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XPDE, for one.

Mind, it's got the uncanny valley problem after a fashion. It looks, sometimes a lot, like WinXP. But it's decidedly different in subtle (and not so subtle) ways. In balance, I'd think the result is more unsettling rather than less. You're better off with an environment that uses familiar motifs, but doesn't just ape another model.

There are a large number of desktops for Linux, and most of them are highly themable. KDE and GNOME are probably the leaders, and both are highly themeable. I found XFCE4 is really popular among kids (6-18), and prefer WindowMaker myself: clean, configurable, light, stable, and out of my face.

Do not forget Kopete if you're a KDE user, it is nicely integrated with the system. You can compile it without KDE dependences (QT is needed, though) if you use another DE / WM. Not available for win32 withouth doing nasty things with cygwin.

valgrind and associated add-ons, are absolutely amazing and quite useful for C and C++ programming.

Nobody should be caught dead writing C++ programming without at least knowing about Boost's libraries. Not really analysis tools but useful nevertheless.

I too have had some problems with Konqueror choking, but it's almost execlusively been due to badly formed html.

I noticed that the latest KDE release (3.3.2) has literally dozens of fixes to the khtml code, including at least one that mentions gmail specifically. I haven't tried it out myself yet, but have a look at the changelog. The improvements made with each release of KDE are quite astonishing. Previous show-stopper bugs in Konq have been alleviated by point releases in the past, at least for me.

There is simply hands down a hundred things the Linux kernel can do that the NT kernel can't in it's current state. Software raid(as i mentioned in another post)

What features does Linux's software RAID offer that Windows 2000's software RAID doesn't?

seperate cli/gui

"Separate" in what sense?

removing internet explorer

What does the kernel (in the sense of "code running in whatever corresponds to 'kernel mode' on the CPU") have to do with that? To a large degree, the "integration" of IE in Windows means that much of IE is a wrapper around libraries that provide HTML rendering, HTTP/FTP/etc. backends, and the like, and that those are also available to other applications. (That's something that can be found with at least one browser in at least one desktop environment on Linux and other UN*Xes as well.)

Oops..here is the link

• R, including several add-on packages (such as tseries, RODBC, coda, mcmcpack, gtkdevice, rgtk, rquantlib, qtl, dbi, rmysql), out-of-the box support for the powerful ESS modes for XEmacs as well as the Ggobi visualisation program;
• A complete teTeX, TeX, and LaTeX setup for scientific publishing, along with TeXmacs and LyX for wysiwyg editing;
• Perl and Python with loads of add-ons, plus ruby, tcl, Lua, and Scientific and Numeric Python;
• The Emacs and Vim editors, as well as Gnumeric, kate, Koffice, jed, joe, nedit and zile;
• Octave, with add-on packages octave-forge, octave-sp, octave-epstk, and matwrap;
• Computer-algebra systems Maxima, Pari/GP, GAP, GiNaC and YaCaS;
• the QuantLib quantitative finance library including its Python interface;
• GSL, the Gnu Scientific Library (GSL) including example binaries;
• The GNU compiler suite comprising gcc, g77, g++ compilers;
• the OpenDX, Plotmtv, and Mayavi data visualisation systems;
• it includes apcalc,aribas,autoclass,

I wonder how feasible it would be for other word processors, such as AbiWord, to use this format natively...

I wonder how feasible it would be for other word processors, such as AbiWord, to use this format natively. Or, at least appear to use the format natively.

The OpenOffice format is being standardised by OASIS and the KOffice developers have decided to use it as the native format in future.

I, and I suspect most slashdotters, use a multi-protocol client, in my case Kopete. And I do ask people to use Jabber, as it's the only way file transfers work for me, but few of them listen.

It mostly looks like KDE 3.3 but with Plastik as default style and window decoration.

From what I understand, it wasn't a major graphical overhaul. You can find an official feature plan here. It looks like KHTML, the Kicker, and the PIM suite (plus Kopete) got the big additions.

Repeat after me: E-mail clients on Linux are NOT a problem.

* Mutt (console based and unlike PINE its Free and better)
* Evolution (for GNOME)
* KMail (for KDE).
* Sylpheed (for GTK+).
* GNUMail (for GNUstep)
* More at Freshmeat.net > Communications :: Email :: Email Clients (MUA)

Perhaps redundant links here and there, but this is a good overal start. I excluded Thunderbird and Mozilla because those are heavily known already. Also, some of the above clients might run on other Unices, other OSes -- including MacOSX and Windows.

