Slashdot Mirror


Novell to Standardize on GNOME

Motor writes "In what must be one of the least unexpected announcements of recent times, Novell says that they are standardizing on one desktop rather than supporting two different codebases. From the article: 'Novell is making one large strategic change. The GNOME interface is going to become the default interface on both the SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server) and Novell Linux Desktop line. KDE libraries will be supplied on both, but the bulk of Novell's interface moving forward will be on GNOME.'"

599 comments

  1. Best KDE-centric distro now? by edfardos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    dang, KDE was a reason to like SuSE too, so what's the best KDE-centric desktop distro now?

    1. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by saskboy · · Score: 1

      "what's the best KDE-centric desktop distro now"

      The only one I know of is Knoppix, but it's a live CD, and not typically installed like SuSE is.

      http://www.knopper.net/

      --
      Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
    2. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Homology · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm sure that KDE will continue to work fine on SuSE, but I wonder if Novell will provide less resources to KDE development as such.

    3. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Lightjumper · · Score: 0

      I was just having this talk with a co worker the other day. To me KDE was better, But both are lacking.

      Wish MACOSX interface came to linux..

    4. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go for Kubuntu:

      http://www.kubuntu.org/

    5. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by bbrazil · · Score: 3, Informative

      http://www.kubuntu.org/ is one option.

    6. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can always use Gentoo and don't depend on this kind of choices by the distro maker, remember: it's all about choices.

    7. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Kjella · · Score: 3, Interesting

      what's the best KDE-centric desktop distro now?

      I don't want a KDE-centric distro anymore than I want a Gnome-centric distro. Personally my favorites are Ubuntu/Kubuntu for the latest desktops, Debian for server/workstation machines that need to be rock stable. And they both should do a good job at running Gnome apps in KDE and KDE apps in Gnome.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    8. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by ToasterofDOOM · · Score: 1

      Maybe Kubuntu, I tried it and liked what I saw, very clean and lightweight. However, it uses .debs instead of RPM, so if RPM's your thing, I dont know what. I agree that KDE is better, but GNOME's not too bad. At least they aren't using that GORM thing mentioned earlier this week. (Sorry, no link =D)

      --
      I am Spartacus
    9. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by penguinrenegade · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's interesting to note that Novell open sourced SUSE, is now cutting 20% of Novell jobs and is standardizing on Gnome. I've heard speculation that the SUSE acquisition was to remove a competitor and they could proceed with Novell plans.

      I'm not advocating that, I'm just noting that Novell has done a 180 and seems to be regressing. SUSE has always been considered one of the best distros out there, and at least OpenSUSE will continue with community support.

    10. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by pshuke · · Score: 1

      I agree that SuSE's KDE stuff was pretty sleek.
      If I were you I'd have have a look at Kubuntu or Mandriva - both were pretty KDE-centric last time I checked them out.

    11. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by AccUser · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Kubuntu, which is a KDE version fo the wonderful Ubuntu distribution, which incidentaly standardised on GNOME also. If you wait long enough, I expect you will see a supported version of Novell's distribution, but with KDE as the desktop.

      --

      Any fool can talk, but it takes a wise man to listen.

    12. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gentoo

    13. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by shinsplints · · Score: 1

      From the article:
      "Novell is making one large strategic change. The GNOME interface is going to become the default interface on both the SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server) and Novell Linux Desktop line. ...
      "The entire KDE graphical interface and product family will continue to be supported and delivered on OpenSuSE," said Mancusi-Ungaro."

      Is KDE only going to be maintained on opensuse or is it still the default desktop? If it's still the default desktop, I'd imagine this won't affect most of us. I don't know many desktop users that use SLES or the Novell Linux Desktop.

    14. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Elektroschock · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The question is more: What will SuSE users say when SuSE is switched to GNOME. Who will buy it? SuSE is a KDE Distribution and that is their market.

      In Europe you cannot conquer the Desktop market with Gnome.

    15. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good thing, too, cause it would have made you look like even more of a moron. GORM isn't a desktop environment, its a development tool.

    16. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by pivo · · Score: 1

      I just switched to SuSE because I prefer KDE. GNOME strikes me as cobbled together and amateurish. Oh well, there is http://kubuntu.org/

    17. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by kayen_telva · · Score: 1

      where does it say SuSe Pro is switching to gnome ? it only mentions SLES.

    18. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by IANAAC · · Score: 1
      ...Suse Pro...

      Suse Pro is no more. It has become Opensuse.

      What's left for commercial offerings are SLES and Novell Desktop.

    19. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by DarkProphet · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, speaking as a SuSE user, I am a bit disappointed in this move. I just can't stand GNOME, sorry. The only good thing I can say about it is that it gives KDE healthy competition.

      As others have pointed out, I am concerned that KDE support in SuSE will lag.

      As an aside, I've been using SuSE through the last 3 major versions and have bought and paid for a copy of each to support the distro. When I found out Novell was to acquire SuSE, I commented that I didn't care who made the distro, as long as they didn't screw it up.

      I really really dislike using GNOME, so the last time I bought a copy of the distro will be the last.

      --
      What could possibly hurt the security of the American people more than giving our own government the ability to hide its
    20. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by cartoon · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Cannot do it with Gnome? Why not? Users in general don't care. Only religious zealots really care.

      --
      //Cartoon
    21. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Elektroschock · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Well, SuSe managers always confirmed their committment towards KDE. It seems Ximian succeeded in brainwashing Novell US. Time to free Suse from Novell.

    22. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by drgonzo59 · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I, on the other hand, have always used KDE on Mandrake (now Mandriva), on SuSE, on RedHat. Then I gave Ubuntu a try, which uses GNOME as the default desktop. I thought "stupid GNOME" and went right way and installed the KDE Desktop with all the libraries and utilities. I used that on Ubuntu, but then eventually I found myself logging into the GNOME Desktop more and more and now I am only using GNOME.

      Honestly I don't even know the reason, maybe it is the Dark Side of the Force, or maybe the panels just have less clutter, maybe stuff just works better. I don't miss the transparency, the shadows, the SVG icons of KDE, at first I thought they were great, but after a while it didn't matter. Maybe it is also less stuff to configure and less options to worry about. Sometimes I think in UI design "less is more", but of course it is still very much a subjective thing, so I am glad there is the choice and the options for everyone KDE, GNOME, Blackbox, Xfce and others.

    23. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by eosp · · Score: 1

      I like Slackware also, they just leave default KDE. No "AOL icons" of sorts. Other things that are cool about Slackware include: BSD init scripts are easier to read, very minimalistic, yet not to the point of uselessness, and the setup program is awesome. Everyone says it's hard, but I find it easier to work with than a lot of others.

    24. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by acid_zebra · · Score: 2

      Fedora Cora is pretty KDE-centric as well. I run a couple of FC4 machines with KDE 3.4 which works well. My MythTV box even runs on FC4+KDE.

      But when I RTFA, it seems that Novell is just undergoing some internal restructuring (read: sacking people) and it says:
      "The entire KDE graphical interface and product family will continue to be supported and delivered on OpenSuSE," said Mancusi-Ungaro."

      And if it all goes south, you can still compile from source, no?

      --
      -- No Sig is a Good Sig
    25. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by thinkliberty · · Score: 1

      Gentoo of course!! Or for easy to install and upto date releases kubuntu ;)see http://www.kubuntu.org/

    26. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by jbellows_20 · · Score: 1

      As much as it pains me to say I think at this point Mandriva is probably the best KDE-centric distro out there.

    27. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by IANAAC · · Score: 1
      In Europe you cannot conquer the Desktop market with Gnome.

      Not so long ago, everyone in the US was saying that Suse would never amount to anything. It has since grown amazingly fast in use in the US. So much so, that some companies are choosing to port first to Suse, then to RedHat (Polyserve comes to mind).

      Never say never. Things have a tendency to change.

    28. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by askegg · · Score: 1

      This does not really change much. NLD has always been Gnome based and not many desktops users are going to care what GUI the server has. KDE is still available in OpenSuse (also called SuSe Linux 10)

      --
      I don't make predictions, and I never will.
    29. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by kayen_telva · · Score: 1

      which has nothing to do with the fact that the GP was complaining about SuSe not having KDE. OpenSuse will have both.

    30. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by FudRucker · · Score: 1

      RE:[so what's the best KDE-centric desktop distro now]

      Slackware

      --
      Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    31. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Jerry · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Commercial?
      Xandros, and several other Debian based clones.

      OpenSource
      SimplyMEPIS, KNOPPIX, Kanotix, and a plethora of Debian based clones.

      My favorite is SimplyMEPIS

      But, considering that regardless of the distro the same release number of KDE behaves the same way on all distros that deploy it, any is as good as another, all other things being equal. So KDE is not a reason to choose a distro unless that distro is the first to release with the latest version of KDE and you want to move to it.

      Linux distros that feature GNOME still have to install connectivity to KDE functionality because the VAST majority of applications are written using QT widgets. Companies wanting to create cross platfrom applications to enable their move to Widnows without reinventing the wheel will use QT because it is the smoothest route to take.

      I find it rather ironic that GNOME was created as a GPL response to QT's propritary widget set, but after the KDE Foundation negotiated with TrollTech to continually release a GPL version of QT the reason for GNOME's existance became moot. Now, ironically, GNOME is being favored by the Linux distro makers who are selling proprietary brands and services.

      --

      Running with Linux for over 20 years!

    32. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ditto to the man who said Slackware. Clean, tight, no bullshit.

    33. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by vladoboss · · Score: 1

      Mandriva of course :-) Everything just works.

    34. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Until a month ago, I would have agree with you

      However, I switched to dual monitors, and they just don't work under kde (t's probably just me, I'm NOT flaming the kde developers). So I've been using gnome for the last month, and, surprise - it's a LOT better than it used to be, and it runs faster than KDE.

      Te KDE apps work just fine (Kontact and KWallet are running all the time on this box).

      My only question is - do I try to install a 3rd monitor (I've got 2 19" ones, but I could still use a smaller one for keeping a small to-do list, etc., front-and-center.

    35. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by pjbgravely · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The exact opposite was the reason I stopped using SUSE. I hated that I had to use KDE to do certain things. To me KDE is a busy mess that reminds me of all the reasons why I don't use Microsoft Windows.
      I use Ubuntu now just for it's great working Gnome. I do miss YaST but I am learning a lot using the command line and editing config files.

      --
      Star Trek, there maybe hope.
    36. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try a little research Captain Holier than thou.
      http://www.ubuntuforums.org/
      https://wiki.ubuntu.com/
      Newbies are the only people who would go to the Debian site for help with Ubuntu or Debian. Anyone with experience would know that some jerk like you would shout them down for asking questions. The whole idea of Debian was to provide a community for support and growth of Linux and now you want to be bitter because Ubuntu is providing a FREE distro that has become useful and popular because of that community. Try helping them out next time and they may not stay clueless forever.

    37. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by mikefe · · Score: 1

      Having not used several monitors on one system, I have to ask.

