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Trolltech is exploitive of Linux. They're providing QT to the KDE community so as to promote the sales of their development platform. While many people don't see this as a problem, I personally do.

The "KDE Myths" page, should be more upfront and less marketing speak, the truth is that many people simply don't care about restrictions to closed software development. The original Qt licenses were absurd, today's is at least as legal as the GPL. Unlike Redhat, Sun, Netscape, or other FOSS-positive companies, they're not selling support and giving back to the community. They're using the GPL to create a problem which the LGPL was designed to solve, but TT charges a per-developer license fee to circumvent.

http://kdemyths.urbanlizard.com/myth/65/

"... The LGPL is a solution to a problem that Qt doesn't have. The whole point of the LGPL is to make the development of proprietary programs possible: but Qt already allows everyone to develop proprietary programs, by providing an alternative commercial license [for a fee] to those willing to do so. ..."

Given that projects like OO and Mozilla depend on dual-licenses, is it conceivable that OO might ever actually use the native KDE toolkit?

This was never true, and is even less so now: http://kdemyths.urbanlizard.com/myth/60

Canopy invested in Trolltech before Caldera turned into SCO.

Concerning KDE: Wrong on several counts.

Concerning KDE: Wrong on several counts.

Concerning KDE: Wrong on several counts.

Concerning KDE: Wrong on several counts.

Don't just go through a top display and decide KDE is hogging memory. If you use a properly configured KDE desktop you'll notice that despite the big numbers, everything seems to be running smooth. That's because the reality is that KDE is sharing memory very effectively, and people who just look at top without investigating further have been going off half-cocked about KDE for years.

Get the real story on this here and here, because KDE's code reuse is awesome, not bloated.

The problem is that Qt is proprietary and this upsets some people. Also, we should have some sort of Open Source widget toolkit that we can fall back to when trolltech goes by the wayside, though they will probably just release Qt as Open Source

Qt was released under the GPL a long while ago. You can license it for non-GPL applications, but then you have to pay TrollTech money. The "Qt is not free" myth is covered in the KDE Myths section: here

Is there some license issue that's driving the KDE issue?

KDE is built on QT, a C++ framework released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), a free software license that has strong copyleft (forced sharing) protections meant to ensure that derivative code stays free.

Some corporations are raising hell against QT and KDE because the corporations want to make proprietary, non-free, closed-source software on the QT framework without compensating the makers of QT. Of course, those same corporations don't have to pay anything if their applications are free and open source. In this way, QT is actually encouraging companies to give back to the community, something beneficial for users as a whole.

Debunking KDE Myths does a good job disproving the FUD against KDE and QT.

I agree as far as MySQL is concerned, but as for Qt, it's worth noting that Trolltech has entered a contract with KDE e.V. (KDE's legal representation, a German non-profit organisation) that guarantees that all future Qt versions will continue to be available as free software. Read up on it here.

Nice troll there.

So bring in a standard COM system, and standardise the shell interfaces and you will have kde and gnome applications that can integrate with the shell without having to have separate progams.

I thought CORBA at one time was supposed to be embraced by *nix as The One True Component Model, but when the rubber met the road back in the day, the adoption effort shattered for a variety of reasons. Now however, I see that both Gnome and KDE support CORBA (KDE support explained, Gnome support explained). All the preceding is moot of course, if you and I cannot agree that CORBA is a component model, or if you think CORBA is not a valid consideration today.

K stands for Kool as in Kool Desktop Env.

Umm, they dropped the "Kool" part about 8 years ago.

Trolltech is not owned by the Canopy Group.

"According to http://www.trolltech.com/newsroom/investors.html the Canopy Group only has 5.7% shares of Trolltech while 64.7% are in posession of Trolltech employees with an additional 5% controlled by the Trolltech founders. One can hardly say that the Canopy Group owns or controls Trolltech"

KDE falling behind? KDE abusing GNOME? Are you on crack?
And about lies, there are more about KDE even requiring an own site to disprove them.

Dopn't forget trolltech is a canopy company. Yarro sits on trolltech's BOD. Canopy and canopy companies have already sued msft, and ca. Scox, another canopy company is now suing IBM. All over IP violations. This is Canopy's real business.

Once you start mixing code, you open yourself up to lawsuits. Especially if you are mixing code with the lawuit-happy canopy. Canopy's entire existance is based on these kinds of lawsuits.

Arrgh, why does this awful legend still exist? Canopy owns a very, very small stake in Trolltech, while the employees hold more than 2/3 (IIRC) of the stock.
OTOH, Sun, a major sponsor of Gnome development, has seemingly filled SCO's war chest with a good amount of money (if what is said on groklaw is true), but nobody whines about that.
And, there's still this if Trolltech might be bought out.

Now, here's a question. Let's say Microsoft is doomed, and Sun, by having enourmous success with some Gnome based desktop offering, replaces them in market dominance. The dangers of this scenario combined with the fact the Gnome is LGPL'd are left as an excercise to the reader.

See, both scenarious are very unlikely, but I see no reason why I should trust Sun more than Trolltech.

Despite the fact that ximian put so much spin on Gnome (KDE-Bashing, false accusations against qt, Suse will drop KDE nonsens ecc.) I would suggest that *today* Linux desktop means KDE.

Unfortunately Gnome lacks behind. RedHat committed themselves to Gnome what turned out to be a misktake. Today they are not intrested in the desktop market anymore. RedHat never supported KDE sufficiently.

Remember Ximians said ealier this year Mono 1.0 will be there in the end of this year. Vapor-marketing.

