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Interview With Andreas Pour of KDE
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"
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.
.
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.
Just because somebody gets a patent doesn't mean the patent will stand in court. It is not uncommon for the patent office to grant a patent that is overturned it court: the patent office has too little funding to check every patent thoroughly. They do a quick scan for prior art and a general estimation as to whether the "invention" is "useful," and then grant the patent. This is probably not the best way to work it, but it's the way it works. Eventually we'll see a court case about this and the judge will declare the licence requirement invalid for whatever reason, then the case will be appealed. Hopefully the case will get to the supreme court so we can have some intelligent people make policy about this. Fortunately, we still have the Supreme Court, which fortunately still values the Constitution.
Isn't the main point of having these Windows-workalike desktops so that random Joe User will choose to use one of them rather than the competing project (Windows)? It seems to me that a lot of people are working awful hard to win people who don't pay or contribute over from a competing product.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
When all else fails, run.
Yeah, yeah, here's some flame bait for you:
.txt or .rtf file can't give you what you want, .htm/l/ or .pdf can.
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
Yes, I have both installed AND upgraded KDE without upgrading my distro or re-installing. Several times on different machine. All successful and very easy to do. You can always use RPMs if doing things manually isn't your bag.
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.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
"The amount of @sskissing required to get +5 for a seemingly pro-Microsoft comment is mind-boggling."
:)
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?
"Derp de derp."
The second the US gives up trying to use the courts to keep MS in check, it'll simply nationalize MS. It'll certainly do this the moment it perceives a conflict of interest. It may neuter it (like IBM), but it will probably nationalize it given widespread reliance on it.
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.