Repeat after me: E-mail clients on Linux are NOT a problem.

* Mutt (console based and unlike PINE its Free and better)
* Evolution (for GNOME)
* KMail (for KDE).
* Sylpheed (for GTK+).
* GNUMail (for GNUstep)
* More at Freshmeat.net > Communications :: Email :: Email Clients (MUA)

Perhaps redundant links here and there, but this is a good overal start. I excluded Thunderbird and Mozilla because those are heavily known already. Also, some of the above clients might run on other Unices, other OSes -- including MacOSX and Windows.

rtfm

Kiosk mode was added somewhere in KDE 3x , support for it has been improving, although the best way to make a REAL kiosk is to mount /home as readonly.

Look again.

For stuff like this, a wonderful debugging tool is valgrind -- it takes about 5 minutes to download and install (GPL, Linux/x86), and will find all kinds of memory-usage bugs in your program that you never even knew existed.

Don't bet on it That's only one example, but there are many others. Just do some searching around on the KDE lists (hint: search for WebCore, not Safari.)

• Client side IMAP filtering. Till Adam, Don Sanders
• Type-specific configuration dialogs for folders Aaron J. Seigo
• Asynchronization of expensive filter actions. Till Adam, Don Sanders
• Improved responsiveness for delete/copy/move of multiple messages. Don Sanders
• Imap folders as targets for filter move actions. Till Adam, Don Sanders
• Multipart/related mail support. Don Sanders
• Full text index. Don Sanders

KMail

• Asynchronous encryption Ingo Kloecker , Marc Mutz
• Namespace support for IMAP Carsten Burghardt
• Using komposer Zack Rusin
• Full text indexing Don Sanders
• Leave on server for x days for POP Don Sanders
• Asynchronous filtering Don Sanders
• Multi/part related mails Don Sanders
• Get rid of mimelib (a.k.a. KMime). Marc Mutz
• Redesign filters to use Sieve internally. Allow editing of Sieve scripts on IMAP servers to get rid of the bug reports a la "KMail doesn't support IMAP folders for filtering" Marc Mutz
• Make the visible headers configurable, allow for "show all and hide specified headers" as well as "show specified headers". Already available as a patch. Klas Kalass
• Rewrite the composer window to drop KEdit and support richtext engines. (old ktexteditor patch available here). See also the new code in libkdepim/komposer Zack Rusin
• Improved configuration of header and attachment views Aaron J. Seigo
• Asynchronization of crypto operations. Ingo Kloecker
• Automatic HTML to plaintext conversion when replying to HTML mails. Don Sanders
• Make use of KWallet. Ingo Kloecker

Kontact

• Add alternative tab-based viewmode. Daniel Molkentin
• SnapIn/SnapOut actions for changing between an app running stand-alone or embedded in Kontact at run-time.
• Make Kontact (KOrganizer/KMail) work with Exchange 2000. Daniel Molkentin

A more complete feature plan can be found here

Though it's not always up-to-date (some devs prefer pushing their code first, and *then* update the page).

HTH,
Kig.

Russian space officials unveiled a full-scale model of the Kliper spaceship

The KDE team announced they will sue the Russian government over the use of the "klipper" name, which, as everybody knows, is the name of the KDE clipboard. An outraged free software community is currently demonstrating and marching on Capitol Hill and the Kremlin to demand that justice be meeted out of the space agency. In a gesture of goodwill, the Russian space agency has decided to rename their spacecraft "firefoks". News at 11...

KDE does it in a similar way, too, and has for a long time:

Release Schedules / Development Plans

Download OOo_1.1.3-kde_LinuxIntel_install.tar.gz

OpenOffice.org 1.1.3 with KDE integration is now available for download. It also features a lot of other improvements over the stock OOo (including the GNOME integration bits; but do not be afraid, it does not link against Gtk+ in KDE, and vice versa), because it is built from the ooo-build codebase.

Download: Installation set for Linux i386 (~80MB).

Features:

• The current stable version of OpenOffice.org with many ooo-build patches and improvements
• KDE Native Widget Framework
• KDE (Crystal) icons
• KDE file dialog (Open, Save As)
• KDE splash screen by Dariusz Arciszewski
• Gtk+ NWF and file dialog when executed in Gnome

Known problems:

• You need libstartup-notification installed, otherwise it fails to run with "no suitable windowing system found, exiting."
• The KDE file dialog seems to hang OOo on Fedora Core 3 when it has Preview on (F11 in the dialog), but most probably it is a Fedora bug (treats unrecognized file types as sound).
• The new systems that build their packages from ooo-build (e.g. SUSE 9.2) do not need this package; check whether you have the KDE file dialog in your OOo before installing.

