons while the HTML rendering engine was not yet bug-free. It seems these critics truly did not understand that the contributors working on the themes and icons have no greater ability to improve the Konqueror browser than, say, the critic does."
It's all about even distribution off talent...
Truly worth reading (Score:1)
Can you say 'Microsoft'? I knew you could.
The Old Agenda (Score:2, Insightful)
Viewed in this light, FS / OS desktops present a perfect match for Government investment. Free desktops provide a boundless, publically-available resource which results not only in large financial savings to its citizens, but also protects and enhances citizen privacy, freedom and choice. Moreover, because Government investment in free software development can be made locally, such support stimulates the nation's or locality's technology sector. In the longer-term view, such investment eventually operates to sizably reduce the outflow of hard currency to other countries, something especially critical for developing nations but also a factor no Government cannot seriously consider. What responsible Government would prefer its citizens pay a large international tax to a foreign corporation over creating high-tech jobs in its local economy?
Folks, this meme has been in the Free Software community from the earliest days of the FSF. Just read some of RMS's early essays and you'll see the same ideas. It's bunk. They just want us to exchange a private monopoly for a government monopoly. Private monopolies can be defeated when customers become so disatisfied that they choose alternatives. Private monopolies can be defunded because when customers stop buying they lose money. Public monopolies are much harder to defeat because they just confiscate money in the form of taxes. Almost all products produced by governments are inferior. This long-winded interview is just loaded with Leftist scare tactics. MSFT is not capable of preventing you from viewing your own creations unless you are stupid enough to let them. Don't let the government take care of you--do it yourself. You'll be much better off in the long run.
Re:The Old Agenda (Score:2, Insightful)
Who's counting? I'm not saying the government doesn't suck at doing many things, but if some FSF rhetoric is recycled left-wing crap, this is mindless right-wing crap.
Do you prefer your army to be public or private? Macchiavelli suggested that mercenary (non-government) armies are less reliable than citizen militias, and most citizens of democratic countries seem to agree.
When asked to choose between Democrat-flavored private health care and Republican-flavored private health care in a New York Times survey, most respondents picked *neither* and opted for Canadian-style public health care.
So national security and healthcare *products* seem to be better when provided by government. Are you so sure that software is different?
Re:The Old Agenda (Score:2)
Well, I wish all hospitals were private ones, that I could pay for a private insurance that would require me to pay and not fill forms.
But you can. You can pay for private heathcare in France, and you can get insured. If you didn't organise it before now, that's hardly anyone else's fault...
Re: (Score:1)
Re:The Old Agenda (Score:2)
how on earth can a government releasing a "free gpl'ed software" be a monopoly in that area?
Because the existance of such software tends to drive out low-cost proprietary alternatives leaving us with high-end proprietary and GPL'd "distributions". The compiler market is a good example of a place where "the middle" is stagnating because of this.
Read the GPL --- you have the right to do what you want to do with the source, as long as you don't take away others' rights to do what they want to do with the new source.
In other words, you can only propogate the GPL, and if the government throws its hefty weight into a particular market, it would create a monopoly by driving out proprietary competitors. The damage would be proportional to the quality of the product. If the product were really poor, it would produce little damage. If it breaks into the realm of "good but lacking some features" It will destroy the low end of the market. If it becomes the best-in-class it will destroy the entire market. Then, the government is free to sit on its collective ass and let what was once best-in-class slowly erode. The proprietary versions won't come back because the threat of increased government funding and restoration is ever-present.
Where exactly in there do you see the government who may have written the sourc-code, exerting a monopolistic control over you?
I think I've made it pretty clear. Although there wouldn't be an explicit government monopoly, there would be a defacto monopoly. The proprietary software industry would be effectively destroyed, which RMS freely admits is the purpose of the GPL. However, most customers want the choice. If people were properly educated and the issue were put to a vote, most would not want this to happen. Unfortunately, most people are not properly educated due to the Left's prior victories in education.
Re:The Old Agenda (Score:2)
Re:The Old Agenda (Score:2)
No, he's talking about government funded/developed software. Or even mere governemt use of open source software would help drive its spread and developement.
Not that I can see any way the government could have a monopoly if it's GPL or similar.
-
Probably an MS shareholder... (Score:3, Insightful)
This gentleman refers to them by their stock ticker symbol, MSFT. The "use Open Source" solution is a threat to the great Ponzi scheme. Personally, I have worked in developing countries and can say sure, we give them a World Bank loan for a hundred copies of XP, but where are they going to money for their licence renewals/update fees?
Government led OS initiatives do not mean a Government monopoly. The Govt is a useful first-mover and because of open-source, anyone can compete for the provision of support services, even local companies in developing countries.
