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More on the KDE League

Posted by michael on from the pushing-the-needle-too-far dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Timothy Butler published a nice clean-up on the misinformations that were published by dep on Linux and Main. Most of what that has been alleged by Linux and Main turns out to be wrong. Especially, the KDE League has no obligation to disclose financial information. On dot.kde.org, Mathias Kalle Dallheimer, KDE e.V. president, explains that the KDE e.V would authorize the KDE League to disclose its books to the KDE e.V members. However, the KDE e.V is not the only member of the KDE League. Other members would have to approve this."

10 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. Rather troubling... by Sheetrock · · Score: 5, Insightful
    This isn't the first time I've seen a segment of the Open Source/Free Software community turn on itself. What is it that causes these kinds of conflicts and mistrust? Are inflated egos allowed to remain because of their coding ability where in the business world they would have been let go? Is it because people invest themselves more personally than if they were working for money? Or is it just a situation where muckrakers can thrive because everything is done openly?

    I worry that this sort of thing feeds into the 'crackpot' image many in business seem to have of the community...

    --

    Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
    -- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.




    1. Re:Rather troubling... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And then it could be that the League has been inactive (well at least not smart enough to post a press release about its or KDE's activities) since Novemeber 2000. Seems like a good reason to be worried especially when websites are going down and paper work is getting messed up. Though the stuff about needing to see the books is just bunk.

    2. Re:Rather troubling... by Scarblac · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What is it that causes these kinds of conflicts and mistrust?

      People. Things like this happen now and then absolutely everywhere. It seems that's how we work.

      --
      I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
    3. Re:Rather troubling... by subgeek · · Score: 5, Insightful

      me too!!!!

      sites like linux and main should not fall into the trap all the mainstream media has of sensationalizing everything. news about linux should be informative and well-researched, not the extension of someone's agenda. but that is not the case. people in oss/fs have very strong opinions, and bending the truth is ok as you have any kind of excuse to promote what you like and trash what you do not like. that's why people get tired of the community. or the crackpot image you mention.

      if we would be well informed, quit pointing fingers, and just stick together, open sourcerors would have a better reputation outside the community. let's promote what we love, but maintain some tolerance. if people think you hate them and their ideas, chances are pretty slim they'll ever listen to you. if you present your self as knowledgeable yet understanding, they just might think you have something to say that is worth listening to.

      --
      you probably shouldn't have read this.
    4. Re:Rather troubling... by Nailer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This isn't the first time I've seen a segment of the Open Source/Free Software community turn on itself. What is it that causes these kinds of conflicts and mistrust? Are inflated egos allowed to remain because of their coding ability where in the business world they would have been let go?

      DEP doesn't work on KDE, and I think that it would be reasonable to expect him to be paid fopr his Linux and Main work. What causes these kinds of attacks? Ego, yes - Dennis E Powell's was burnt because many KDE contributors disagreed with aspects of Israel's involvement in the middle east, and then took offence to his article in Linux and Main on April 7 labelling them antisemites for their views.

    5. Re:Rather troubling... by spruce · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You don't know how right you are.

      For the sake of this reply I'm forced to confess that I'm a Windows developer/user. I started off on Microsoft, got a job using micorsoft, and frankly I've never had a need to use anything else. That doesn't mean I'm not open to other solutions and ideas, and in fact since I started reading Slashdot I've learned a thing or three.

      It was slow going at first. When I first got here, I would get infuriated by the zealots who would bash to hell anything related to MS. Imagine that all your knowledge is in a particular subject and you read post after post on how stupid/horrible that is and how you're a sheep etc. Of course you're going to be defensive, and certainly not receptive.

      That was exactly what happened to me. I would attack Linux whenever I could, be it in conversation with friends, or with clients. My facts weren't usually backed up by much more than the fud I was angry about, but it was the party line of the opposing view.

      After a while I simply got tired of the anger, and I take a lot of what I read with a grain of salt. But I am still able to appreciate other reasonable, politely spoken opinions. While I can understand most arguments, I certainly won't be preached to. The Open Source community could learn a lot from your tolerance based point of view. Well, it's not just Open Source, everbody could use a little tolerance, Mac heads & Windows zealots too.

  2. politicians by oliverthered · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ever watched politicians, most of them behave in the same way. Maybe it's because the OOS 'movement' is also a political movement?

    --
    thank God the internet isn't a human right.
  3. OFB is a KDE mouthpiece? by mosfet++ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What a bunch of crap, just because someone posts an article that was actually researched OFB is a "KDE mouthpiece". Point out one part of his article that is factually incorrect. Can't do it, can you?

    How come you totally neglect the fact that not one thing in DEP's articles was true, including comments he attributed to the Delaware Secretary of State's office that they deny ever making, anyone in their office making, and are factually incorrect. Someone refutes a mostly imaginary FUD article and you say they are a "KDE mouthpiece". No one talks about making up quotes and facts, but still troll KDE when they did absolutely nothing wrong.

    How about the fact that the Gnome foundation hasn't released their financials yet? You'd think you'd at least give the KDE League the same amount of time they get considering they started later, but no :P You want it, *now*, even though you have no right to anything at all.

    This whole story is crap, and proved to be lies.

  4. Re:Am not even close to satisfied... by fault0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    > DEP did nothing but ask questions and make available information as it was presented and mostly what I saw was character attacks rather than questions answered.

    Uh, the KDE league is a private corporation that has nothing to do with the KDE Project (i.e, KDE e.V) It doesn't need to disclose anything to you. Are you going to go and ask Microsoft, Dell, RedHat, and Intel for all of their private financial records?

    > Perhaps my clients and I will be better served by GNOME and leave KDE to the thieves.

    =troll

    >How humiliating for KDE and open source!

    =FUD

  5. What Happened by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The story is basically very simple. The KDE League was set up to promote KDE, and it got $120,000 to spend doing it. This seemed like a good idea and so everyone was hopeful good things would happen. But two years have passed and little or no promotion has been done, and so most people are curious as to what went wrong. When asked, the leaders say nothing, and so a lot of people wonder if they have something to hide. I myself am a KDE user and I wish they just tell us what happened. Maybe they don't have to legally but it would settle the issue and then we could go on to other, more rewarding things.

    By the way, here is a list of the original KDE League members:
    Caldera
    Compaq
    Corel
    Fujitsu-Siemens
    Hewlett-Packard
    IBM
    KDE.com
    Klarälvdalens Datakonsult
    theKompany.com
    Mandrakesoft
    SuSE

    Maybe people could email them to find out what happened. I did that with IBM three days ago and the fellow said he would look into it, but I have not gotten a reply back yet.