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KDE Contributor Conference 2003 "Kastle" Report
Last weekend the KDE Contributor Conference 2003 in Nove Hrady ("Kastle") ended. There's a conference report, all slides and papers have been published, and there are lots of photos including the obligatory group photo (use mouse pointer and look at the status bar to see the names!). Also part of kastle were the KOffice Developers' Meeting and the presentation of Qt 4.
Welcome to the KDE Kontributor Konference!
...
KKK? That's not good
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
FP 4 Labor Day!
It has come to my attention that you completely inhale the pastes in crust. Read on for more about this fascinating topic.
The world went into shock a few weeks ago when goatse.info reported the results of a study which concluded that inhaling paste is a very dangerous pastime, one that no one is advised to take up. Eventually, everyone adapted to the new state of affairs and began inhaling other things. Almost everyone, that is. But not you! According to my records, you still inhale paste!
Why?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!
You moron, you idiot, you imbecile, you gay nigger! Arg! You make me so fucking sick! FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU.
DEAR SIR/MADAM:
I AM MR. DARL MCBRIDE CURRENTLY SERVING AS THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE SCO GROUP, FORMERLY KNOWN AS CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, IN LINDON, UTAH, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I KNOW THIS LETTER MIGHT SURPRISE YOUR BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD NO PREVIOUS COMMUNICATIONS OR BUSINESS DEALINGS BEFORE NOW.
MY ASSOCIATES HAVE RECENTLY MADE CLAIM TO COMPUTER SOFTWARES WORTH AN ESTIMATED $1 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS. I AM WRITING TO YOU IN CONFIDENCE BECAUSE WE URGENTLY REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE TO OBTAIN THESE FUNDS. IN THE EARLY 1970S THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION DEVELOPED AT GREAT EXPENSE THE COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE KNOWN AS UNIX. UNFORTUNATELY THE LAWS OF MY COUNTRY PROHIBITED THEM FROM SELLING THESE SOFTWARES AND SO THEIR VALUABLE SOURCE CODES REMAINED PRIVATELY HELD. UNDER A SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT SOME PROGRAMMERS FROM THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY DID ADD MORE CODES TO THIS OPERATING SYSTEM, INCREASING ITS VALUE, BUT NOT IN ANY WAY TO DILUTE OR DISPARAGE OUR FULL AND RIGHTFUL OWNERSHIP OF THESE CODES, DESPITE ANY AGREEMENT BETWEEN AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH AND THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY, WHICH AGREEMENT WE DENY AND DISAVOW. IN THE YEAR 1984 A CHANGE OF REGIME IN MY COUNTRY ALLOWED THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION TO MAKE PROFITS FROM THESE SOFTWARES. IN THE YEAR 1990 OWNERSHIP OF THESE SOFTWARES WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE CORPORATION UNIX SYSTEM LABORATORIES. IN THE YEAR 1993 THIS CORPORATION WAS SOLD TO THE CORPORATION NOVELL. IN THE YEAR 1994 SOME EMPLOYEES OF NOVELL FORMED THE CORPORATION CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, WHICH BEGAN TO DISTRIBUTE AN UPSTART OPERATING SYSTEM KNOWN AS LINUX. IN THE YEAR 1995 NOVELL SOLD THE UNIX SOFTWARE CODES TO SCO. IN THE YEAR 2001 OCCURRED A SEPARATION OF SCO, AND THE SCO BRAND NAME AND UNIX CODES WERE ACQUIRED BY THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, AND IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL WAS RENAMED SCO GROUP, OF WHICH I CURRENTLY SERVE AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
MY ASSOCIATES AND I OF THE SCO GROUP ARE THEREFORE THE FULL AND RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARES KNOWN AS UNIX. OUR ENGINEERS HAVE DISCOVERED THAT NO FEWER THAN SEVENTY (70) LINES OF OUR VALUABLE AND PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODES HAVE APPEARED IN THE UPSTART OPERATING SYSTEM LINUX. AS YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE, THIS GIVES US A CLAIM ON THE MILLIONS OF LINES OF VALUABLE SOFTWARE CODES WHICH COMPRISE THIS LINUX AND WHICH HAS BEEN SOLD AT GREAT PROFIT TO VERY MANY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES. OUR LEGAL EXPERTS HAVE ADVISED US THAT OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THESE CODES IS WORTH AN ESTIMATED ONE (1) BILLION U.S. DOLLARS.
UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE HAVING DIFFICULTY EXTRACTING OUR FUNDS FROM THESE COMPUTER SOFTWARES. TO THIS EFFECT I HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE MANDATE BY MY COLLEAGUES TO CONTACT YOU AND ASK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE. WE ARE PREPARED TO SELL YOU A SHARE IN THIS ENTERPRISE, WHICH WILL SOON BE VERY PROFITABLE, THAT WILL GRANT YOU THE RIGHTS TO USE THESE VALUABLE SOFTWARES IN YOUR BUSINESS ENTERPRISE. UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE NOT ABLE AT THIS TIME TO SET A PRICE ON THESE RIGHTS. THEREFORE IT IS OUR RESPECTFUL SUGGESTION, THAT YOU MAY BE IMMEDIATELY A PARTY TO THIS ENTERPRISE, BEFORE OTHERS ACCEPT THESE LUCRATIVE TERMS, THAT YOU SEND US THE NUMBER OF A BANKING ACCOUNT WHERE WE CAN WITHDRAW FUNDS OF A SUITABLE AMOUNT TO GUARANTEE YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS ENTERPRISE. AS AN ALTERNATIVE YOU MAY SEND US THE NUMBER AND EXPIRATION DATE OF YOUR MAJOR CREDIT CARD, OR YOU MAY SEND TO US A SIGNED CHECK FROM YOUR BANKING ACCOUNT PAYABLE TO "SCO GROUP" AND WITH THE AMOUNT LEFT BLANK FOR US TO CONVENIENTLY SUPPLY.
KINDLY TREAT THIS REQUEST AS VERY IMPORTANT AND STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. I HONESTLY ASSURE YOU THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% LEGAL AND RISK-FREE.
http://saveie6.com/
8:00 am: Session 1: Why can't we get past using the letter K?
-j
and there are lots of photos including the obligatory group photo
Wow, look at all the chicks.
*crickets*
So I suppose becoming an Open Source developer isn't going to get me lots of hot action, huh?
--saint
I didn't think so.
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
I finally realise why Slashdot is so anti-KDE. It's obvious that most KDE devlopers are Europeans.
Well, you can take your gnome and shove it. We don't need another piss poor American desktop.
How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
you just know he's thinging "whoa, there's a girl here. how'd she get in?!?! *stares*"
Please. Seriously. Stop with all the ridiculous K prefixes or I will hammer a bullet into my forehead while leaving a loaded gun nearby just to confuse the authorities.
Everybody complains about it, nobody likes it, and the only people who think it's "cute" are the developers, and we've got enough silly in-joke project names as it is. Can we at least shoot for professional here?
"Sufferin' succotash."
Blockquoth the poster...
But only in Internet Explorer, it would seem. Certainly not in Mozilla Firebird. It beggars belief that people who are trying to convince the world of the virtues of alternative and open systems can't even code cross-browser [d]HTML.
It really is.
I share the planet with this idiot.
As they say on mnftiu.cc, is this really the only Earth I can live on?
Wow.
There are two women in that group photo. Clearly it is a fake designed to psychologically manipulate us into supporting KDE over Gnome.
Damn it, I think it's working.
and there are lots of photos including the obligatory group photo.
It's a babefest!!!!
Oh, err, wait. My mistake.
I read the KOffice Developers' Meeting page and it says that they'll be switching to OpenOffice.org's file format for all major applications. As someone who occasionaly uses both OpenOffice.org and KOffice this is great news, and will also provide an easy way to translate between current KOffice formats and OpenOffice.org. Maybe we have on our hands a new, truly cross-platform file format.
Put identity in the browser.
I mean, GUI development needs more women. You know its very difficult to find a man that has UI and aestetics capabilities (at least a straight one). If we want more friendly to use GUIs, we need women! Pronto!
Call on God, but row away from the rocks.
And the one wearing the skirt is not a girl, or is it...
Call on God, but row away from the rocks.
I keep upto date with KDE from CVS (using Gentoo's excellent KDE CVS ebuilds) and noted, along with the large number of changes, that in the last week or so the default splash screen has been changed to the group photo. :)
It's nice an' all, but could we have it changed back please?
Just like the 2 guys on the left I was also like "whoa, there's a girl here. how'd she get in?!?! *stares*" (mrgreenfur).