Re:The Old Agenda (Score:2)
Most people, and probably you and I as well are, in fact, that stupid. Or at least that's how it appears at the moment.
No agenda (Score:2)
Re:The Old Agenda (Score:2)
My standard answer to the "MSFT can't do XXX" argument is "Who is going to stop them?"
Don't let the government take care of you--do it yourself. You'll be much better off in the long run.
I have to agree with you here, because the government can F up just about anything. But as long as the government doesn't control open source, I think everything will be OK. (and I don't think they can control it)
Re:The Old Agenda (Score:2)
My standard answer to the "MSFT can't do XXX" argument is "Who is going to stop them?"
Apple, Sun, Palm (if they can survive), Any other corporation that can please people for whom control really matters, and last but not least--the Free Software and Open Source movements.
I actually like the fact that they exist as independant players in the market. What I object to is them being enshrined as part of the government, because when government gives something away for free there is potential for serious inequity. The public schools are the best example of this. Poor kids can only use public schools. Rich people may choose private. Vouchers are a good solution, but the Left fights it tooth and nail. Now, imagine if everybody can run free government Linux systems but if you want the features missing from that you have to pay $1500 for Windows or MacOS. Would that really be good?
Re:Government produced software (Score:2)
If government-produced software is GPL'd, then I, as a citizen, am being denied the right to use the government work in a way I see fit. The GPL is *not* public domain. Allowing MSFT to repackage PD material does no harm to anybody, because the PD material is still there. At this point, I have to hit you with one of my classic zingers:
A Free Software wacko is somebody who believes that intellectual property can't be stolen--except when a proprietary software company uses something from the Public Domain.
The Free Software wackos (like Rush Limbaugh's environmentalist wackos) don't care about Freedom, Liberty, Technical merit, or any other system of values. They simply choose to identify with value systems when it suits their purpose. Sooner or later, they can be caught in a glaring inconsistancy. With the environmentalist wackos it's preferring to let forests burn rather than allow logging companies to thin them. With Free Software wackos it's extolling technical merit in one breath, and then arguing that freedom is more important in the next breath, and then arguing that some people have to give up their freedom in the next breath. It's also saying "IP" can't be stolen and then turning around and objecting when *their* IP is stolen.
So, what values do these sibling wacko movements really hold dear? Political power and self importance. That's it. That's all. Not everybody mind you, there are many people in both these movements who are not aware of it. True believers. Every once in a while they wake up and have a "conversion". I'm not aware of anybody doing this from the Free Software movement, but give it time. It's a bit younger than the environmentalist movement, and hasn't become as political... yet.
US Government Nationalizes Microsoft (Score:3, Interesting)
There is of course the small chance that MS will become the ascendant (espicially with a tad of infiltration in congress, etc.), and the US will become the United States of Microsoft.
When more taxes get spent on IT infrastructure than anything else, they'll be the de facto government anyway.
So, there's a choice: Software Dictatorship or Software Democracy. Run by an individual from taxation, or run by the people by community sponsorship.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with making money out of software, but it's not a good idea to have a government start enshrining the interests of commercial organisations in law at the expense of peoples constitutional rights.
what a surprise... (Score:2)
Hey, KDE is very good and all, and yes, there are some real serious issues about proprietary document formats. But anytime somebody starts into this sort of extremist scare-mongering, even if I basically agree with them, I just tune it out. Most people who use such exaggeration aren't capable of thinking through the issue clearly. It's become far too common these days to make some trivial cause into something of earth-shattering importance. Spare me.
Re:what a surprise... (Score:2)
Hmm. Guess you missed this story. [slashdot.org] Sure, the guy signed an invention disclosure agreement, but what if MS put a similar clause in the EULA? "I agree, that by using this software, that I forfeit any rights to any invention created all or in part by any of the software contained herein, and the intellectual property rights to those inventions shall be the sole property of Microsoft."
Think it won't happen? Who is going to stop them?
Re:what a surprise... (Score:2)
Duh - THERE IS NO COMPETITION! That is the point. Do people read the EULA? No, not the majority of them.
I have a question... (Score:2)
Looking through the interview, I noticed that Andreas actually said "Microsoft" once.
Whenever he discussed them, it was always
When did "Microsoft" become one of the Seven Dirty Words???