      Why isn't using several monitors a Xorg issue instead of Gnome or KDE?

      --
      There: Something at a specific location.
      Their: Owned by someone.
      Please make sure your english compiles.
    38. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering that Gnome is the preferred and default DE on Fedora Core I can hardly see where it's "KDE-centric". Yes, KDE works under Fedora Core, however it's about as far away from "KDE-centric" as a Linux distribution gets. Redhat/Fedora are one of the biggest Gnome contributors around and I think it's safe to say, if anything, it's Gnome-centric. The Fedora/Redhat community has a very small proportion of KDE users compared to other distributions.

    39. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      some people object to having core os libs like the widget set under a license as restricive as the GPL. gpling qt was nessacery to get the opensource zealots who run many of the major distros to accept it. but an os where you have to choose between making your apps gpl, using a different widget set to the users desktop (thereby making your app unlikely to fit in well) and paying whatever trolltech wan't off you (not too bad atm for serious commercial developers but afaict theres nothing stopping them cranking up the price later) can't really be considered a free os imo.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    40. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by brother+bloat · · Score: 1

      I use Ubuntu currently (GNOME-based), but I saw an article (http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=05/10/21/2223 230) yesterday about KDE-based GoboLinux (http://www.gobolinux.org/), which sounds like it incorporates some neat ideas (for example, it re-organizes the standard directory hierarchy to be more intuitive for deskop users). I've used Kubuntu (4.10 and 5.04), but have found they never seem to be quite as stable as Ubuntu. I haven't tried Kubuntu 5.10 yet, though.

      --
      (( (CRAYON) )) >
    41. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyone with experience wouldn't be using Ubuntu. End of story. And yes the idea of Debian was to provide a community of support but not for people that are not using Debian. Ubuntu has changed a ton of internals and expecting that the Debian community will just adopt these changes and support their users is just stupid. Ubuntu has become a compatibility nightmare for Debian.

    42. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by JamesWJohnson · · Score: 1

      Say what you want about Ubuntu, but I believe it's the closest thing we have to a "user-friendly" desktop Linux distro out there. Setup and tweaking aren't really required, and the ubuntu forums are immensely helpful. If you want something you can play with, use Slackware, Gentoo, or LFS. Just because it doesn't require any thought to set up doesn't make it a bad distro.

      --
      How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?
    43. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Enahs · · Score: 1

      I use Kubuntu. Surprisingly good when you consider that it's part of Ubuntu, one of the most GNOME-centric distributions out there...

      --
      Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
    44. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      In my case it's probably a hardware issue (ain't it always). I was surprised that they worked at all, considering the mb is a cheapie with on-board duron and video and sound and lan that's going onto its 4th year in a few months (while a MUCH newer, name-brand pimped-out amd64 box is just sitting there doing nothing because the mb died just as the warranty ran out).

      Heck, the secondary display is a 10-year-old ati all-in-wonder (well, it'll be 10 years old in February), and it works great for what I'm doing.

      I'm not complaining - switching to gnome made it feel much more responsive. Heck, I'm even getting to like the GIMP.

    45. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      God I hate Ubuntu. It's the one distribution that relies on another distribution to provide its support.

      Didn't /some/most/ other major distros start out that way?

    46. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      Mandriva of course :-) Everything just works.

      Everything? The name doesn't.

      Q: What's that running on yor computer?
      A: Mandriva.
      Q: Oh, gay porn, eh?
    47. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by triso · · Score: 1
      ...In Europe you cannot conquer the Desktop market with Gnome.
      Can you elaborate on this? Are there no internationalized versions?
    48. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by chris_mahan · · Score: 1

      Sigh.

      If you're a developer and you want to do your thing, use debian.

      If you need an OS to replace windows xp on a laptop, put (k)ubuntu on it. Use that to ssh into your debian server.

      When time comes to upgrade, you just reformat the laptop and get a later version of (k)ubuntu from a cd.

      ubuntu is just a throw-some-os-on-a-box so somebody can go to the intarweb and have something to plug in a usb camera into.

      Debian is enterprise-grade server software.

      --

      "Piter, too, is dead."

    49. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by zogger · · Score: 1

      Mepis and Linspire come to mind of major distros. Debian proper, it can be anything you want on install.

      I often wondered why kde and gnome didn't just cut to the chase and package their own distros based on their respective desktop environments.

    50. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by abdulla · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well GTK is under the LGPL which makes a big difference for commercial software vendors. This probably why GTK has (generally) proved more popular with commercial vendors. Ofcourse you can purchase a commercial license for Qt too, but that does add to your budget and I believe it's licensed on a per programmer basis, though I might be wrong there.

    51. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by CyricZ · · Score: 2, Interesting

      But SuSE is no longer a European company. They're a Utah company now. And thus things like the fantastic i18n, l10n, and l12y capabilities of SuSE no longer matter. Indeed, it most likely will be their downfall. The quality of GNOME's support for such technology falls short of that of KDE.

      But when the feeble die, young blood arises to continue on. And in that case it will be distros like Kubuntu.

      --
      Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
    52. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by CyricZ · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why don't you just get a pad of paper, and a pen? Then you write your todo list on that, and save a fair chunk of pence because you don't need to buy and power another monitor.

      --
      Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
    53. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by CyricZ · · Score: 1

      But do not forget that the sheer quality of Red Hat's offerings has dropped off significantly. They were at one time a quality distributor of Linux, but that was well before the days of Fedora. Fedora has proven to be a less than ideal base to build upon. The stability and quality just are not there.

      That stated, SuSE is the only other contender when it comes to enterprise Linux. TurboLinux used to be okay, but now they focus mainly on the Asian market. Caldera was another option, but those days are long past. Thus corporations today can either choose SuSE or Red Hat. Red Hat's quality just isn't there these days, so IT professionals often choose SuSE.

      --
      Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
    54. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      Why don't you just get a pad of paper, and a pen? Then you write your todo list on that, and save a fair chunk of pence because you don't need to buy and power another monitor.

      Well, I've got a 3rd monitor kicking around, and I could stuff another card into the box. Its like people who've never used dual-monitor setups don't realize the difference it makes. Same with desktop screen pagers - once you've got a dozen virtual desktops, you get used to stuffing a couple of shells on one, an editor on another, a browser on another, another browser on another (for compatibiity testing), a 3rd browser on another (again, for compatibility testing), 2-3 file browsers on another, email on another, ftp on another, the GIMP on another, etc. (well, that's my usual setup, and it's not a high-end machine, but it handles it okay :-).

      Now, having said all that, I'm actually going to grab the old paper-based notebook to do some planning.

    55. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      What dont understand is the power of unix makes it up to the user to decide what he or she wants. Thats the point.

      I wonder if distro's prefer gnome for legal reasons? Maybe they are worried that they have to pay trolltech licenses if they sell the distro since its no longer free? Its a hunch that letting the user install it shifts potential liability.

      But what you were saying with ubuntu, I am confused about kubuntu? A distro should install what the user wants and nothing else. I know debian had moral reasons to prefer gnome but if you agree to want non gpl software then why isn't kde included?

    56. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by CyricZ · · Score: 1

      Yes, multiple desktops/monitors are very useful. Nobody suggested that they weren't. But to use one specifically for showing a todo list is overkill. Paper and pen work just as well, if not better.

      --
      Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
    57. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      UGh

      Ignore my grammer errors before. I am multitasking here and did a poor job communicating.

      I was referring to the fact that a distro should never force anything and the power of unix is customization to run whatever you choose.

      Also I know Ubuntu includes kde if you request. Its just I wonder why kubuntu exists? Are we too lazy to use the synaptic?

    58. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by JamesWJohnson · · Score: 1

      I can't think of any reason why someone would rather have RPM's than deb's. I know that there are ports of apt-get to work with RPM's, but Debian package management is high class. If you really feel like you need them, I believe that support for RPM's is included in the distro, but I don't know how good it is.

      --
      How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?
    59. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by poofyhairguy82 · · Score: 2, Informative
      Why isn't using several monitors a Xorg issue instead of Gnome or KDE?

      It comes down to Xinerama support. I personally believe Gnome's window manager (metacity) does a little better with two screens than KDe's (kwin) but that just my opnion. They both do a million times better than Window XP's (which loves to maximize things over both screens).

    60. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Ambassador+Kosh · · Score: 1

      I run a quad monitor kde setup. KDE actually worked with xinerama far before gnome ever did. As long as the multiple monitors work in X then there should be no problems with KDE at all. I also have a dual head setup in another room that is also running kde. My main desktop has a radeon x850 and radeon 9200 in it to run 4 monitors.

      --
      Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD! :)
    61. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      Paper and pen work just as well, if not better.

      [whine] .. but there's no ROOM for pen and paper within easy reach... [/whine]

      Seriously, I think I could find other uses for it as well. But I'm probably not going to test it any time soon.

    62. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by opkool · · Score: 4, Informative

      Mandriva, of course.

      KDE is the "default GUI" for a basic install, although Mandriva also comes with Gnome, IceWM and others.

      I use Mandriva/Mandrake since it has always provided such a great support for KDE, "everything just works" approach for hardware, easy system administration (both GUI or command-line) and urpmi, the best package manager for rpm. As good as "apt-get".

      Everybody seems so "Ubuntu" centric today, singing praise to Ubuntu's "new stuff"... when all that "new stuff" has been in Mandrake/mandriva since version 8.0 (and we've had 8.1, 8.2, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 10.0, 10.1, 10.2 and now 2006.0; one release every 6 months). So, you see, all that "new" stuff is "old news" for the Mandrake crowd.

      And then, KDE is an almost alien part of Ubuntu (Kubuntu)

      Ubuntu is all hype.

      Anyway, back to my boring Mandriva (yes, boring as all works, and all has been working for so long...)

      Peace

    63. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by xouumalperxe · · Score: 1

      Apparently Kubuntu is also a good project from the fine people that gives us Ubuntu. Two sub-distros, essentially

    64. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      I guess I'm lucky that I'm not you, then, because I have a bunch of monitors here and it would be really crowded if I felt compelled to connect them all to one box. I go the opposite direction, btw. I use a 4 way KVM switch and am looking for a good deal on an 8-way.

      --
      resigned
    65. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Srdjant · · Score: 1

      Actually, there's Slackware. Pat has dropped GNOME support from Slackware 10.2, which makes Slackware
      a KDE-centric distro. And Slackware is great too ;-)

      http://slackware.com/changelog/i386/ChangeLog-stab le.txt

    66. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Srdjant · · Score: 1

      Whoops! Gotta preview more often.

      s/KDE-centric/KDE-friendly/ perhaps?

    67. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      I compiled Mozilla to Xlib last week. None of the cut and paste features I am accustomed to worked. And I run Mozilla on NetBSD and display it in eXceed on W2K.

      --
      resigned
    68. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by poofyhairguy82 · · Score: 1
      Also I know Ubuntu includes kde if you request. Its just I wonder why kubuntu exists? Are we too lazy to use the synaptic?