Kudos to the KDE Developers too, some good work going on.
In the photo, on the right of the konqi twins, theres a person called Klas Kallass! Looks like the K names got into his head!
Choose this desktop! No this one! No that one! No! NOOOOooooooo!
We should stop these desktop wars and make a desktop that's completely different but universal. I'm talking about an idea I call, "Fart Desktop". The fart desktop would deliver a richer experience to the end user. A new language made up of different types of farts would be used to communicate. Easy to memorize, users from any country could easily master Fart Desktop by sound alone*.
From there, imagine the experiences that await you! No more language barriers when you talk on-line or in on-line games! Users could freely talk after mastering the simple to learn Fart Desktop fart language. Prefer to talk to Fart Desktop the old fashioned way? No problem! You could learn from the built in training section in Fart Desktop how to tune yourself into farting different sounds so you could communicate with Fart Desktop while eating, for example.
* Sorry, those who are blind would have to wait for the hardware for Fart Desktop which will communicate to the end user in a complex language of simulated fart smells.
I think it sounds like a good idea. How about you?
I hereby present the new KDE project: Kalphabet
This is the first alpha release:
K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K
Please note that there still may be some bugs in it!
...KOffice is switching to OASIS, the OOo file format.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Are you sure that wasn't a mingers conference?
Very corporate friendly. And then of course there's TFPC. (-:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
If you look carefully, you will see that the gnome zealot havoc pennington attended! No doubt that he will get his "hig" out and rape all the developers unless they submit to his demands and remove features and force users to use gconf-editor.
First of all, he will strip kwin out and replace it with metakitty, and we all know that metacity sucks big balls compared to sawfish.
He will replace the Superior KDE file dialog with the monstrosity of the gtk one.
He will remove kcontrol and replace it with kconf and kconf-editor.
and finally, we will remove konqueror and replace it with Kaleon, an inferior port of the inferior galeon browser.
Remember. Defend KDE, don't let it get HIGified!
Quickly sed'ed for correctness : http://mksp.zerodeux.net/contributors.html.
Two stupid posts in one! Now go back to your unfunny cave.
True its often over done, but at its root it makes a LOT of sense.
If its prefixed with K, you pretty much can guess its integrated with KDE..
Don't forget, G goes with Gnome.. I don't see people bitching about that, and its just as effective/silly/etc.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Hello group, my name is Klark... As is the kase with many of you, I love komputers and was about to embark on a kareer in the field of information and kommunikation teknology... but my troubles started when I got into KDE development... it wasn't really konspikuous at first when I started to spell everything with a k, sometimes even with a kapital K, but soon my kolleagues began to wonder whether I kouldn't spell... they asked me, "Are you on krack? Kut the krap!"... some even went as far as kalling me kompletely krazy! What kould I do? I must admit, I'm a kolerik person, kwick-tempered as you might say... sometimes I got inkredibly angry, and I kussed and kursed at my ko-workers... People should judge me by the kontent of my karakter instead of just kriticizing my kurious spelling! However, when I was sacked for being unkooperative, I developed an inferiority komplex and finally realized I had to kome to terms with my problem... so here I am, this is my koming-out... I know my kase is a komplex one, but I do hope it is kurable...
"krack"
"kwick"
"kriticizing"
"sacked"
Do you see what I see
A great way to capitalize all the discussions at the Kastle: the devs are starting the 3.2 release cycle now . The integration of PIM stuff in 3.2 will make for a complete, extremely consistent desktop environment (except for KOffice that will need onesome extra time to mature, incorporate the OpenOffice filters, etc.)
Kan we kwit kawlling things by these unkool K knames? It's kounterintuitive :P
KromeDome
KDE has begun to throw out american KDE developers, and its TRUE! Please read and mod up!
While there were indeed 3 girls there, one of them has had a bit too much to drink as you can see
here.
"KDE" stands for "Kool Desktop Environment".
Where did you get that from? I think the K does not stand for anything, just like the X in the X Window System does not (and nobody seems to matter the many X programs starting by X, by the way).
Immediately, I was thinking of "Klo" (toilet) and "Kacke" (look it up yourself) when I saw this....ah the possiblities that good knowledge of the German language can open!
But soon we might have "Krap" as well....
Just wanted to point that out. But I guess these days, mods don't reply to you when they disagree. They just mark you as "Troll" or "Flamebait" and go on to mod up the latest random SCO reference post or "you're new here, aren't you?" post.