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2, Insightful)
No, read the interview. They have people like YOU to blame as well:
Yours is the most common [place horrible here] that I see on all developer lists. "If you don't solve my problem, I'll use the competing product." Like that's a meaningful threat coming from someone who doesn't pay or contribute...Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
None of these projects were started to get people to stop using the others, no matter how hard it seems the developers are working. Developers are trying to make a better product because the developers want to use them. It's nice that other people can use them and it feels good to get complimented. Some developers may even feel a bit of a debt since they've used so much of other peoples work free work. When it comes to choosing between the carrot and the stick to see your wish fulfilled, choose the carrot because the stick is meaningless. Or do it yourself.
So no, the primary motivation of Open Source developers is generally NOT to stop others from using the competition. Commercial vendors work that way, but not volunteers.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Well instead of discussing the usability problems of KDE and the huge installation issues"
What huge installation issues? I've always just followed the direction for my distro and not have any problems. I seem to recall looking at how many packages I had to download to upgrade Gnome not long ago and thinking how happy I was that KDE required like 1/5 as many packages. Every reviewer out their that I have seen has said that one of the few things that makes the transition from Windows to Linux a bit easier is the user friendliness of KDE.
"They have only themselves to blame for there lack of success."
Again what is the basis for this statement? The fact that KDE is the most widely used Linux gui that pretty much every distro has standardized on it? Sounds like sour grapes to me.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:1, Troll)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:1)
Huh? No, KDE has RPM's for each distro. Eg, SuSE has a set of RPM's that you download and install. I've never had a problem with this.
OTOH, IMHO it would be really nice if KDE had something like Redcarpet.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:1)
Let me guess ... you're running Redhat? No offense, I've just found Redhat and KDE to be mutually exclusive.
Actually, you point out one major problem with RPM's. Hence why I'm looking at non-RPM distros.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
This is a common misconception - The problem does not lie inherantly with RPM, rather you just need a wrapper around it. You'd have the same problems if you tried to use debs directly (rather than using apt instead).
If you use, urpmi, apt-rpm, up2date or any of the other systems out there, rpms aren't any different from any other distros out there.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
They do, however, host packages that distros compile and package. Check the documenation and build information in your package - it didn't come from KDE, even if it was hosted on ftp.kde.org - it was from the distro itself.
--
Evan
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
Ximian is a company. Gnome and KDE are not. You've decided to suck Ximian's proverbial teet. Hopefully they're never change anything and make you pay for it.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:1)
I've upgraded KDE on Mandrake a few times over the last few years and each time it's been as easy as a single download/install.
After the KDE2->KDE3 upgrade, both versions remained on the system and are both fully functional.
I'm currently running v3.02 but i see that 3.03 is out. Just to prove my point, here goes...
url=ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/packages/desk tops/kde/stable/3.0.3/Mandrake/8.2/
wget -c $url\*rpm
(fetching, fetching, fetching)
rpm -Fvh *rpm
(installing,installing,installing)
It's done in about 15 minutes over a cable modem.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
hmm... 'emerge kde'
the only issue there was the issue of New Yorker I was reading while it was compiling :)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a pity, really. Few people here realize that MS's products demonstrate evolved wonderfully evolved usability. Yeah yeah, I know about the stability complaints and all. I'm not talking about productivity, I'm talking about usability. There's lots of things that both Windows and Office do right.
I'll give you an example of what I mean: If you take Internet Explorer, highlight a section of a web page, then paste it into Front Page, all of the HTML remains in tact. So if you're copying and pasting formatted text, you're not losing the formatting in the process. That's a good example of usability because it goes a little farther to give the user what they probably want.
Now, let me be clear about something: I did not say that MS made the right choice there. I'm not saying anything other than Windows/Office demonstrate that usability has been considered. (Note: Do not confuse the word term "considered" with "better than KDE", "best", "perfect", "good", etc...") After using KDE for a bit, it felt clunky... like I had to fight with it. As a matter of fact, I had trouble copying and pasting from a web page. I've heard a few people complain about that. I don't know if it's a problem anymore, nor do I care. It is only an example, please don't take it as KDE bashing. It could use a little more design work.
However, it is possible to be really obnoxious with usability, and MS has demonstrated that a number of times. That copy/paste example I used with IE/FP has serious drawbacks to it. They didn't think it all the way through. I copied/pasted some HTML I found on a website once into the HTML of the page I was working on. (as opposed to pasting it into the WYSIWYG interface...) Unfortunately, it wasn't smart enough to realize that I just wanted the plain-text translation of it, so it pasted the HTML that made the code look all pretty in the page, not the HTML itself I wanted to bring over. I had to paste it into Notepad, then re-copy it. It's 'usability' seriously got in my way. Unfortunately, that happens all too often because I wasnt using FrontPage the way MS assumed I would.
