Slashdot Mirror
UserLinux Continues Debate Over GUI
An anonymous reader writes "Following up the earlier Slashdot item on this, LinuxWorld is carrying both sides of the discussion as to whether UserLinux GUI should be GNOME only, as Bruce Perens last week decided "by fiat," or include KDE."
Once upon a time there was a project named KDE, a friendly bunch they were. They used a toolkit named "Qt" because they didn't have the luxury of using anything else. They could either use Motif which everyone agreed was crap or Qt. There was no GPL toolkit like GTK+ back then (it was around.. just not nearly as advanced or stable).
Then comes this arrogant troll, named Miguel. He writes to the town's newspaper (Slashdot.org) about the evils of KDE. He claims that KDE is dependent on Qt and that Qt is EVIL. It is EVIL because it is not GPL. It is EVIL because it can take over the desktop just like MICROSOFT. And we know how EVIL MICROSOFT is, right? REALLY EVIL.
This was the opening statement for the initiation of the GNOME project. Like Linus' famous Linux announcement on Usenet, this was Miguel's famous announcement to the world about GNOME--a flame about KDE.
This gets them over reinvention hurdle #1 (reinventing an already _GPL_ desktop.. which KDE was ALWAYS GPL, but it didn't seem like it because Miguel spewed PR crap that said KDE was anything but GPL). The drones (like you) flocked to GNOME thinking "wow what a _great_ idea!@# free software at last!@#" or perhaps "KDE is teh suck" (notice the misspelled "the") or perhaps "in soviet russia KDE uses YOU." I can't remember what kind of sheepisms existed back then, but you get the idea.
During the next few months, GNOME magically catches up to KDE. How this magic is performed is quite simple. On GNOME hacker mailing list I was witness to some extraordinary feats that would make even the most insane coder wince. A famous GNOME hacker (who still is) said something along the lines of this:
"A GNOME spreedsheet you want Miguel? Don't worry. The way things are looking, I can hack one out in a few days. We will borrow from X, Y, and Z projects since they have most of the functionality we need. It will be a matter of fitting them all together."
Thus, Gnumeric was born. And I am dead serious on this too. This is exactly what they did for _all_ GNOME sub-projects, which is why the code is such an utter mess today and will never stand the test of time.
As for the interface sucking... GNOME has that completely covered. In the time I watched over GNOME, it changed fundamental parts of its interface no less than, I'd say, 5+ times. _Nothing_ adheres to the recommended style-guide which was there from pretty much day one. And _nothing_ still does adhere to it, except perhaps projects which should almost not be considered seperate from GNOME.
Integration of GNOME software is nil. This is what attracted me to GNOME initially. Miguel promised _integrated_ applications. Software that "just works." This has never happened and never will. It was all PR designed to help Miguel build a company around something he still has control over. Thus, Helix Code was born. Which later became Ximian.
In conclusion, GNOME is a failure. GNOME's goal was a desktop for *ix that grandma could use. As someone else recommended.. try Ximian "they have it all worked out." Which is very much the point--to fill Miguel's wallet (reality hurts, boys and girls). GNOME is only a success if you consider success to be pissing all over KDE (which had no knowledge or connection to GNOME, until Miguel made it GNOME vs. KDE), creating a wasteland of code, luring in the Slashdot crowd with PR after PR stunts. It has nothing to do with their "interface" at all. It's strictly politics that got them whatever they have today.
It is the APPS remember? How much time do you spend fiddling with crap in your UI??? I spend my time in applications, not preferences dialogs.