I believe we shall better focus on a stable common desktop. We shall stop with unfair bashing of other DE. Some use gnome, others KDE, Gnustep ecc.
Nothing wrong with it. But the way Freedesktop is used in the battle for Gnome promotion shows a lack of understanding what it was for: to bridge the gap, to improve interoperability.

KDE's opinion always was that
Freedesktop shall be a common platform.

On the flip side, GTK has many more language bindings, so programmers can be much more flexible in how they want to code (C, C++, Java, C#, Python, Perl, etc.).

Au contraire

Trolltech is an independent company, not controlled by Canopy. Canopy group owns 5.7% of TrollTech's shares, while Trolltech's employees and founders own 69.7%. This myth of Canopy controlling Trolltech is entirely untrue (but remarkably persistent, thanks to anti-KDE trolls). Read kdemyths.urbanlizard.com and be enlightened.

I don't think I'll be giving them any money soon.

Actually...

Not a bad idea.

Of course, you'll need to start by boycotting KDE/QT...

It would be interesting to try to get together a full list of all the companies benefiting from SCO, though.

1) Vote Canopy chief Yarro off the board. Easy to do; "employees" own majority of stock.
2) Disclose any hidden agreements they may have with Canopy, like any warrants that Canopy or Canopy employees or Canopy stock holders have with Trolltech.
3) State publicly that they think there is no infringement on copyright or IP by Linux.
4) Publish a list of their Board of Directors.
5) Publish a list of any shared employees they may have with Canopy. It's not unusual for Venture Caps to place some of their guys in key positions in a firm they fund.

These actions will cost nothing monetarilly; though they'll have to go somewhere else for more capital, if they need it. They could probably go public, though if they did need more money. I just don't know. It's a tightly held company so their finances aren't exactly a matter of public record.

I understand that Trolltech may be reluctant to do this. It's hard to bite the hand that feeds you. But remaining silent may be more damaging to Trolltech. I wish they do it. Frankly, stuff like
this (kde myths) is disengenuous. Sure, they own "only" 5.7 percent. But does Canopy own warrants (the right to buy stock at a low fixed price later)? Does trolltech owe Canopy a bunch of money. Trolltech could disclose this.

Canopy is a very sneaky outfit. They do weird
stuff. Trolltech would do themseleves a favor and the Linux folks a favor by coming clean on these issues.

Let me emphasize : QT is a great product. They'd be promoting it if they stood up to the bullies that are attacking Linux.

"KDE" stands for "Kool Desktop Environment".

Where did you get that from?

HTH

The K in KDE does not stand for anything. It is the character that comes before L in the Latin alphabet, which stands for Linux. It was chosen because KDE runs on many types of UNIX (and perfectly well on FreeBSD).

It is true, or at least reasonably true, to say that the K doesn't stand for anything now. Claiming that it was chosen for any reason other than because KDE was originally called the Kool Desktop Environment is not true.

Seriously, they started with a bad name. They very sensibly ditched it. No need to go on about it but no reason to pretend it never happened either.

Is it any worse than iBook, iMac, iPhoto, iTunes, etc?

I like the K. It instantly lets me know what platform the app is for.

By the way, KDE does not stand for Kool desktop environment.

They won't be there if you actually pay attention. There's no reason to attempt to blacklist TrollTech because you think they're owned by Canopy.

Dipshit.

A 5.7% stake hardly makes TT a "Canopy puppet."

Hint: Look at Canopy's website. Note that TT is listed under "Portfolio Companies." Understand that this in no way means that they are controlled by Canopy group. Hell, Microsoft owned about as much of Apple after their $150 million investment. Did that make Apple a Microsoft puppet?

Canopy Group *does not* own TrolTech.

Read...

Me

They have but 5.7% stake in the company. Canopy does technically control SCO, on the other hand. So, who's the real enemy here? Canopy, or SCO?

Scox isn't selling anything anyway. All scox earnings are fud money from msft and sunw. You need to boycott scox's controlling company: Canopy Group. I urge you to email these companies and explain that you will not do any business with them. I have included the letter that I sent to these companies as a sample. ...
info@trolltech.com ...


Whoa...what's Trolltech (the makers of Qt) doing there? I can't believe that Trolltech would want to be associated with SCO in any way.

Hmmm, just found this:
Myth: Trolltech is owned by Canopy Group which is the owner of SCO.

Bah. Not sure how that space got in there...

KDE MYTHS

"According to http://www.trolltech.com/newsroom/investors.html the Canopy Group only has 5.7% shares of Trolltech while 64.7% are in posession of Trolltech employees with an additional 5% controlled by the Trolltech founders. One can hardly say that the Canopy Group owns or controls Trolltech." (Text from here)

Wow, that's a lot of conjecture and speculation you're spouting, yet you haven't given any solid proof of any of your arguments. Most of it is objective (X is better than... Y is faster than...).

There are also quite a few flaws in your diatribe. (i.e. Ximian's Red Carpet is NOT part of "official" Gnome)

Anyway, for the real beef on KDE myths and facts, go here.

...and remember, it's only a desktop environment. Remember you can always opt for something else, because the FOSS has given us choice.

QT is released under the GPL, but also the more liberal QPL.

Read this for more information.

A quote:

"All of the core KDE libraries are licensed under the LGPL in accordance with the KDE licensing policy. Other KDE libraries may be licensed under the more permissive BSD or X11 licenses."

you may find that reading
this and
this helps you understand kde development issues a bit better.

you may find that reading
this and
this helps you understand kde development issues a bit better.

Go try and read one of the articles linked to in the story: http://kdemyths.urbanlizard.com/viewMyth.php?mythI D=38.