The project's homepage http://kde.openoffice.org is a bit outdated at the moment, but the work still continues. The main concern is OOo 2.0 now, see the ooo-build ChangeLog. Help of an artist is needed for OOo 2.0: It contains a lot of new icons, the default ones are not acceptable for modern KDE desktop. Please drop me a mail if you are able (and willing) to draw some of them. :-)

Fitt's law is not the "most basic ... of UI design". Fitt's law has become unreasonably important because UI designers stopped giving users visual cues about keyboard shortcuts. Even my Dad uses the backspace key rather than the back button! Its so much easier. Mouse gestures will also dramatically change the effect of Fitt's law.

But what about the input issue?

Yeah, what about the input issue? I haven't had any problems inputting Japanese in GNU/Linux.

Also, I don't quite get your " I hear chinese language support in linux is coming along" comment. Linux is a kernel (no, I'm not trying to bring out a nomenclature fight) --- it does not need to know anything about natural languages. Or do you mean something like these?

The Turkish Technology Channel had a weekly show on Linux; I did an interview there a while back when I was in Turkey. It seems to be now defunt, or at least I assume as much from this page which I can't actually read...

Better yet, you can also install this patch to alleviate the problem alltogether... It may require one of these other patches though (there are even more options, I had to pick three). But they aren't very hard to install :)

go with something that has a simple GUI interface. All that fancy commandline stuff scares people.

The 90's called. They want their joke back.

Gnome and KDE are two of the many GUIs available and they have been included in most distributions for years.

You can still go ahead and pick your own. Most of us do...

A lot of my family members and friends use Microsoft Windows and over the years I must have spent months fixing their systems myself or telling them on the phone what to do. I am tired as hell of playing the pro bono Microsoft support tech and I no longer offer any kind of support for anything Microsoft related to anyone. Period. My immediate family members now all have a dual boot system with their favorite version of Microsoft Windows and FreeBSD 4 with the following free software:

• KDE
• OpenOffice
• Sylpheed-Claws
• Opera
• FireFox

Keep in mind that all of the software above also has versions that run on Windows, so there is no need to use one application under Windows and another under FreeBSD. Great integration, no confusion, easier transition.

The raw Windows partition is backed up in an image file created with dd, so if there's any Windows related trouble they can't fix on their own they just boot the special FreeBSD floppy which employs a simple shell script (using dialog) to let them backup or restore the primary partition image. If you need something more complex like Norton Ghost then I suggest you use the absolutely free and cool replacement called PartImage.

If they have any trouble while using FreeBSD they just click a special icon named "Call for help" which starts a shell script that sends a number of specially crafted packets to my computer's static IP, where such packets are logged in a special file which I see on my desktop (tail -f), so if I'm available I can log into their system via ssh within minutes of any sign of trouble and they do not even have to bother to email me, let alone use the phone to call me. It works like a charm.

I feel sorry for the people who buy Microsoft Windows and then call me to help them out when things go wrong, but I just can't afford to waste my life fixing what should not have been broken in the first place. Enough is enough.

Sorry to be nitpicking, but

1. Gnome != Linux
2. Desktop != OS

If JDS is clunky, you could always get KDE on Solaris (http://solaris.kde.org/) instead.

And here is an analagous HOWTO for those of us of the KDE persuasion.

You obviously haven't used Kmail/Kontact. In my opinion it's the best e-mail client solution. Including GMail/Outlook 2003 as competition.

For those of you interested you can also run KDE in os X. I got it kinda working a while back and plan to try again when i have more time. See how well its progressed in the last few months.

Here is a good place to start.

Just like I use rox and sawfish, yet I recommend (and install) KDE to everybody

Never tried it with GNOME but KDE's Kiosk Admin Tool makes supporting large groups of users and setting different policies a snap.

I don't see why this has to be at the kernel level - why not just make programs that use kioslave functions instead of open() (or whatever)?

Because

1. the program you want to use might already have been made, and you don't want to have to convert it, or have somebody convert it, to use KIO (it might not even be a KDE program - neither cat nor grep are, on most systems);
2. your application randomly access the file (I don't see anything immediately obvious in the KDE I/O Architecture document that indicates that you can open a file and seek around in it and read from arbitrary offsets);
3. your application is supposed to work without KDE (and even if, as, and when a KDE version of that particular application is done, it'll still have non-KDE versions, e.g. for Windows);

etc..