      A. Some people don't want Gnome stuff installed.

      B. The Kubuntu project focuses energy on the KDE side so that it can have more polish and can work better with Ubuntu.

      C. The Kubuntu project is a shift to allow for official support of KDE (its in the main now, like say XFCE).

      D. The Kubuntu project provides a meta-package (kubuntu-desktop) that makes it easier to install a full KDE in Gnome.

    69. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by EnderWiggnz · · Score: 1

      look man - GNOME is a royal pain in the ass to write code for. the qt widget set provides a much, much better api, and signaling mechanism.

      --
      ... hi bingo ...
    70. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by ZeroZen · · Score: 1

      I love the BSD init scripts. They're totally easy to use and understand! I don't know why the other kind is standard, it's so difficult to use them.

    71. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by wyverspur · · Score: 1

      Slackware. Nuff said

    72. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by BroncoInCalifornia · · Score: 1

      Now that I got the sound to work on Gnome I am using it too! I am warming up to Gnome.

      --

      Religion is the main cause of atheism.

    73. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Interesting
      But, considering that regardless of the distro the same release number of KDE behaves the same way on all distros that deploy it, any is as good as another, all other things being equal. So KDE is not a reason to choose a distro unless that distro is the first to release with the latest version of KDE and you want to move to it.
      Not really. If you've seen SuSE, you know there are a few nice tweaks there, such as automatic selection of Gtk+ theme to match your KDE theme. This and other small, but neat things aren't in KDE by default, and many people have no idea how to do them on their own.

      Also, a KDE-centric distro means that default software packages offered for installation are KDE-based. So you get JuK rather than Rhythmbox, and your OpenOffice will have Qt native widgets rather than Gtk ones. Again, nothing a user can't do on his own, but why should he waste time on finding out how?

      Linux distros that feature GNOME still have to install connectivity to KDE functionality because the VAST majority of applications are written using QT widgets.
      It works the other way around, too. When have you last seen a distro which doesn't provide base Gtk and GNOME libraries for the same reason? As for vast majority of applicatons being written in Qt... please. You certainly can have an all-Qt desktop, but just as well you can have an all-Gtk desktop. However, Gtk is currently the dominant widgetset for Linux; see the numbers for yourself here and here.
      I find it rather ironic that GNOME was created as a GPL response to QT's propritary widget set, but after the KDE Foundation negotiated with TrollTech to continually release a GPL version of QT the reason for GNOME's existance became moot.
      This implies that GNOME is only good as a replacement for Qt, and does not have merits of its own, which is obviously false. On a side note, have you noticed that most Linux commercial applications lately are also favouring Gtk and GNOME? RealPlayer, Acrobat Reader, Nero... I wonder if it is because of LGPL, or because they see that GNOME is a de facto standard for a Linux desktop these days.
    74. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can with GNOME, not sure about KDE.

    75. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by jessecurry · · Score: 1

      I recently installed ubuntu/kubuntu onto an OldWorld G3 because I was home sick for a while, and I have to say that I find myself gravitating towards Gnome also. KDE looks nice, and has some really cool features, but Gnome just felt more natural to use.
      One thing that really turned me off of KDE was that everything has a "K" name. Following a common theme is ok, but not when it is at the expense of usability. I found myself having to actually spend time reading though all of the options so I could do simple tasks. If KDE were to adopt a naming standard that didn't require "Kapplication(description of application)" I would probably have liked it better, but as a desktop that I'm just using to take up time I'd rather have something I can jump in and start using. I'll play around with KDE some more, but right now Gnome seems like the way to go.

      --
      Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
    76. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by tomhudson · · Score: 1
      Oh, I got it to work w. xinerama under KDE, but when I tried to get it to go back to 2 separate desktops instead of one "stretched" desktop, it refused to reconfigure itself, instead leaving me with only one working monitor, despite a couple of HOURS trying to get it to work, and logging out/bak in, and even rebooting.

      Strangely enough, its working okay now - but in the intervening weeks I've gotten used to gnome, and gnome runs quicker (now that I've killed off beagle, which would end up hogging 98% of cpu and send "top" through the roof, it-s even better)

      4 monitors - maybe next year ...

    77. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by 54v4g3 · · Score: 0

      I did the same thing as you, but replace gnome with Fluxbox ;-).

      It's the same deal.. less clutter, less eye candy, more productivity, just to an even greater extent.

    78. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by acid_zebra · · Score: 1

      OK, but still; I am a KDE user and when I install FC4 I thick the little box that says 'kde' and untick the box that says 'gnome' and the next thing you know you are staring at a fresh KDE desktop with little (if any) trace of gnome (also one 'yum upgrade' later).

      If not KDE-centric at the least its KDE friendly.

      --
      -- No Sig is a Good Sig
    79. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by LnxAddct · · Score: 1

      LOL what a troll. You've probably never even used Fedora. It is enterprise quality. Don't beleive the nonsense that /. feeds you. Not to mention Fedora takes security significantly more serious. Suse is just not enterprise ready. Novell is making hardly any money off it because noone is using it. Fedora over took Suse's market share in under a year and a half according to netcraft (and no, there was not a symmetric decrease in Red Hat's share). Novell has done nothing good with Suse since they've bought it. Read this about a huge Australian firm that is switching 400 desktops to Fedora. Have you ever used Suse? It is a piece of crap. Things just don't work like they do in Fedora, which is reknowned for things just working. At least use the damn product before you make claims about it, don't be a troll. Not to mention that Novell is damn near going out of business, while Red Hat has never been healthier.
      Regrds,
      Steve

    80. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, I've used slackware since the pre-1.0 kernel. I am also, for reasons I really can't explain, a GNOME fan. Slackware recently decided to stop including GNOME with their releases. But instead of giving up on my distribution of choice for so many years, I turn to projects like dropline-gnome to pick up the slack. Oh. real bad pun. Sorry. But, if KDE support for SUSE starts to lag, I'm sure another project will bring it back up to speed. Don't abandon your distro so easily!! Something about slackware usally pisses me off once every few weeks and every once in awhile I'll install some new distribution on an unused partition but I always end back up with Slackware. Oh no, I've started a distro flame war. Sorry guys, I'll exit quietly with this one.. (walks backwards towards the door) ;-)

    81. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1

      Slackware is certainly the most solid of the KDE-centric distros, and is even better with Dropline Gnome. ;-)

    82. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by civilizedINTENSITY · · Score: 1

      I used to be a big fluxbox fan, too. These days I use Ion as my mininal wm, and gnome for when I want eyecandy. I really like KDE's sophistication. Konqueror rocks! Gnome looks better, though, and Konqueror runs fine under Gnome.

    83. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by ebassi · · Score: 1

      Are you aware, yes, that all the software tools used by Mandrake before, and by Mandriva now, are written in Perl using the fine Gtk2 Perl bindings for the GTK library?

      --
      You can save space. Or you can save time. Don't ever count on saving both at once. -- First Law of Algorithmic Analisys
    84. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by CyricZ · · Score: 1

      Indeed, I recently set up a server for a client. I tend to use FreeBSD, OpenBSD, or Solaris, but they insisted on Linux. They had heard about Fedora, and requested it.

      As per their request, I tried FC4. The installer failed during package installation. It plain out crashed. Thinking it was a hardware problem (they were using a plain PC, not a quality server), I ran memtest86 and several other diagnostic tools. The hardware proved to be fine.

      We had a consultation, and decided to try SuSE instead. It worked perfectly. It installed very quickly, and we were able to get the server up and running without trouble.

      Now, I don't care if some company in Australia rolled out Fedora on 400 systems. I tried it, and it failed miserably. SuSE, on the other hand, worked just fine.

      Fedora had its chance to work. Unfortunately for it, it failed quite badly.

      --
      Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
    85. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by zogger · · Score: 1

      very interesting, thanks for the link!

    86. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1
      I personally believe Gnome's window manager (metacity) does a little better with two screens than KDe's (kwin)

      I'm not sure there's much in it. Although I'm a Gnome user, I prefer KDE's handling of screensavers over the standard xscreensaver implemented with Gnome, in that it treats both screens as one rather than appearing to run two instances of the same screensaver.

      That's a very minor niggle, though. I've been a Gnome user pretty much since it came into existence, but I always have the nagging feeling that KDE simply works better. Trouble is, I find I get annoyed by the silly naming theme and the excessively "busy" look and feel of the thing.

      That doesn't stop me, however, from trying to get to like KDE every time some of the more asshat Gnome developers decide that it is time to take away yet another feature that I happened to like.

    87. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RPM package database should not screw itself up within 7 hours of usage.
      and RPMs in general are just anoying, not to mention slower. .deb all the way.
      you can notice that packages install almost 3 times as fast.

      Several of my friends have fedora installed (still an improvement compared to XP) and they have similar issues to that of windows where things just crap out.
      Now this is not one person with a some broken computer, this is consistant from all people I know what are using fedora. Now I do not hear complains from Suse users that much or things that are based off debian. Arch linux is also very nice in terms of hardware configurations that it just works for devices that have some extra functionality. Not that normal distros do not support these, you have to configure things such as extra buttons, etc,ec

      *rant ends here*

    88. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by inode_buddha · · Score: 1

      Kinda in the same vein of thought, I simply use multiple (virtual) desktops. Like right now, on desktop #3. Having said that, I feel somewhat compelled to welcome Novell to the FOSS community; though I do also admit to some fear and trepidation much like when IBM got invlolved. So far, I think Novell is executing quite well; they are doing things that make good sense (IMHO) from both a biz standpoint and also from a FOSS standpoint. They really do need to work on their sales dept. though. Now that they own SuSE, I'm not sure about this whole Gnome thing. Don't get me wrong, I use Gnome and like it. But isn't SuSE already well-known for their QT/KDE support? Isn't it gonna cost something to convert? So, I am basically wondering "Why?". Far as Gnome goes, I would love for them to revert back to plain txt config files and Enlightenment by default. Now with SuSE and YaST at the core, with directory and zen works on top of that. gotta dream, anyway.

      --
      C|N>K
    89. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      You're joking, right? Not only does Pango provide amazing internationalization support, GNOME is ahead in accessibility support.

    90. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Scott7477 · · Score: 1

      I disagree that Ubuntu is all hype. I started out in Linux using Mandrake and the install hiccups I experienced I figured were normal. Then I tried Ubuntu a year ago and was amazed at how smoothly the install went and was pleased with the default settings. I would never go back to Mandrake.

      --
      "Lack of technical competence coupled with the arrogance of power, as usual, leads to no good end."
    91. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by True+Grit · · Score: 1
      On a side note, have you noticed that most Linux commercial applications lately are also favouring Gtk and GNOME?


      Which has what, exactly, to do with anything? You already pointed out earlier that distros are often including the base libraries for both Desktop Environments so apps from either DE will work no matter which DE the user is using. Choosing one DE to use does not in any way restrict the apps you can run.

      because they see that GNOME is a de facto standard for a Linux desktop these days.