I know this is offtopic; I turned off Karma Bonus accordingly.
"Sufferin' succotash."
I agree the more esoteric K-apps is silly.. if they would stick to common words ( + the K ) then things would be better..
Kmail, Koffice, etc are good examples.
Kopete, Konqueror are bad examples..
Then you have things like Aethera.. Geezh.. I will hate to have to explain to clients about that one.. Aside from the question, 'is it KDE compliant?', its just really really poorly named.. ( unless its some german thing that we here in the USA use differently )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Not even a tolken black guy? C'mon!
This is SO typical of OSS development! People only see the few things that's good and overlook ALL the rest that's so dreadful.
I mean, sure there's chicks in the photo. But MAN look at all the ugly geeks!? Shivers.
OTOH, maybe that's a sign that interoperability is coming to the desktop.
(-1: Troll, sheesh what did I SAY??)
from the letter-K dept.
popular with the chicks then?
I count 1?
Canopy Group is the one to worry about. Canopy owns SCO and SCO wouldn't be doing it with out Canopy's approval. The way to get at Canopy is by kicking them in the wallet. Unfortuneatley that means letting Trolltech know what we think about Canopy.
Yay. Boycott KDE and QT. If Trolltech can't pressure Canopy Group to call off the dogs, then we haven't put enough pressure on Trolltech.
Trolltech needs to come clean and explain exactly what their relationship is with Canopy. Particulary, do any Canopy group members sit on their Board of Directors and does canopy have special rights to purchase more shares and a special rate. If so, the picking on Trolltech is completely fair.
It is unfortuneate that some people are scoring calls for Trolltech to come clean as "troll". This needs to be debated, not shouted down.
Website links are only a very small part of PageRank. If you still believe link whoring matters, you're sadly mistaken. Besides, if I were trying to inflate my page rank in such a way, it wouldn't make sense to link a *different* URL, would it?
Furthermore, "again" looks a bit silly given the fact my sites have had decent Google (and MSN Search) ratings for quite a while. We've been top ten for "governor schwarzenegger" for months without a single incoming link to said pages. Why? Because we've had regular updates on the recall elections with a diverse content in a technically organized manner.
Yes, I am aware that the way my I build my websites seems to be the way Googlebot likes them. And that's also what happened: I tuned my content engine to be more strict in what it sent, and Google picked up my efforts to be a responsible webmaster. I didn't trick Googlebot, it just happened to agree with the way I present my content.
I cannot speak for Neil, but I did not post that link, nor would I do so anonymously. You don't seem to know me at all. (especially not since I actually disagreed with Neil's opinion that KDE is full of anti-Americanism on SA)
but you're right in a way. Males and females differ neurologically. The presense of male hormones discourages neurological development in 'subsystems', leaving the higher-function area of the brain to do more processing. This means males are usually not as good as females in certain areas of perceptability, unless they're more neurologically female than normal or have got a psychological makeup that drives them to develop these skills.
:)
Getting more female developers is not going to fix things. The reason why is that most female programmers are autistic. Programming simply will not (can not?) interest a neuroglocailly normal female brain when there are more interesting social-centric persuits out there. Most male programmers are autistic. People with autistic spectrum disorders have got poor perceptability with these neurological skills. That's why GUIs made by the average programmer are, almost without ever an exception, intensely bad - if you've got a neurological setup that makes programming and maths interesting to you, you almost certainly have got neurological deficits in areas of brain function, whereas a neurologically-normal brain would make programming more tedious than watching paint dry.
Anybody who is a good programmer and has got the above-average level of social-comprehension required to make a good GUI is truly extremely rare. I doubt more than a hundred such individuals exist in the entire planet. I make no understatement when I say that.
These are books on GUI design, and professional GUI designers, but that's like reading a book on how to tell peoples' emotions by looking at their face. Nothing can properly make up for the autism-related neurological-deficits programmers possess. No book or PHB sitting next to you can help with your every subtle decision in GUI design. If you even begin to 'need' a book, then you don't have what it takes.
If you want good GUI design, don't have it designed by programmers, full stop.
I've got some of these problems myself, so don't think I am being an ignorant anti-autistic troll
... the KDE Kontributor Konference abbreviation wouldn't go very well. Just ask Krusty how well his Krusty Komedy Klassics went over at the Apollo...