Not only that, but some protocols are very slow or don't work with directories well, and wouldn't be sutable to be treated like local folders.

Which ones?

Putting this in the kernel is asking for a lot more root (and not just user) exploits.

OK, then how about just putting FUSE or lufs in the kernel and doing the bulk of the work in user space? (That's how OS X's ftpfs and webdavfs work - they have "stub" file systems in the kernel that talk to user-mode daemons; heck, the "stub" file system for ftpfs is called "the NFS client", and the user-mode daemon is a user-mode NFS server on a port other than 2049.)

And finally, everything that uses traditional system calls would have to be modified considerably or there will no doubt be many expolits found for them.

And the reason why adding a new file system type makes that true is?

The entire KDE desktop environment is decked out like this, and as George puts it, 'Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X have a long way to go to catch up with the robust, transparent functionality that KDE has provided since version 2.0.

Take a look at Kolab and Kontact. They're free.

With an educational discount, Windows 2003 server costs my department $142 (sure, it's more in a commercial environment), I can install it, set it up, run updates on it once in a while, run the baseline security analyzer on it, and forget about it. Give me a linux that does all this in an easy to use manner, and I'll switch. Sure, I could use apt and the others, but it just takes too much time, and you have to worry about various dependencies and what not.

At $142, that's $142 more you have to spend compared to FOSS solutions. What you've described, proved either that your educational institution is filthy rich and caters only for the rich and snobs, or you're just plain lazy.

Most educational institutions, whether state-run or even privately operated (esp. private with visions of education rather than for profit), are almost always tight budget! This is especially true in third world countries! That is why various bodies such as SchoolForge (and their Case Studies), K12OS, Moodle, OpenSourceSchools, KDE Edutainment Project and a lot more others are being founded and.. surprise! Thrives!

Personally, I love the K12LTSP Project. A branch out of the K12OS Project, which when deployed properly throughout the campus, can provide access to all students to high-grade apps in a very stable environment. Access from any terminal in any labs, authenticating via NIS, LDAP or whatever you prefer and access your mail accounts, website or whatever. With backend support tools available such as MySQL or PgSQL and PHP/Perl (okay, maybe that's a bit far out, but I've met 12 year olds who can code!)

Software cost? $0

I use KDE and KMail and Kopete, both of which crash daily -- the 3.3.0 release of KDE sucked, but there is no FreeBSD port of 3.3.1 yet.

Neither is a big problem, because they only talk to the trusted servers and KMail uses SSL to check them. But both can be taken over by a properly crafted e-mail or instant message. I just hope, that nobody will figure out, how exactly to do it (rather than just cause it to crash). I compile stuff myself (from port) with my own compiler options, which should make any attack a lot more difficult...

Once in a while Mozilla crashes too, BTW, but Konqueror has been pretty good lately.

I use KDE and KMail and Kopete, both of which crash daily -- the 3.3.0 release of KDE sucked, but there is no FreeBSD port of 3.3.1 yet.

Neither is a big problem, because they only talk to the trusted servers and KMail uses SSL to check them. But both can be taken over by a properly crafted e-mail or instant message. I just hope, that nobody will figure out, how exactly to do it (rather than just cause it to crash). I compile stuff myself (from port) with my own compiler options, which should make any attack a lot more difficult...

Once in a while Mozilla crashes too, BTW, but Konqueror has been pretty good lately.

Lets see here is a brief list of some of the main software that I saw on that page. You can find information on those peaces of software at these sites.

Enlightenment Project: http://enlightenment.org/pages/main.html
Evolution: http://www.gnome.org/projects/evolution/
Gnome 2.8:http://www.gnome.org/start/2.8/
KDE 3.3:http://www.kde.org/
Thunderbird 0.8:http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/re leases/
XPDE 5.1:http://www.xpde.com/
YaST:http://www.suse.de/en/private/products/suse_l inux/prof/yast.html

The only people who don't think that usability is worth measuring are the people you wouldn't want working on UI to begin with.

NMM, the network-integrated multimedia middleware, you can see a video of it in action from the talk at akademy.

wiki.kde.org has those (Tips and Tricks, Secret Config Settings, ...)

However, on Linux, OpenOffice looks like *crap*. The interface doesn't match any other apps on my system. GTK apps look tight and clean, QT apps too. But OpenOffice doesn't even look "native" like it does on Windows.

Getting fairly old, but it's probably been updated since - the OOo KDE Native Widget Framework might be what you're looking for. It's slightly slower than OpenOffice's own toolkit stuff, but draws all the widgets with the currently selected KDE theme.