      Its a de-facto standard for the corporate desktop not "a Linux desktop", because "a Linux desktop" is very much in the eyes of the beholder. What drives many people to Linux is choice, and what drives many to KDE is basically the same thing: flexibility, customization, uncommon but beneficial features, i.e., choice. As for the corporate desktop, KDE is not going to go away if all the corporate distros use GNOME, for the same reason Linux will never go away if all the corporations decided to switch back to Windows. To see why, just look at Ubuntu: What was the first major development to occur in the Ubuntu user community after Ubuntu became fairly popular? Answer: Kubuntu. For an awful lot of people, a minimalist "corporate desktop" is not their idea of an ideal desktop environment, KDE is.

      Because of this, the prior poster hoping for "a single, standard" DE, is just dreaming. Not going to happen. You have as much chance of getting a single standard user interface for the open Linux system as you have of convincing all women that they only need one kind of dress, in any color as long as its black. :)

      To make this an authentic /. post, my outrageous prediction: GNOME conquers the "corporate" desktop, and KDE konquers the "home" desktop.
    92. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ho ho ho

      Obviously, you will never back to Mandrake, 'cause it isn't there any more. :-D

    93. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1
      Which has what, exactly, to do with anything? You already pointed out earlier that distros are often including the base libraries for both Desktop Environments so apps from either DE will work no matter which DE the user is using. Choosing one DE to use does not in any way restrict the apps you can run.
      You are correct. However, my observation has been that Gtk/GNOME applications don't quite look right in KDE desktop, and Qt/KDE applications look even worse in GNOME desktop (or XFCE, for that matter). You know, incompatible theme format and all that. Since for many users it's about eye-candy, you'd want to satisfy their expectations by targeting the same widget set their DE uses. Now, you still can't do that, because both KDE and GNOME own large parts of the userbase... but targeting Gtk puts you in a somewhat better position because of things such as gtk-qt-engine.

      As for the rest, yes, I'm afraid you're right, we won't see a single dominant DE on Linux. Unfortunately for us programmers.

    94. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by wclacy · · Score: 1

      What's all the panic about. They are only changing their Server offerings and their Buisiness Desktop "Novell Linux Desktop". OpenSuse is still going to be KDE!
      I don't think many people want to run KDE on their servers.
      For a buisiness Desktop Gnome has fewer options to confuse end users.

    95. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by cheshire_cqx · · Score: 1

      As I said in another thread, MEPIS is a really well designed distro that installs from a live-CD.

      http://www.mepis.com/

      http://www.mepis.org/

    96. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by cartoon · · Score: 1

      Yes, I've heard that too... but others say gnome/gtk is easier to write for. Gnome is also CORBA based, that is a point in Gnome's favour.

      But! This isn't about wether KDE is better than Gnome or vice versa. It's about a unified desktop, and a focus on how to drive Linux market share. A common desktop in the enterprise/business segment can only help.

      Technical excellence never really help... Betamax had a beter picture, OS/2 was way better than Win 3.1, MCA bus was way better than ISA and PCI, and so on... It seems that it never pays to be the best solution. If that was the case, we might all be running FreeBSD by now, who knows...

      --
      //Cartoon
    97. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by zsau · · Score: 1

      and what drives many to KDE is basically the same thing: flexibility, customization, uncommon but beneficial features, i.e., choice.

      I don't see KDE as more flexible/customisable than Gnome. Under Gnome, if I don't like the file manager, I can rip it out and replace it with something different, no problems. Can do it with the same toolkit, but the flexibility is basically the union of Nautilus and my preferred replacement (and all the other Gtk+-based filemanagers out there). Or maybe I don't like the window manager? I can rip it out and replace it with something different, no problems (if they support the latest window manager hints). The panel? Same again!

      (Of course, there comes a point where you've swapped out so many programs that you don't have any of Gnome left at all, and that's obviously not Gnome, but Gnome+Xfce's file manager or Gnome+Sawfish is still basically Gnome.)

      KDE, though, as far as I can see, is basically the one thing. It has a lot of options, but the options I want include hiding them (I'm not a particular fan of having a "Settings" submenu there, on every program—it's scary!), as well as many I can't seem to make KDE abide by. I want my web browser and my file manager to work in diametrically opposed ways (one new window on single primary click, the other new tab on single secondary click, and so forth), but Konqueror seems to prefer to try and be both. And so forth.

      AFAIK, there's no other KDE-like web browser than Konqueror, no other KDE-like filemanager than Konqueror, and so forth. Also swapping them out. Gnome makes it reasonably clear, but I can't see how in KDE.

      To me it seems as if the Gtk+ based options try their hardest to follow the Unix ideal of lots of little programs that do one thing brilliantly. They obviously sacrifice this ideal to varying degrees, but they still attempt it.

      I could be wrong on all of my statements about KDE. I would invite corrections & instructions, and not flames.

      (I'm not trying to say that KDE's bad or anything.

      --
      Look out!
    98. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by opkool · · Score: 1

      Yes, as Mandriva pays attention to both KDE and Gnome. Thus, Gnome applications don't look extremely alien in KDE. And KDE apps do not look just from another planet in KDE.

      Perl works great, although it is not the fastest language around. But then, Perl+GTK integration looks nice and works well. If you talk about unused disk space, what could it be, 20MB? Come on, now the smallest disks have 40GB

      Mandriva balances KDE and Gnome support, although KDE is "selected" as the default desktop. Of course you can aways click "Gnome" and unclick "KDE" in the install.

      Furthermost, most of Mandriva users use KDE. KDE presents and useable, rich, integrated, fun and "native QT aplication"-full environment.

      Peace

    99. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I'm not a particular fan of having a "Settings" submenu there, on every programit's scary!

      I've got news for you. Users use applications, not desktop environments. Some users may even use the same application on different operating systems. For them, having "Preferences" or "Settings" in the same manu within the program will be the only desireable way. Having to rediscover where the settings are tucked away in that other OS is not my idea of fun! What was the registry key for that setting, you said? Gconf reminds me of the Windows Registry. I don't want to be reminded of the Windows Registry, ever!

      I like applications to appear self-contained. They may use libraries and services from the OS or DE, but that is transparent to me, the user. I think it's outrageous that I am supposed to "just know" that most of the settings that are available are somewhere else, and not accessible at all from within the application.

    100. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by zsau · · Score: 1

      I think I wasn't completely clear; nevermind, often happens. I'm not objecting to having a configuration menu-item in a program, such as Edit/Preferences in Gnome apps, Tools/Options in Windows apps, APP/Preferences on the Mac or Options in ROX.

      But with KDE, programs tend to have a "Settings" menu, under which is at least half-a-dozen different items, each of which has a dialog box or submenu behind it, which quite often have different parts with different tabs behind *them*, with buttons like "Advanced options" with god-knows what behind them! That's what I'm objecting too, and it's why I said "submenu" (I was trying to be concise, so I can see where the ambiguity crept in, and now I've got myself a long post explaining me, so obviously I failed completely). I prefer a limited but not constricted number of options, accessed through a menu item, as on every major and many minor DEs other than KDE. KDE's approach means I can never remember how I configured this one setting last time I tried. There's just too much to wade through!

      And I'm not saying that no desktop environment should have that kind of customisability, either. I don't particularly think I lose anything by KDE's existence, so I'm quite happy to let it exist. That's what I meant when I said "I'm not a fan of".

      (BTW: I think you'll find that users (try to) do things, rather than using applications or DEs.)

      --
      Look out!
    101. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > KDE apps do not look just from another planet in KDE

      I haven't looked at KDE for a while, but that could be the reason why Novell choose Gnome...

    102. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by ebassi · · Score: 1

      Yes, as Mandriva pays attention to both KDE and Gnome. Thus, Gnome applications don't look extremely alien in KDE. And KDE apps do not look just from another planet in KDE.

      Thus making Mandrake/Mandriva a "desktop-wars neutral" distribution, and not a KDE-centric one, as far as I can see.

      Perl works great, although it is not the fastest language around. But then, Perl+GTK integration looks nice and works well.

      I certainly hope so, since I've helped creating those bindings. ;-)

      --
      You can save space. Or you can save time. Don't ever count on saving both at once. -- First Law of Algorithmic Analisys
    103. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by stanositar · · Score: 1

      Do you like Slackware?
      Try FreeBSD. The new 6.0 RELEASE has just been released.
      FreeBSD is even more BSDish than Slackware ;-)

    104. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by donscarletti · · Score: 1
      I don't miss the transparency, the shadows, the SVG icons of KDE

      That's sad because Gnome has most of that stuff too. Transperancy and shadows are turned off by default for performance reasons, but since 2000, Gnome has been the one and only desktop with SVG icons. KDE has no SVG icons, it has png icons rendered from SVG sources. I'm actually the current co-maintainer of librsvg, the high performance SVG rendering library that gnome uses for icons, and I assure you for SVG Gnome blows KDE out of the water (as in it actually supports SVG). So even though you don't care, it may still be nice to know that you may well be using SVG icons but do not realise it.

      --
      When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
    105. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by ZakuSage · · Score: 1

      Ubuntu is really just Debian with more brown. I love Debian, but I can never seem to get proper sound mixing to work on it. I use Ubuntu because it is Debian with sound mixing that work. I've tried to move to other distros (usually i686 based ones so I can have more speed), but I always find flaws in them (even Mandrivia). As far as I'm concerned, Ubuntu is the best distro, but I'm not saying it's perfect. It's too slow, really.

    106. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by eosp · · Score: 1

      I've found that GNOME is mostly too simple to do anything with, and if you want to do anything complex, it's too hard. Like manual menu editing--why can't it just be similar to KDE? What if I install a program that is not technically a gnome prog (like OOo) and want to use it?

    107. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by koreaman · · Score: 0

      Windows XP's window manager works well for me when using two screens. I really have no idea what you're talking about with regards to maximizing over two screens. You probably have something configured wrong.

    108. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      But why do this? Instead having the setup ask the user which windowmananger to chose from should be the best way. Also they could make the polish towards kde for ubuntu for users wanting to use it or use several windowmanagers.

      I think its just silly and a waste of energy personally.

    109. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by poofyhairguy82 · · Score: 1
      But why do this? Instead having the setup ask the user which windowmananger to chose from should be the best way.

      That is not the best way for two reasons:

      A. For a new Linux user what is Gnome or KDE? Why should they have to pick between two things they don't understand? It is better that they can just order the Ubuntu CD and have it make all those choices for them. You are assuming the person installing the OS has dealt with this stuff before, but that is not the people the project wishes to court.

      B. (the bigger reason) Both Gnome and KDE can't be fit on one CD. Since the CDs are shipped for free this adds a huge cost. Plus an (k)Ubuntu feature is its one install CD. Making it so that people can just download their DE of choice at install is not a good option either, as most of the world lacks broadband.

    110. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by drgonzo59 · · Score: 1

      It is just that with KDE SVG came turned on by default and with GNOME I never even felt the need to find it to turn it on to like GNOME, a complement for GNOME I guess. The theme here seems to be that in GNOME stuff "just works" and the user doesn't have to be aware of it.
      In KDE the options, components and preferences are everywhere, which sometimes can confuse users...