Here lies the problem with MS's forms of usability: They work great, only if you're doing exactly what MS thought you might want to do. This forces you to understand exactly how MS products are working internally, and that is not acceptable. I would love to see KDE take a few cues from MS on usability, but I do NOT want it to take too many of them. You can reach a point where you take a hit on productivity, MS has reached that point a number of times.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:1)
Haven't looked in a while, but I'm pretty sure that "paste special -> plain text" does the same thing.
I guess the one "usability" thing I'd like out of the whole kde/gnome/X/mozilla/etc mess is _one_ global, consistant, working clip board.
Where do you want to go toady? (Score:1)
Re:Where do you want to go toady? (Score:4, Interesting)
Heh the last time I made a 'KDE is broken, look to MS for help' comment I got modded into oblivion, followed by lotsa heated flames. (Although none of them were actual responses to the criticisms I made...)
I thought I'd soften it this time around by showing the flaw of too much usability. I'm glad I did that because I hadn't thought about that copy/paste deal in quite a while. Now I understand why I got modded down originally. I was seeing the plusses of MS's usability choices, everybody else was seeing the minuses. In other words, I didn't present it too well originally. I had just assumed that Linux Zealousy had reigned. It didn't occur to me that I sounded like I was trolling.
Live and learn, eh?
correction (Score:1)
the point is this: it is very easy to create unmaintainable code that covers a few basic cases (ala m$) and forget about the rest. it works, sure, but is unstable. in most *nix systems, the mentality is quite the opposite, and despite lots of market pressure, it still hasn't died. sure, some users don't care about ALL cases, and just those select few, but the thing is that eventually, the generic case that covers them all WILL work correctly, and then death to m$ is unavoidable.
MS has fixed this annoyance... (Score:1)
Hover over it, and it gives you quick access to change the formatting, such as:
- keep source formatting
- match destination formatting
- keep text only
- apply style or formatting
Match destination formatting would have changed the pasted item's text to look like the current style at the insertion point.
It's a smart (and dare I say, innovative) way of solving the problem.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:1)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:1)
If you thought that KDE was clunky... check out 3.0 and up. It's beautiful.
The console tools are superior to the Microsoft command line, but I would expect them to be. I've never had KDE or Gnome crash on me, yet Explorer has crashed on me through every iteration.
I'm not a big fan of cruft. You probably read that article. Linux cruft doesn't occur much more than a bunch of stuff in the home directory. I don't need to say more on that issue.
Games for Microsoft... Well, most of the important ones are getting ported to Linux, or they work well under various versions of wine.
Installation-wise, Using Red-Hat's update utility & installer is just as easy as using Windows-update. In fact, it's better. You get a myriad of choices of free software to install. Then, you've got Gentoo. That has to be the easiest distribution to upgrade and install things. The wait for compiles is nothing, especially if you have other boxes to work on.
Many of the Microsoft arguments no longer hold any water. There is very little that Microsoft has to offer that Linux doesn't, if not in a superior way. It's time to look back into Linux, it isn't what it was just a couple of years ago.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:1)
I was pleasantly suprised by this:
http://news.gnome.org/gnome-news/102990574
Quote: " We have drawn upon the success or failure of design aspects from many environments including GNOME itself, KDE, Mac OS, Java, and Windows, as well as our own observations. We are indebted to those environments and their respective style guides, as well as the countless people who have allowed us to observe them, or served as subjects in usability tests."
So some people are actually trying to meaningfully address these sorts of issues.
The actual HIG is here:
http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hi
They would also _humbly_ appreciate it if KDE developers would take a look at the HIG and hopefully give feedback/ comments. The idea seems to be to make it a shared document across both projects which would be very positive.
Cheers
Stor
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
Edit -> Paste Special -> Unformated Text
Or do you want the application to GUESS what you have in mind when you paste something? They provide a sane default and you have the freedom to override it. You just need to know you can Paste Special.
Even more, it's a blessing Notepad and Word behave differently, according to each capabilities and needs. If you are using notepad you probably don't care about the formating and if you are using Word or excel, you do care.
I think your point is right in that MS very much limits the users in many way, but the example was just a terrible one. A better example would be the "Find..." command, that really lacks power, the way extensions work (ie: they don't really guess what a file is for, as in file [binary]), etc.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
This is exactly why I hate Microsoft software and many other GUI-based systems. But let's not debate GUI vs. CLI, right now.
This complaint about the limitations of Frontpage is related to why systems inspired by UNIX have gained so much popularity lately. Look at the spectrum of available systems from OpenBSD and Slackware through Solaris and AIX and all the way to Mac OS X. This really seems very odd at first (Mac and Solaris in the same boat?!?), but it isn't odd at all after thinking about what UNIX really is.
