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OSNews Talks With the Konqueror Team
JigSaw writes: "OSNews features an exclusive interview with the Konqueror team, KDE's integrated filemanager, image/document viewer and web browser. Dirk Mueller, Waldo Bastian, Carsten Pfeiffer and Simon Hausmann are answering questions regarding the future of Konqueror, its portability and the integration with KDE3 and QT3. And speaking about KDE3, OSNews is reporting what's new in the new version: KDE 3 will be based on QT 3.0 and will also feature educational and other apps (like Kompare and KWinTV) as part of the default installation, support for extremely large files, new versions for KNode and KMail, email templates in KMail, advanced Web Shortcuts, S/MIME support, plugins for the KMenu, a graphical Regular Expression app (KRegExpEditor) and much more. A (very early) alpha version is already available."
I use Konqueror every day, but there are just a few things I feel are missing. The articles didn't mention these, though.
1. I cannot seem to find any way to stop animated GIFs. Is there some buried command for this, or am I SOL?
2. It would be nice if I could put my favorite links on the menu bar, like with Navigator.
3. The bookmarks menu demands that I hold down the mouse button while swishing through my bookmark folders. If I accidentally let go, I end up with the wrong site, or all too commonly, get the "edit bookmarks" page.
4. There is noooo rule four.
5. Konqueror still croaks on various web sites. I don't know if it is the complexity, or maybe something to do with managing the color palettes. (My xterms are fixed - graphics upgrades are impossible...)
6. They did mention the loading time, but I'll still mention that it is slow. Sure, maybe my P150 was not up to snuff, but an AMD 800 with 256 MB of DDR?
Some things I like about Konqueror:
1. Rendering quality and speed are better than Navigator, in my opinion.
2. The conditional cookie and javascript (by web site) feature is awesome.
3. It's free, and has a long life ahead of it (thanks, guys!)
A dingo ate my sig...
One Word: Arrogance.
Thats the problem with the KDE developers. Since day one they closed they're ears and eyes to reasonable answers. The fact they started with a proprietory/not free toolkit underscores the prevelant 'we dont give a shit about you' attitude the KDE project has.
Qt was always open.
The only difference between the QPL and the GPL is that QPL has some section meant to prevent the forking of Qt into a free project that will compete with Trolltech.
Its a very reasonable license in its opensource terms.
They could never accept a browser like Mozilla for one reason: They believe they are better.
Mozilla has matured into a stable and fast web browser with an unbelievable amount of power. But the KDE project just blows it off and keeps on believing their browser is a superior product.
Again, as someone else said, Konqueror is *NOT* a browser. It is a framework, encapsulating the KParts.
The actual browser is KHTML.
KHTML was usable before Mozilla was, so the question should be reversed, and truly, I believe that Mozilla people *should join the development of Konqueror and KHTML*, which *IS* a better product.
Sorry to break this to you , but Konquerer is a cheap imitation of the real thing.
Immitation or not, Konqueror is *usable as* a fast usable web browser, with powerful and quick viewing of many file formats from anywhere (of which HTML is simply one of), including the local file system, FTP, Samba, etc.
(am I biased ? I dont know. I use KDE for my desktop.. but use mozilla/evolution daily.)
When was the last time you *seriously* tried using Konqueror instead?
Konq being a browser simply results from its use of the KPart for HTML viewing.
Just as it views an image or a PDF file, or a system directory, using the proper viewing KPart.
Its ability to get web pages via the HTTP protocol is a simple result of the HTTP IO slave which is part of the powerful KDE architecture. Konqueror merely encapsulates KDE technologies, which are so powerful, that a subset of them form a web browser.
What seems to be needed are some regular benchmarks, spanning a whole class of machines (not just your top of the line PIII, or the bottom of the line p-90). There are a lot of different tests that are needed. Some people (like me) don't really care about the load time, since we load it up once and that's it. How about speeds for rendering, accuraccy, conformance to standards, comparison of features, ...
A few weeks back, one such comparison was posted, but was heavily critized by this audence. Perhaps the Mozilla team and KDE can decide on what constitutes a good test, run it will their current releases, and then the users can decide for themselves what is important. This will also let the developers know where their effort is needed.
Why do we need another web browser?
When the Konqueror team began there wasn't a half way decent working browser for Linux.
Do you have some problem with Mozilla that we should know about?
It's bloated and still incomplete. Just the browser please. The Konqueror team managed to provide just that, plus a good file manager, and the project began and completed (for KDE2 anyway) while Mozilla is still being developed. Thank God we have yet-another-IRC-client though, ChatZilla. Anyway.
(Did anyone ask the ChatZilla team why we needed another IRC client, or the news and mail team why we needed yet another Email and News client?)
Did you ever wonder why Mozilla is continually falling behind schedule? Because people like the Konqueror team decide to go off on their own instead of working for the good of the community. Mozilla was there first, and it deserves the support of the community.