    111. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by ToasterofDOOM · · Score: 1

      Personally I prefer deb over RPM, (I actually like Gentoo's portage the best for linux, and I'm in the process of migrating to FreeBSD) but I imagine there are some that like RPM better. I wasn't saying that it was Debian based as a bad thing, but for reference in the case that someone did prefer RPM.

      --
      I am Spartacus
    112. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by opkool · · Score: 1

      Well, Mandriva is a little partial to KDE: the included KDE version seems to be newer than the Gnome version. Then, Mandriva supports with engineers KDE. And the default GUI is KDE.

      Also, a big THANK YOU for those perl-GTK bindings :)

      May $DEITY bless you with just a small number of kids, but with many tries ;)

      Peace

    113. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      who cares who had what working first all that matters is what works now and what works better, easier, faster.

      blah blah blah I've been doing it forever. who fucking cares. go cry some where else.

      if all you're worried about is whose been doing it longer then why are you running linux?

      on top of that if you're just going to brag about it why don't you provide details on how you accomplished it?

    114. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      But! This isn't about wether KDE is better than Gnome or vice versa. It's about a unified desktop, and a focus on how to drive Linux market share. A common desktop in the enterprise/business segment can only help.

      Linux isn't some consumer product like VHS vs. Betamax; marketshare is important for new installations, corporate adoption, etc., but for many, if not most of its users (which is many of the people on this site), they're not buying Linux as a product, and certainly aren't using Linux just to achieve maximum compatibility as with your other examples, since Windows would be the obvious choice if that's your interest. If a Linux distro's users don't like its choice of default UI, they can switch at will, at no cost other than time. I keep my hard drives partitioned so that all the data is on a different partition than the OS installation, so I can easily wipe out SUSE and switch to something else if they annoy me.

      So, yes, technical excellence is most certainly a prime consideration for me and for many other Linux users who have downloaded and installed it because they like it, not because marketing forced them to.

      Technical excellence never really help... Betamax had a beter picture, OS/2 was way better than Win 3.1, MCA bus was way better than ISA and PCI, and so on...

      Betamax had a fatal flaw: it couldn't record 2 hours of video on one tape (at first). This made it very inconvenient for rental movies. It also had high licensing fees, which is why JVC invented VHS. KDE doesn't have any arbitrary limits or fees.

      Where did you get the idea that MCA was better than PCI? ISA, yes; ISA was total crap, but PCI was so successful that it's still the dominant bus on PCs and other architectures as well, and is only now being slowly replaced by PCIe (PCI Express), which has the same software interface but higher speeds (PCIe 1x is about twice as fast as 32/33 PCI). IIRC, MCA was 32 bits but only 8 MHz, and was much slower than PCI. It wasn't even as fast as VLB.

    115. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by True+Grit · · Score: 1
      if I don't like the file manager, I can rip it out and replace it with something different, no problems.

      GNOME's revolving door of window managers is primarily because they chose not to have a standard one. There's nothing stopping that from being done with KDE, except that so far no one has gotten so upset with the current standard WM, KWin, that they've felt the need to create an alternative.

      It has a lot of options, but the options I want include hiding them

      Wait, let me get this straight, you're now saying KDE isn't as configurable as GNOME because it doesn't include an option to hide all the other options it has that GNOME doesn't? :) Look, the rest of your post is just a typical response that some people have about their personal preferences in a desktop environment. Obviously KDE isn't your thing, too many buttons and shiny things, that's ok, because GNOME exists precisely for folks like you. Use it, or whatever you prefer instead, and be happy! My post said nothing about one DE being better than another, the neverending KDE vs. GNOME war is inheriently pointless IMO. My only point was that when it comes to the "user interface", there is no such thing as a single UI that can keep everyone happy. That's why there will always be KDE and GNOME along with a half-dozen or so lesser known DEs, and quite possibly variants/forks of KDE/GNOME as well, in the future.
    116. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1
      Like manual menu editing--why can't it just be similar to KDE?

      Why should it? The KDE interface doesn't have a monopoly on usability. The SMEG gnome menu editor (which comes by default with a number of distributions) is approachable enough.

      What if I install a program that is not technically a gnome prog (like OOo) and want to use it?

      Just for your information, there is a build of OOo 2.0 for the Dropline Gnome distribution I mentioned earlier that integrates nicely with it, and sets up the menu entries for you.

    117. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by cartoon · · Score: 1

      Where did you get the idea that MCA was better than PCI? ISA, yes; ISA was total crap, but PCI was so successful that it's still the dominant bus on PCs and other architectures as well, and is only now being slowly replaced by PCIe (PCI Express), which has the same software interface but higher speeds (PCIe 1x is about twice as fast as 32/33 PCI). IIRC, MCA was 32 bits but only 8 MHz, and was much slower than PCI. It wasn't even as fast as VLB.

      MCA had more ground wires, making a better electrical interface. MCA had a better and totally independent busmaster feature. MCA had 64 IRQ levels (PCI has four). MCA was initially 8MHz, but came as 16MHz later and could easily be upgraded. MCA had hardware Plug&Play. And please, don't mention VLB, it was an horrible hack :)

      But... MCA also had high licensing fees, and in it's first years, the smaller size of MCA cards compared to ISA made it more expensive. More LSI/VLSI chips had to be used. Also, it got bungled into the IBM PS/2, OS/2 mess... many thought that it only worked with OS/2 and vice versa.

      Since you say that the technical community will choose the best linux distro out there, why didn't the technical community choose MCA machines? (price) Why didn't they choose Token Ring networks, instead of coax-Ethernet? (price) And why is Red Hat the largest and most widespread distro out there, when so many diss it? Sure, Linux isn't totally market driven, but Linux is fast becoming a seasoned player in the marketing and management levels of business too.

      KDE will not succeed on the basis of Qt beeing good and that the DE is better designed.

      --
      //Cartoon
    118. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by r00tl3ss · · Score: 1

      Novell chose not to use KDE because YOU stopped using it? That's some pulling power you got there mate.

    119. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by donscarletti · · Score: 1

      I'm serious, KDE does NOT support SVG; Crystal SVG is a PNG theme nomatter what it is called. You have never turned it on in Gnome because you can't, it's always on, it loads up an SVG icon if it finds it with no user interaction, you probably don't know you are using it but there are a number of programs that only ship with SVG graphics and icons but "just work" according to the gnome philosophy.

      --
      When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
    120. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Without question, the best is FreeBSD.

  2. Cost savings - makes sense by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Granted, I'm on OS X user who uses Linux servers, and I really don't give a rats ass about Gnome versus KDE - I just look at whatever I'm using and launch the app I need.

    For Novell to work on one interface isn't saying "Oh, Gnome is the Hawt and KDE is not!" - it's just a cost saving move, and I can agree with that. The question is: will this help lead to a "one Linux Desktop" future where the de-facto standard is Gnome. When that happens, will more apps be Gnome based, or will we continue to see the dual-track desktop development?

    1. Re:Cost savings - makes sense by MrResistor · · Score: 3, Interesting

      For Novell to work on one interface isn't saying "Oh, Gnome is the Hawt and KDE is not!" - it's just a cost saving move, and I can agree with that.

      No, it's a lot more than that. Suse has been a KDE-based distro forever. Many of the KDE developers are Suse employees, and while Gnome has been included pretty much as long as it's been available, it's been practically unusable. (I don't know if it's just been a Suse thing, or if the Gnome tools really are that much more primitive.)

      This is a sea change.

      The question is: will this help lead to a "one Linux Desktop" future where the de-facto standard is Gnome.

      I wouldn't be surprised if this were actually Novell's intention. I'm sure there are plenty of vendors who will be quite pleased with this decision. Unfortunately, I think a lot of Suse customers will not be so pleased. Maybe it's the Novell curse striking again?

      --
      Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
    2. Re:Cost savings - makes sense by killjoe · · Score: 0

      The de-facto desktop is already gnome. I can't think of one major distribution that does not set up gnome as the default desktop.

      --
      evil is as evil does
    3. Re:Cost savings - makes sense by Elektroschock · · Score: 1

      But: You better not force your customers to use the inferior product. SuSE is fine and is succesful because it is KDE. Linux Desktop is strong in europe and it almost means KDE. Some hackers prefer Gnome and I am fine with it. But: This is certainly a wrong decision. RedHat was a gnome distribution and users are fine with that. But why buy a SuSe when it just does what RedHat does and RedHat is no distribution for the Desktop. Gnome is not ready for the enterprise desktop. Believe me. I do not care whether software is written in GTK or QT. Toolkits shoudl not matter and GTK shall integrate better in KDE as QT should better integrate into the Gnome desktop. Who cares about toolkits. The problem is that users think Linux=RedHat in the US and Linux Desktop=KDE in Europe. And you better don't fuck off your customers.

    4. Re:Cost savings - makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you better don't fuck off your customers.

      "Did he say making fuck?"

    5. Re:Cost savings - makes sense by justsomebody · · Score: 1

      mm....mmmphh...Gotta... bite...this...one....

      Desktop Suse moved to OpenSuse.org. Novell is counting more or less on server support, where their dektop money lies in commercial waters, aka. bussiness desktop. Gnome is far more polished than KDE for a typical Joe Sixpack. Gnome's moto is simplicity and having only those options that are needed, while moto of KDE is "Look, empty space? Must... put... something.... flashy... here, but that will require additional 10 preferences in kcontrol" (but that kind of stupidity should end with 4.0, at least as far I read the papers)
      - Sooo, bussiness deployment mean money, and Gnome does provide easier environment than KDE

      Problem with KDE is that general KDE user is a long time geek, or unemployed guy who only lives to set his desktop just as he needs. Typical Joe Sixpack is probably scared with abnormal number of settings. KDE plans for 4.0 are the correct ones. And which way they are they taking? Same as Gnome. Simplicity over complexity. Functionality over being configurable.
      - No money here, move along Novell.

      On the other hand majority of the money from Suse lies in servers. You don't need KDE for server, don't you?
      - Much more money here, but no desktop environment needed

      Now, why do you think that I think that you know that I know you think Novell made a correct decision

      The problem is that users think Linux=RedHat in the US and Linux Desktop=KDE in Europe.

      Ok, I live in Europe, but from all people I know that use Linux (about 200) I know only 2 that are using KDE, and one is coding commercial apps for Gnome while using KDE (well, world is strange. What can I say). So your Europe and my Europe are different Europes? And to give you even more to think about, servers (deployments I know, not only mine) here are either RH (quite a few), Fedora (more than RH), CentOS (majority), FreeBSD (can count them on my fingers of my left hand). Desktop users are more and more moving to Ubuntu.
      That would be my Europe I know about.

      --
      Signature Pro version 1.13.2-3 release 83.5 beta3try7 after-breakfast edition
    6. Re:Cost savings - makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Berserker. Would you like to suck my cock, berserker!?

  3. Oh well by 42Penguins · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you really want to, you can still use KDE, right? This seems like a change that would mainly affect newbies, from a company with a network OS that a newbie can easily use. I welcome our Novell overlords that make things simple, if lacking in choice.

