Novell Desktop To Standardize On Qt [updated]

Balinares writes "NewsForge reports that Novell has settled for Qt as its Linux desktop development environment, casting more light on their strategy to unify KDE and GNOME. This ought to be interesting. The prospect of using Mono to code against Qt makes me drool in advance. Maybe programming will suck no longer!" Update: 03/30 00:01 GMT by T : Sounds like that story doesn't quite hold water; Nat Friedman writes in this Slashdot comment that "We have not decided that we are standardizing on Qt for the desktop. ... We support development with a variety of toolkits, and our internal development is done using the right tool for the right problem. This includes Qt, Gtk, VCL, XUL and others, depending on the application."

Comments

Re:Redhat got it right

[minus_273]

wow rhythmbox looks like a really bad clone of iTunes. Wonder why they didnt include rendezevous(sp?)

Redhat got it wrong

[BiggsTheCat]

I find that Gnome's apps are far more primitive than KDE's, and behind the times. Let's take a look at your examples:

The Gimp: Well, it uses Gtk+, but it isn't officially a part of the Gnome platform, is it? It doesn't use too many other Gnome libraries. I don't really count it as a Gnome app. And, er, why was it in development for three frickin' years to get to 2.0?

Gaim: Yes, Gaim is very good, but you should see the new Kopete messenger in KDE 3.2. Very slick, supports MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, and IRC, with a plugin interface, XSLT to generate the chat windows, etc. etc. It's at least comparable to Gaim.

Rhythmbox: Hmm, looks like a pretty nice music player. But have you seen the new JuK in KDE 3.2? Very serviceable, and very solid MP3 player. It even looks similar to Rhythmbox. On the other hand, it lacks net Radio... maybe in the next version?

Galeon: Umm... Galeon is just a wrapper around Mozilla, the 10-thousand pound gorilla of a web browser. I prefer Konqueror and the KHTML widget. KHTML, though not perfect at CSS, is way faster, and is far easier to embed that Mozilla. It now supports mouse gestures with KHotKeys, and conforms properly to your UI theme.

And look, I seriously have to point out that Konqueror beats Nautilus. The KIOSlave system means drag-and-drop "just works" across many protocols (ftp, sftp, fish, audiocd ripping, http, samba (smb protocol)). I have yet to see Nautilus do anything like this, except with CD Burning (but KDE has K3b, so I don't mind).

KDE is an extremely capable desktop with many more mature applications than Gnome. Plus, most companies prefer dealing with standard C++ for GUI apps, as opposed to learning some weird custom OO model like glib, even if they have to pay a bit.

Re:Redhat got it wrong

[pNutz]

The Gimp: Well, it uses Gtk+, but it isn't officially a part of the Gnome platform, is it? It doesn't use too many other Gnome libraries. I don't really count it as a Gnome app. And, er, why was it in development for three frickin' years to get to 2.0?

Well, yes it uses Gtk. It's not the GNOME tool kit. And that's a great VERSION NUMBER TOO LOW, MUST BE BAD PROGRAM quip at the end there.

Gaim: Yes, Gaim is very good, but you should see the new Kopete messenger in KDE 3.2. Very slick, supports MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, and IRC, with a plugin interface, XSLT to generate the chat windows, etc. etc. It's at least comparable to Gaim.

So Gaim is better than Kopete. I'm not sure how this is an example of how GNOME apps are more primitive.

Rhythmbox: Hmm, looks like a pretty nice music player. But have you seen the new JuK in KDE 3.2? Very serviceable, and very solid MP3 player. It even looks similar to Rhythmbox. On the other hand, it lacks net Radio... maybe in the next version?

So Rhythmbox is better than Juk... yes, yes, I can think I can see your point now...

Galeon: Umm... Galeon is just a wrapper around Mozilla, the 10-thousand pound gorilla of a web browser. I prefer Konqueror and the KHTML widget. KHTML, though not perfect at CSS, is way faster, and is far easier to embed that Mozilla. It now supports mouse gestures with KHotKeys, and conforms properly to your UI theme.

So you don't like Galeon because it's based off of Mozilla, which you don't like. The facts, the irrefutable facts, I drown in them.

And look, I seriously have to point out that Konqueror beats Nautilus. The KIOSlave system means drag-and-drop "just works" across many protocols (ftp, sftp, fish, audiocd ripping, http, samba (smb protocol)). I have yet to see Nautilus do anything like this, except with CD Burning (but KDE has K3b, so I don't mind).

Nautilus can drag and drop across many protocols, but I won't argue that its better than KIOSlave, which is nice and functional.
Congradulations, you have pointed that KDE has better DnD than GNOME. Therefore, GNOME and gtk are silly things.

Oh Please!!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a KDE user and I love it, but this is just the same story regurgitated about five times. Stop it until we get some official confirmation please.

In all honesty, I don't think it's going to make a blind bit of difference what they pick, although for what they have been describing in the past few weeks (embedded system etc.) it seems like a sensible choice.

Re:Novell...

[Anonymous Coward]

how in the FUCK is a first post redundant?

Why Nat needs to grow up....

[gloth]

Warning: Flamebait!

If you boil Nat's comments down to the core, it really is just No, No, they don't like Qt more than Gtk, really! and when he somewhere deep inside realizes that they actually do, he pushes out a squeaky But, but, but... ok, alright, Gtk sucks, but so does Qt, damn it!.

In the real world, egos matter, but not as much as money, and it is quite obvious that for commercial applications, Qt is viable and poplular, at least for some. For some even more so than Gtk. Novell will put focus on either Qt or Gtk; everything else is juste a waste. Nat is certainly in a position to know what, and his comments make it obvious that Novell will not push Gtk into the limelight.

So, Nat, take a deep breath, get acquainted to the idea that Qt is not yet another incarnation of evil and stop whining!