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Freedesktop.org on KDE/Gnome, New Goals

fdo writes "OSNews has a long and juicy interview with the freedesktop.org developers regarding many aspects of their project, including interoperability between GNOME/KDE, the new X Server, the new Hardware Abstraction Layer library, accessibility, package management and in general, all things desktop."

2 of 340 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Lets shorten things a little.. by MoneyT · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Answer: When you both shut up and start using OS X

    --
    T Money
    World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
  2. Re:We're not just talking Windows by Minna+Kirai · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Why do you think their products have taken market share so fast?

    Because Microsoft bundled crucial functions in Windows 3.1 which Microsoft Office could use, but competitor's applications (Lotus 123 and Wordperfect) could not.

    This created the illusion that Microsoft Office was smaller, and gave it a notable speed boost. It was a similar trick to the current scheme of starting IE in the background at bootup, but even more evil.

    After 4 years of that, Microsoft stopped including secret bonus functionality in Windows, but the damage had been done: all competing "Office" products were dead, and the DOC/XLS/PPT format lock-in was in place to prevent any new competition from arising.

    Additionally, Microsoft forbade non-Microsoft application developers from UI innovation. If you wanted to put "Windows Compatible" on the box, you had to obey Microsoft's User-Interface guidelines. Only Microsoft itself was immune to those rules, so they could try out new-looking widgets (like the "Chiseled Steel" theme introduced with Excel) which others couldn't.