    1. Re:Oh well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want something that gives you no choice but is easy to use, stick with Windows.

  4. Huge by djhankb · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This is huge...
    I have always been a fan of the Gnome Desktop, as I've been a RedHat user since the early days.
    KDE Has always felt klunky and thrown together compared to the new(er) versions of Gnome are currently.
    I'm glad someone is also finally throwing down the line and choosing a single desktop.
    -H

    --
    --- #@$DF@#2%@^%3^&*$%FRHG%%[NO CARRIER]
    1. Re:Huge by arevos · · Score: 1

      I've always felt that KDE feels more mature and, for want of a better word, more solid, perhaps, than Gnome. Though that may just be what I'm used to and what I prefer. It's a shame that SuSE's moving away; few major distros support KDE by default, and now we're one less.

    2. Re:Huge by rdieter · · Score: 2, Interesting

      KDE Has always felt klunky and thrown together compared to the new(er) versions of Gnome are currently.


      Funny, I've always felt the other way around. To each his own...
    3. Re:Huge by IamLarryboy · · Score: 1

      This is huge...
      I have always been a fan of the K Desktop Environment, as I've been a SuSE user since the early days.
      Gnome Has always felt klunky and thrown together compared to the new(er) versions of KDE.
      I'm disappointed someone is throwing down the line and choosing a single desktop.

    4. Re:Huge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Erm, KDE carefully designed by one company, Gnome amateurish hack in comparison.

    5. Re:Huge by Punboy · · Score: 1

      But isn't one of the main points of running Linux to have a choice? "Throwing down the line" and choosing one desktop gets rid of that. -prods with a fish- You definitely /are/ a Gnome user.

      --
      If you like what I've said here, and want to read more, go to http://www.krillrblog.com
  5. OMG! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What about.. TEH CHOICE!!!!11??? Novell are fascists! Down with Novell!!! Open source is all about choice!! And making sure you are confronted with choice ALL THE TIME!!!

    Oh wait, they are standardizing on Gnome and not KDE? Never mind. Novell rocks it.

  6. This is a stupid move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SuSE IS KDE. Without KDE, SuSE is nothing.
    Fedora is Gnome.

    What I am going to do? Use Mandrake?. No, Mandrake is a BAD distribution. Right now I am using Debian and SuSe, I'll use only Debian

  7. Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    RedHat, Sun and Novell all now standardize on Gnome, correct? Do any major distros standardize on KDE anymore?

    1. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by saterdaies · · Score: 4, Informative

      Mandriva is still firmly standardized on KDE.

    2. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by benjamindees · · Score: 1

      Mepis, Knoppix, Linspire, Mandriva, Lycoris

      Debian is desktop-neutral, but there is a decent percentage of KDE users. And there is Kubuntu.

      --
      "I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
    3. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by G3ckoG33k · · Score: 1

      As a long time KDE and Mandrake/Mandriva user, I doubt and lament Mandriva will be among 'major distributions' if they hold on to KDE. It ought to be (financially) hard to be the sole large supporter of a 'desktop'.

    4. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong... for a start, Mandriva's config tools are all GTK-based. The only thing you could say is that it has KDE selected as the desktop during install. Mandriva long ago announced they were giving parity to GNOME... my guess is that it won't be long before they do the same as Novell.

      Quite apart from that, Mandriva is hardly a "major commercial distributor" ditto Debian... and especially stuff like Gentoo, Slackware etc etc and all the other no-hoper one-developer ego distros.

    5. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by plasticsquirrel · · Score: 1

      Slackware Linux dropped GNOME last March. According to the changelog, Patrick dropped it because it was becoming too much of a pain to keep up with. As a Slackware user who doesn't use either KDE or GNOME, I'm happy that the change was made. It opens up more time for Patrick to spend working on the Slackware core. As he wrote, "Slackware does not need to ship every choice".

      --
      Systemd: the PulseAudio of init systems
    6. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by ralf1 · · Score: 1

      I believe the OP said "major distros". The fact that its the one you use doesn't make it a major one.

      --
      "Would you, could you, with a goat?" Dr Seuss
    7. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by dotcomrade · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Slackware 10.2 dropped Gnome altogether.

      --
      - there is too a spoon
    8. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by Pop69 · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Slackware doesn't even include the Gnome desktop anymore.

      PV is of the opinion that it's just too much hassle to compile and package as far as I remember.

      Having compiled a Gnome desktop as part of LFS I can agree with him. All those little bits of library are a monumental pain in the arse to configure and compile just to get something that can be done by compiling 2 or 3 large packages in KDE

    9. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no, it kind of does. look at the timestamps, not that many people must have read that post and thought about what linux theyre on... better if we had a me too!!! tho...

    10. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by Malor · · Score: 1

      Mandriva is popular and widely used, particularly in Europe.

      Just because it's one you DON'T use doesn't make it irrelevant.

    11. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by fforw · · Score: 1
      Mandriva is popular and widely used, particularly in Europe.

      Just because it's one you DON'T use doesn't make it irrelevant.

      I live in Germany, but I don't know anyone who uses Mandriva. I think it's mostly the french who use it. (I wouldn't call it irrelevant though)
      --
      while (!asleep()) sheep++
    12. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, the answer to his question is: No, there are no other major distros that standardize on KDE.

    13. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by Malor · · Score: 1

      Distrowatch lists it at #2, behind only Ubuntu, and ahead of SUSE.

      I don't know how closely their results reflect the real world, their list comes fairly close to matching my personal experience with Linux users and their distros of choice.

    14. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by moranar · · Score: 2, Informative

      Your post is correct except for the part about mandriva being firmly standardized on KDE.

      Mandriva offers both KDE and GNOME (and a host of other WMs) and molds both to its particular interface, "galaxy" using themes, patches and other stuff. The Mandriva tools (Drakxtools) are written using GTK. So I don't see it as "standardized on KDE".

      --
      "I think it would be a good idea!"
      Gandhi, about Internet Security
    15. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by bonkeroo+buzzeye · · Score: 1

      As some others have noted, depending on your definition of 'major', Slackware *only* ships KDE. I think the *why* is more enlightening: Patrick is one guy - not a giant corporation. It's too much of a pain for him to support. So flip this around: the big corporations (Novell, Red Hat) *can* support Gnome and their *users* have a harder time managing it - if a distro uses Gnome as its default desktop, its users are going to *need* more support and the distro is going to make more money in 'services'. Install KDE and far fewer people will need assistance.

      There are all kinds of other issues I know - mono and so on - and it's not as simple as I make out. But I think it's an important and overlooked ingredient. If the software is free and the only way you make money is support, you want a *difficult* product that *requires* a lot of support.

      (Disclaimer: Slackware user ironically currently in KDE, but I usually use fvwm and hate both KDE and Gnome. ;) And I'm not involved in enterprise, so I'm just hypothesizing.)

    16. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by rolfwind · · Score: 1
      There are all kinds of other issues I know - mono and so on - and it's not as simple as I make out. But I think it's an important and overlooked ingredient. If the software is free and the only way you make money is support, you want a *difficult* product that *requires* a lot of support.


      Providing the actual support costs money - the more customers you have with probelms, the more support staff you have to hire. Also, your customer will be none to impressed with the product quality.

      Providing support is largely providing peace-of-mind.

      It's almost like the insurance business, the insurance don't want you to get into an accident (for the financial sake of all involved) but they are there as long as you pay your premiums on time. They make money by the premiums minus the cost of accidents, so it's desirable for customers to have less, not more, accidents.
    17. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're both bastard fucking cunt cunt shit.

    18. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's because everyone was using Dropline anyway.

    19. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by big_groo · · Score: 1

      Slackware doesn't even ship with Gnome.

    20. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      Yes, but when I put together a Slackware box, I usually run FVWM.

      To do otherwise would just seem weird. Although with OpenMotif MWM becomes an option as well.

      --
      resigned
    21. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by digidave · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's a shame to see KDE become such an outcast because they have done many things better than Gnome.

      1. KParts
      2. Kate
      3. Konqueror (file manager)
      4. KHTML (browser)
      5. KControl and its new System Settings replacement
      6. Integrating Super Karamba into desktop

      While Gnome has made some colossal errors in judgement.

      1. Removing the menu editor (just back in newest version)
      2. Forcing 'spacial' Nautilus as the default before anybody could even try it.

      Luckily, Kubuntu is still great :)

      I doubt KDE will die quickly, but it does seem the writing is on the wall. If major distros are really standardizing on Gnome I think KDE is too big a project to keep all the developers it needs. I hope KDE 4 + Plasma aren't affected by this move by Novell because it looks like KDE is much closer to an OS X-level desktop than Gnome is.

      --
      The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
    22. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by Arker · · Score: 1

      Don't forget 3. %$#^ing up the keybindings.

      --
      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
      Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
    23. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by bonkeroo+buzzeye · · Score: 1

      "Also, your customer will be none to impressed with the product quality."

      True, if the product they were shipping was just buggy crap, but I didn't mean it quite that way - more in the sense that it's a quality product that simply takes a bit of effort. If the buyer (the company) just downloads a bunch of source packages, does "configure && make && make install" and the operating just jumps out and writes itself down and there are never any problems at all, why would they pay a company to package it for them? But if the kernel doesn't have a stable branch and Gnome takes a few minor miracles to build and gconf is capable of locking things down in an enterprise fashion but isn't thoroughly documented, then there's a reason to buy a service contract. The buyer feels like they're getting something. So I agree it's largely insurance and peace of mind but imagine a Jetson's kind of future where cars *couldn't* crash - how many insurance companies would stay in business? (Answer: all of them, because they would keep the laws requiring insurance on the books anyway, but that's drifting off topic. *g*) Rhetorically, the answer would be none.

      So there's a kind of mid-point: they may make money by the premiums minus the cost of accidents, so they may desire fewer accidents rather than more, but only to a point, because they require *some* in order to have a reason to exist at all. Besides which, the premiums are basically conditioned on the number of accidents: higher accident rate; higher premiums; equal profits. But, either way, *some* accidents are required in this model.

      But, as I say, this is just armchair theorizing - thanks for the reply and sorry I wasn't able to get back sooner.

    24. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by legirons · · Score: 1

      Do any major distros standardize on KDE anymore?

      Yeah, KUbuntu does! ;)

    25. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would be important if anyone outside of half a dozen noisy slashdot posters gave a shit about Slackware. Novell on the other hand, is a large international company -- that owns SUSE, one of the biggest Linux distros and the only remaining major one to use KDE.

      You see the slight difference in scale here, right?

    26. Re:Do any major distros standardize on KDE? by 10Ghz · · Score: 1

      Xandors, Mandriva, Slackware, Linspire, MEPIS, Knoppix and Kubuntu for starters.

      --
      Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
  8. Gnome can be good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...as far as style and eye candy, take a look on gnome-look.org!
    I've customized my Ubuntu 5.10 with the metacity theme "Blended 1.5", the "NuoveXT" icon theme and the grass wallpaper from one of the leaked longhorn/vista betas. Try it!