All these systems share a high-level architecture of a kernel, CLI system utilities, and a GUI layer. Any of these components is modular and can be swapped out if different characteristics are desired (hence the BSD, Linux, and commercial kernels and toolsets and the many many graphical environments available). It turns out that this architecture is so flexible that OpenBSD and Mac OS X can correctly be called UNIX but still appeal to an immensely broad audience.
I know that many people have arguments against particular aspects of UNIX, but I don't know of a computing system in all of history that has achieved this breadth of implementation while maintaining significant interoperability. This is really quite an accomplishment.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:1)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
Even if in this particular case it makes
the most sense (takes the least time,
will be used easily by all those that need
to use it, etc)?
Bletch.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
only themselves to blame for there[sic] lack of success
Hello, what are you smoking? KDE is widely regarded has having better usability than GNOME and it is by leaps and bounds the most widely used Linux GUI according to nearly every survey that has been done, magazines, developers, distributors, etc.
GNOME is great, but there's no point in trying to paint KDE like a broken, unpopular product because it just makes you look clueless.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:1)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:1)
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
If KDE beats Windows I would have switched a long time ago. I try it every now and then and it has been pretty useless and too ugly in my opinion.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
emerge --update kde
Same with gnome:
emerge --update gnome
I can do glibc, too.
Perhaps your package management system needs work?
I just upgraded to KDE 3.0.3 a few days ago with that one command. Sure, it took a while, but so does gnome (installing 2.0.1 as I write this).
I use KDE for one reason, and one reason alone. The "show desktop" button and shortcut. I know it seems wierd, but its the Feature that is important to me. KDE has it, and afaik Gnome doesn't.
Of course, I keep going back to Gnome sometimes, because its faster and smaller. Though if I'm really pressed, its Icewm all the way.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
Okay, I usually use manual. But the point is, that every modern distro afaik has a quick and easy online update of the sntire system. Gentoo, debian, SuSE, etc. Simple, easy and it lets you focus on your work, rather than worrying about software issues.
--
Evan
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
download RPMS
rpm -Uvh *.rpm
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2, Interesting)
As far as KDE beating Windows, I think it has a lot more useful features/apps "out of the box" than plain vanilla Windows and it looks much better. If you haven't tried KDE 3.0 with the Liquid engine, then I can see your point, but the latest KDE with Liquid goes a good step beyond Windows. Even Windows XP (and that's saying something since Windows XP is a HUGE improvment over their past products. Too bad MS decided to go with a dain bramaged licensing scheme or I might have bought it.
The other complaint that some people seem to have about apps is unfounded as well. (I'm assuming that's what you meant by "useless".) There are plenty of KDE applications. The apps that come with KDE are much nicer than anything Windows throws in and go beyond anything Windows has ever had. If you don't like the built in apps with KDE, you can still run tons of other gui based apps from Gnome to very basic, but useful X apps. I can't think of more than a handful of apps that I miss from the Windows platform that don't have an equivalent or better under Gnome or KDE. The only place that is weak on both sides (although KDE 3 made some nice steps forward) is pro-audio software. Even there KDE has Windows beat hands down though. Does MS bundle a software based synth (with the ability to create custom sounds) and MIDI sequencer with Windows XP? I think not... KDE 3 does. Hopefully Gnome will take a hint there too. Computers are meant to do a lot more than just "work". They are primarily a creative tool in every aspect.
KDE also has a much nicer version of the Windows Task Manager. It's much more extensive and customizable. You can define whether stats are reported in graph, LED readout, pie chart, histogram or numeric format. You can also add counters for different system resources that you wish to track. It's an improvment on both the Windows Task Manager and Performance Monitor. And it's MUCH more "user friendly" than any Windows administration app if you like that sort of thing.
But... I still like to travel light and have a decent looking environment, so Gnome all the way for me.
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
What do you do? Compile from source and install everything in
Re:avoiding the subject? (Score:2)
Re:Now it is official: *BSD is dying (Score:1)
What a wierd submission though.
Greg
Re:A. Pour is an idiot... (Score:1)
Just be sure to remember to save it to one of the lossy non-secret formats before your word processor locks you out.
Re:A. Pour is an idiot... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Pour is right... (Score:1)
Re:The desktop is dead (Score:2)
Yeah, he said it because he doesn't work on Linux-desktops as much as before.
Re:Dude! Sad attitude. (Score:3, Insightful)
GUI manager developers seem to get even more religious.I am not particularly interested in a merger between GNOME and KDE but I do want their developers trying to use the best of the opposition to improve their products. Remember, one of the intentions of the open source movement is promote knowledge sharing not monopolies of the way of doing something.