Why? No project is entitled to anyone's support! The Konqueror team had a different vision and coded it. Do you also ask why the Gnome team went off and started yet-another desktop environment? I'm glad they did. KDE has picked up some cool stuff that originated in the Gnome project. I'm sure the reverse applies.
If the free software community wants to make a good impression on the business world (and it may already be too late), we must, at all costs, avoid splitting into tiny, useless factions working on useless, duplicate projects.
I just want quality Open software. If it comes from fifty teams developing the same thing in parallel instead of two teams, what's the problem?
Here's an idea: before starting your new project, check to see if someone is already working on a similar project. Had the Konqueror team observed this little suggestion, the whole Konqueror fiasco could have been avoided.
What fiasco? You act as if Konqueror is some kind of great failure because their efforts weren't with the Mozilla team. That's utter nonsense. I can sit down in front of my KDE desktop and use a functional and fast Web browser. Hardly a failure or a waste of resources.
If a group of developers want to start a project that duplicates the efforts of another, nothing you or I say here will change that. If the two projects have differing visions, but are forced to work together, I doubt the final result will be something anyone would be proud of.
I don't think you should be attacking the Konqueror developers because they went and wrote a decent browser from the ground up instead of helping your own pet project reach the big one-oh.
Why do we need another web browser?
What's the difference between this and asking why we need another Operating System when Linus first introduced Linux instead of working on the HURD or why developers should work on mySQL instead of PostgreSQL? If you can answer these questions then you've answered your own question.
Do you have some problem with Mozilla that we should know about?
Mozilla and the Konquerer are slightly similar projects with different goals. Mozilla aims to be a cross platform all-in-one web development/usage platform while Konqueror is part of the KDE component architecture.
Most people with even a passing experience in software know that all software is a combination of various trade-offs and compromises whether performance vs. correctness, space (use lots of mem) vs. time (use lots of CPU) or even ease of use vs. complete control of the system. Thinking that there can be one true product is the kind of fallacy and naivettè that brought us the Man-Month and "OO is a silver bullet".
Did you ever wonder why Mozilla is continually falling behind schedule? Because people like the Konqueror team decide to go off on their own instead of working for the good of the community. Mozilla was there first, and it deserves the support of the community.
This opinion is so wrong headed and biased I'm almost sure that you are trolling. Blaming Konqueror developers for the fact that Mozilla is behind schedule is like blaming dotcomms and software companies for stealing programmers that could have worked at NASA worked on getting people on Mars by now.
If the free software community wants to make a good impression on the business world (and it may already be too late), we must, at all costs, avoid splitting into tiny, useless factions working on useless, duplicate projects.
Seriously, who gives a fuck what the Business World thinks about Free Software? Dotcomm IPOs and get-rich-quick schemes will come and go but Free Software will still be around as long as there are coders with an itch to scratch. Free Software was here before NASDAQ became a topic of breakfast table conversation and it will be here the analysts and MBAs find a new fad to exploit the masses with be it BioTech or Genetic Engineering.
For some reason you are under the impression that Free Software needs big business to survive which is so far from the truth it's almost laughable.
maybe because of trademarks?
i dont know, but i think ms might go nuts if it gets even more obvious than KWord or KOffice.
we have the KIllustrator case fresh in our minds.
On the other hand, I think it would be great if they could put a good interface on it! I could see it being useful for someone who can never remember the specifics of regex syntax depending on what language he's using(like me)and great for people who would otherwise be forced to comb through documents word-by-word to fix - or tag - certain classes of mistakes (like my girlfriend, who will likely be a professional editor in a few years).
Is anyone out there in slashdotland better acquainted with kregexpeditor?
You're a suburbanite.
After reading that Mozilla/Konqueror-thread...
What is it with some people? KDE is an excellent desktop that progresses FAST (same thing can't be said for the "other" desktop). They have also created excellent multipurpose application that is the Konqueror. And still some people despise them!
Why? Folks at KDE have done a HUGE service for the Linux-community! They do it for free, they create GPL'ed Open-Source software that surpasses many comercial counterparts. And still there are people who complain! Even RMS got involved with his "You must beg for forgiveness" Bullshit!
You know what? RMS and other complainers can suck it. Suck it long, and suck it hard!
If you hate KDE, then use the Officially-sanctioned-by-FSF-but-progressing-slowl y-Gnome with it's 20 million dollar POS filemanager. After doing that, just SHUT UP! Make KDE a non-issue in your life.
As for me... I'll be using KDE, thank you very much. And no, I'm not going to beg for forgiveness from anyone! Not even from RMS!
Phew! Feels good to get that off my chest. Just use the desktop that you like the best, and let others use what they like
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
Does the KDE interface play flash files? Anybody? Anybody care?
||| I still can't believe Parkay's not butter.