  9. How it will look like by anandpur · · Score: 3, Interesting

    May be somethink like this, you can see some names from Novel
    http://tango-project.org/

  10. Management by Elektroschock · · Score: 3, Interesting

    SuSe is a KDE distribution and SuSE customers want KDE. Desktop-Linux means KDE in Europe. So what do some managers of Novell do? Listen to Ximian which is a developer's booth without a market.

    Unbelievable. They ruin a distribution.

    A real company would listen to customers first, then allocate the ressources to development. Suse was very good on that in the past.

    A bad company is driven by engineering. The role of marketing is to sell what the developers invented or want to create.

    The second approach is doomed to fail.

    1. Re:Management by craXORjack · · Score: 4, Informative
      A company that stays in business does what is necessary to keep costs down. If you read the article:

      The GNOME interface is going to become the default interface on both the SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server) and Novell Linux Desktop line.

      All that is happening is that the distributions they are pushing to corporations will use Gnome as the default. Big deal. SuSE Personal/Professional/whatever will continue as normal.

      --
      Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
    2. Re:Management by kayen_telva · · Score: 1

      where does it say that SuSe Pro will be using gnome ? they mention SLES only.

    3. Re:Management by Sri+Ramkrishna · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It isn't GNOME thats interesting it's Mono. Novell needs to standardize on one platform in order to create a single homogenized environment. My guess is that they plan to sell their commercialized applications using Mono. Since Mono uses GTK for it's toolkit it's going to look odd to have one desktop using one toolkit and their tools using another toolkit. It creates a disharmony.

      As for customers, they won't care what the desktop is as long as it does what they want it to do. Corporate customers are not addled and opinionated like us FOSS types. They don't have a favourite distro. It's whatever it takes to get the job done. If they do have opinions by in large it's going to be a miniority. As you say, as long as Novell listens to it's customers they can put resources into extending GNOME to do what customers need. The desktops are not that different, perhaps one provides more customization than the other but there is nothing that can't be added since it's all open source.

      sri

    4. Re:Management by Famatra · · Score: 0, Troll

      Not being able to have propritary applications run/interact on KDE without a license to TrollTech is a problem. It gives too much control to them and limits the potential of people choosing closed alternatives (games etc.) from intracting fully. What stops TrollTech from charging super high prices if/when Linux becomes popular? Too much uncertainty for SuSE/RedHat to be at their mercy.

      There is no reason why Gnome cannot be as good as KDE given enough time and resources, assuming it is not as good as or better than KDE now.

    5. Re:Management by arivanov · · Score: 1

      Seconded.

      Typical case of American disregard for market needs outside America.

      Seen that many times in the days when I used to work for an American company. As one of my coworkers used to say: American "technical" middle management are like seagulls, they come from across the ocean, shit all over you, nick your sandwiches, scream loudly for a while above your head, make a right mess and after that fly back leaving you to do janitorial work for a few weeks.

      It is a real pity that this has happened to SuSe. And based on what I see I think I will drop out of consideration any Novell products for the foreseeable future. I do not like seagulls.

      --
      Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
      http://www.sigsegv.cx/
    6. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Desktop-Linux means KDE in Europe.

      Uh, really? Here around Munich that's not true at all. Both desktops are well known and used, AFAI can see.

    7. Re:Management by Elektroschock · · Score: 1

      Well, who cares about toolkits. Why not run Mono under KDE? Why not develop GTK apps for KDE. KDE is a desktop environment, no application toolkit.

      The visual differences are mostly artificial ones. We will see crosstheming very soon.

      "As you say, as long as Novell listens to it's customers they can put resources into extending GNOME to do what customers need."

      No. SuSE has a market and has customers. They chose SuSE because of SuSe's KDE committment, because they know that KDE is well supported under SuSE and KDE serves their needs best. It is not about preferences of geeks. It is about the the European market they bought. And you cannot impose a product on a market.

    8. Re:Management by IANAAC · · Score: 1
      And based on what I see I think I will drop out of consideration any Novell products for the foreseeable future. I do not like seagulls.

      That's a pretty myopic view. Aside from standardizing on Gnome, do you really have any other gripes with what Novell has done with Linux? They've actually done a lot to free previously non-free software.

    9. Re:Management by rthomanek · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I can only second that.

      I am not really sure whether the desktop preference has something to do with Europe vs. US - though, incidentally, I *am* in Europe, I *am* using SuSE and I *am* a strong KDE supporter - I detest Gnome, to put it straight (why? HUGE widgets, esp. buttons, swapped "OK" and "Cancel" - the list is long; OK, the rant is over, it is not the time nor the place to discuss personal preferences).

      The fact is that both Gnome and KDE have huge userbases and the decision to favor Gnome is at least not understandable to me. There is no point in exploring the specific differences between Gnome and KDE but suffice to say that KDE is at least not worse than Gnome.

      They ruin the distribution, as the parent poster said.

      Shall we expect KOpenSuse anytime soon?

    10. Re:Management by sjvn · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Here's the deal. First, read the fine article. It does say that it's both the desktop and SLES. You'll also see that the SUSE Desktop--the community version you can grab at

      http://www.opensuse.org/

      will continue to support both KDE and GNOME.

      SLES, the server version, and Novell Linux Desktop, the commercial distributions. though, will be built to use GNOME as its primary interface.

      Now, if one is at all clever, you can certainly run put KDE on SLES or NLD. After all, besides the fact that it's not that much trouble to add *any* of the Linux GUIs to any distribution, in the case of SLES and NLD, the integration work will still largely have been done in the community SUSE desktop.

      The real difference is that Novell isn't going to be spending any of its own dollars trying to support two interfaces.

      Steven

    11. Re:Management by Homology · · Score: 1
      Not being able to have propritary applications run/interact on KDE without a license to TrollTech is a problem. It gives too much control to them and limits the potential of people choosing closed alternatives (games etc.) from intracting fully. What stops TrollTech from charging super high prices if/when Linux becomes popular? Too much uncertainty for SuSE/RedHat to be at their mercy.

      Huge chunks of any Linux distribution is GPL, and since the QT GUI toolkit is GPL as well, what's your problem?

    12. Re:Management by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 1

      My guess is that they plan to sell their commercialized applications using Mono.

      If that's true, then I wonder why they cut some of the Mono staff. Consolidation of the Mono sales team into the Novell Sales Team, or something?

      From the article:

      "There have been minimal cuts in Mono [an open-source implementation of Microsoft's .Net], and none of those cuts were in developers."

    13. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      SuSE Personal/Professional/whatever will continue as normal.

      KDE is being pushed out into OpenSUSE and left to be supported by the community. KDE now has the same status at "Novell the company" as it does as "Red Hat the company" -- ie... none at all. Split hairs however you like...

    14. Re:Management by Richard_at_work · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Huge chunks of any Linux distribution is GPL, and since the QT GUI toolkit is GPL as well, what's your problem?

      Would you say that if a distribution was released with a GPLed libc? The current favourite one is LGPLed, which enables none GPLed applications to be included or run on that OS with less overhead.

      This situation is very very similiar.

    15. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Huge chunks of any Linux distribution is GPL, and since the QT GUI toolkit is GPL as well, what's your problem?

      Qt is a library, fucknut. Get this into your thick religion-addled brain. The GPL on Qt spreads out onto everything that links with it, which includes every app written to run on KDE. THIS IS NOT TRUE OF THE LINUX KERNEL... or the GNU TOOLS, or the many other libraries you find in a Linux distro.

      Everything you build on KDE is subject to Qt's licensing, and Qt is not just a GUI toolkit. KDE uses it for strings, general utility functions. It's in everything. Write it down and remember it.

      Too many KDE zealots just don't fucking get this. The licensing on QT is what's killing KDE. Now, either Trolltech will get desperate and release Qt as LGPL (doubtful, but possible), or KDE is going down the pan... it's been circling the plughole for a while now.

    16. Re:Management by T-Ranger · · Score: 1

      Your reasoning is flawed. Users dont realy care about their "desktop enviroment", at least not explicityly. They care about applications. Novell applications are written for Gnome, or Mono, which has strong bindings for Gnome. SLES and NLD must default to something, so the question is: do you default to something that makes their applications sub-optimal, or do you default to something that their applications all use?

    17. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Desktop-Linux means KDE in Europe.
      Says who?
    18. Re:Management by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      and not to mention the C++ abi issues which make deploying such apps a pita to do right (you think glibc is bad, gnus C++ abi is much worse).

      i'm pretty damn sure that the only reason qt is gpl is so trolltech could get it into distros and therefore set themselves up in an ideal position to milk developers of propietry software for linux.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    19. Re:Management by Sri+Ramkrishna · · Score: 1

      Probably because those people may not have knowledge about other Novell products and it's probably easier to train the other marketing people on mono than training mono marketers on other novell products. Thats my guess.

    20. Re:Management by T-Ranger · · Score: 3, Insightful
      How is Mono related to GNOME?
      In a number of ways. This project was born out of the need of providing improved tools for the GNOME community, and will use existing components that have been developed for GNOME when they are available. For example, we plan to use Gtk+ and Libart to implement Winforms and the Drawing2D API and are considering GObject support. Mono team members work actively on the Gtk# (http://gtk-sharp.sf.net/ project: a binding of the GNOME class libraries for .NET and Mono.

      Yes, you can run Mono under KDE. Yes, Novell could get strong KDE bindings into Mono. But Novell develops apps for Mono, and Mono plays better under Gnome on Linux.

      The announcement does not mean that Novell is stopping the support of KDE on the desktop, it means that Gnome is the default on the desktop. One could speculate that it is also (implicit) permission for the Novell application developers to stop caring about KDE, but I dont think they ever did.

    21. Re:Management by Sri+Ramkrishna · · Score: 1

      Sure, they could run QT bindings with Mono. Why they don't I cannot answer. Perhaps because most of their mono people don't know QT that well and it's a training issue. Also perhaps using QT in commerical apps will incur licensing costs that Novell wishes to avoid.

      I"m not sure how you can develop "GTK Apps" with KDE. Their underlying mechanisms are different. For instance, an app whose file dialog boxes are fundamentally different incurs confusion for people. If one apps behaves differently from the other because the underlying technology is different (eg file dialog box, vfs, whatever) then those difference invariably cost money in time and effort. Since you can never tell what applications you're running will be like. Cross theming will make it even more difficult since the app looks like a KDE app but does not behave like one.

      In any case, only idealogues will argue for one desktop or another. It'll be more important that it works as advertised and that the applications people want to run works.

      sri

      sri

    22. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Aside from standardizing on Gnome, do
      > you really have any other gripes with
      > what Novell has done with Linux? They've
      > actually done a lot to free previously
      > non-free software.

      No. Shitting into the face of a community that helped to push their most valuable product is enough for me. Helping to kill that community is an additional point.

      And bringing a whole plattform into legal limbo by trying to push a development language that nobody else is allowed to ship without an appropriate contract with Microsoft is certainly the final nail in the coffin.

    23. Re:Management by arivanov · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Myopic? Gimme a break.

      First, A company that buys top of the line technology and after that screws it magestically for the sole reason that it is "Not Invented Here (tm)" is bound to have some serious troubles down the road.

      Second, Suse marketed towards Europe and was quite successfull. KDE was one of the major pieces in the puzzle and one of the reasons for SuSe success. By taking this step, Novell shows that it does not give a flying shit about the Europe market wishes.

      So there is nothing myopic here. It is just business Frankie, just business. I will simply give my money to someone who actually pays attention to the market where I operate. Novell is showing that it is not that company.

      --
      Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
      http://www.sigsegv.cx/
    24. Re:Management by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1
      SuSe is a KDE distribution and SuSE customers want KDE.

      Really? Who elected you to speak for all of SuSE customers?

      I've been using SuSE for a few years now, and I really don't care which one is the main UI, KDE or GNOME, but I strongly agree with Novell that they should focus on one or the other.

    25. Re:Management by kayen_telva · · Score: 2, Informative

      heres the deal: it says the novell linux desktop, which is a distinct product from SuSe Pro or OpenSuSE

      here is a tip, NLD has always been Gnome. So basically, SLES is going gnome. BFD.

      kde is not going away in OpenSuSE (the replacement for SuSe Pro)

      holy crap, the GP is modded interesting.. its like talking to a wall

      "The entire KDE graphical interface and product family will continue to be supported and delivered on OpenSuSE," said Mancusi-Ungaro.

      wtf has happened to reading comprehension in the 21st century ?
      or, a better question, why do I even try talking to slashbots even more ?

    26. Re:Management by johansalk · · Score: 1

      Well it has to be said, Gnome looks far more corporate and professional in its restrained, no-nonsense look. KDE on the otherhand has that consumer, incurable-featuritis, gimme-galore look and feel of late 1990s.

    27. Re:Management by idlake · · Score: 1

      Unbelievable. They ruin a distribution.

      Maybe to you. I think this is a big improvement because Novell's Gnome support in the past was much worse than their KDE support. Time will tell whether it was the right business decision.

      Maybe you should give Gnome a try.

    28. Re:Management by ScriptedReplay · · Score: 1

      Aside from standardizing on Gnome, do you really have any other gripes with what Novell has done with Linux?

      Tou don't seem to realize the meaning of this. SUSE was *the* major backer of KDE - and now they're basically turning their back on it. When KDE was the default desktop, you could still get Gnome, but support was ... shall I say, less than perfect. This will look the same, only with positions reversed; much like RedHat is supporting KDE. A pity, really.

      Besides, look at the message they're sending: U-turns in product strategy are not exactly the most confidence-inspiring things one can do and these days Novell needs all the confidence it can get to move on. How many SUSE users, after getting confortable with KDE, will be happy to face the choice of either switching the desktop or staying with the second-rated option? Or are they counting on the new adopters outnumbering by far the unhappy existing user base?

      I wonder if they're re-writing YaST to use Mono.

    29. Re:Management by Wieland · · Score: 1

      Desktop-Linux means KDE in Europe.

      Not on my desktop, it doesn't. I've been using RH/Fedora for some years now, but SUSE (6.4, I seem to remember) was the distro that converted me to Linux. Even then, I used Gnome. It's probably a matter of taste, but to me, KDE seemed bloated and clumsy.

      Last year, I kissed Gnome goodbye as well, though. Now I'll just sit back and watch the Holy Wars, while I enjoy my Xfce desktop.

    30. Re:Management by nutshell42 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      You didn't understand the GP. Most of Novell's Linux business comes from SuSE and most SuSE customers are in Europe. Together that means most of them use KDE. Now to save a few bucks (either for Qt licenses or a developer to perfect a Qt-GTK-compatibility lib -- all it'd really take is a themeing engine which already exists and an abstraction so you can change some common properties of Gnome programs like the button order with a simple setting like in KDE) Novell decided to screw over the part of their company that actually makes a profit and instead switch over their user base to a new Desktop environment.

      Imagine the sales pitch when they tell the customer that they have to retrain all their staff for the next upgrade. Microsoft, RedHat and every other competitor probably opened a bottle of LouisXIV 1714 in celebration =)

      --
      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
    31. Re:Management by Jason+Earl · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, KDE will still probably be on the CD. However, Novell is not going to be paying for KDE development to the same extent that they have in the past. Since Novell was basically the last big KDE development sponsor this is going to make it harder for KDE to compete in the long term with Gnome.

    32. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forget at least Trolltech.

    33. Re:Management by Elektroschock · · Score: 1

      Oh, this is the stupid business way of thinking: Why not collaborate, one desktop for all, Kmail and Evolution; Latex, Kword, Abiword and OO.org developers join to build one product to compete with MS Word. Cutting costs by focussing on one product. Haha. This is not the way it works and who knows Open Source development is aware of it. Of course this step only demonstrates that Novell is run by novices to the Linux market.

      This is not the way the market works. I like SuSE and I like it because it is a KDE app. Customers buy SuSe because of its KDE reputation. It's Gnome support was always second class and for our great surprise that Novell bought Ximian did not change that. If you want Desktop you take KDE, if you want Gnome you do not take SuSE.

      Another example: The Germans had nice pursuits planes but Hitler ordered they had to be used for bombine. Of course the planes were not designed for that purpose.

      Same for Gnome: It is the second choice on the desktop, perhaps useful on the mainframe. Few days ago SUN abadonned its Java Desktop because it was GNOME based and they suffered under it.

      Novell is a company which does not listen to their customers and does not understand the Linux desktop market. Why did they pick one of the best KDE distributions in order to convert it to Gnome. This makes no sense. Clueless business people with no knowledge of the market.

    34. Re:Management by nutshell42 · · Score: 1
      Not being able to have propritary applications run/interact on KDE without a license to TrollTech is a problem.

      This is completely wrong.

      • You don't have to pay fees per unit shipped. Qt license fees are tied to the number of developers using it
      • You can use more than one toolkit without a problem (I'm currently running WinXP -CivIV =)-, I write this on Firefox, I have an XChat window open, Winamp and a AV prog that looks like it was written for Win3.1. Even on the corporate desktop you use at least Office which has its own toolkit).
      --
      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
    35. Re:Management by DanielJosphXhan · · Score: 1

      wtf has happened to reading comprehension in the 21st century ?

      I imagine the same thing that happened to capitalization.

      dan (a bit snarky)

      --
      [ think ]
    36. Re:Management by Jason+Earl · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem is that QT is GPLed while GTK is LGPLed. That might not seem like a big difference but it is a huge difference to the commercial software developer. I can create commercial closed source software using Mono+GTK. Mix in QT and I either have to purchase a commercial QT license or I have to create GPLed applications.

      Novell is finally realizing that it doesn't make sense to develop and maintain two completely separate desktop environments (that don't interoperate particularly well) when it can simply choose *one* environment (the same one that the rest of the commercial Linux world has chosen) and save a pile of money while giving its sales folks a simple message to sell.

    37. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not the same status. While at RedHat there is only a packager also doing KDE packages, at SUSE a team stays to maintain the existing products and also other employees are attached with their heart and support to KDE.

    38. Re:Management by IntlHarvester · · Score: 1

      > The visual differences are mostly artificial ones. We will see crosstheming very soon.

      The visual differences are mostly intentional, to encourage end-user loyalty to one programming toolkit or the other.

      KDE and Gnome have had many years to sort out the theming and l&f issues, as well as things like file dialogs and VFSes. They haven't done it because they are both trying to magnify the differences between the toolkits, not minimize them.

      --
      Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
    39. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get a reality check: If they just stay there to maintain then they will be laid off step by step once maintenance contracts run out! Don't shite yourself!

    40. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I gave up SuSE when Novell acquired it, i knew they were going to ruin SuSE sooner or later. Now we are seeing it. Start of the ending of once great distro.

    41. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Novell has no Qt licenses anymore since YaST went GPL.

    42. Re:Management by scotch · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I think that is a valid point. Sometime I miss some bits of configurability, but gnome for the most part just makes more sense than KDE. Everytime I sit in down in front of KDE, I'm amazed at the complexity of the widgets, menus, etc. Not only is there an overwhelming amount of stuff, but it just doesn't look that good. That's entirely subjective, of course. It's a bit like the difference between simple web sites like google and complicated masses of links like amazon or other 'portal' search engines.

      YMMV, etc.

      --
      XML causes global warming.
    43. Re:Management by aCapitalist · · Score: 1

      The parent is not a troll. It's just the truth. The Qt license was going to bite KDE eventually. I'll argue that the KDE and Qt libraries are superior to gtk+/Gnome equivalents, but Sun, RedHat, and Novell were not going to be beholden to Trolltech for the future. It's a shame that someone like IBM didn't buy out Trolltech 7 years ago and liberalize the license.

    44. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sun abandonned Java Desktop because nobody saw a reason to buy it from Sun when they could get something better from RedHat or Novell.

    45. Re:Management by ksheff · · Score: 1

      What? You didn't see this coming the day that Novell bought Ximian?

      --
      the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
    46. Re:Management by Jason+Earl · · Score: 1

      That's it exactly. Novell is desperate to sell Linux desktops. They have a pretty good offering, but all of the stuff that makes their Linux desktop go is either Gnome software or software that is strategically aligned with Gnome (OpenOffice.org, Mono). Everyone else in the Linux community is pushing Gnome, and more importantly RedHat is pushing Gnome, and SuSE is losing marketshare to RedHat both on the desktop and the server.

      Investors were pushing for cuts and the Novell folks started wondering why they were paying so much to support KDE when their future is so tied up in Gnome.

    47. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "You don't have to pay fees per unit shipped. Qt license fees are tied to the number of developers using it"

      If you think that TrollTech's prices would not go up if Linux became popular then you don't know what business is about.

      I'll give you a hint:

      ______________

    48. Re:Management by iMac+Were · · Score: 0
      "a single homogenized environment."

      The mac may not be genized, but it's totally homo.

      --
      You thought my name meant what? How very dare you!
    49. Re:Management by Hognoxious · · Score: 1
      "the app looks like a KDE app but does not behave like one."

      Only if it's developed by a pillock who thinks skins are the alpha and omega of UI design. You may have heard the expression "look and feel". You may wish to ponder how that differs from "look".

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    50. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eurotrash whiners....like we haven't seen that before. Of course what's even funnier is the concept that socialist europeans know how to run businesses. Maybe you can protest Novell at your next EUrinal May Day march.

    51. Re:Management by StormReaver · · Score: 1

      "Unbelievable. They ruin a distribution."

      Cut Novell some slack. GNOME's only intractable problems are its user interface and API.

    52. Re:Management by Jason+Earl · · Score: 1

      I suppose that if you define "quite successful" as about half as much marketshare as RedHat and a lot less revenue and profits, then I supose SuSE Linux has been "quite successful." Novell's Linux desktop venture is pretty inextricably aligned with Gnome at this point. All of the software used in the Novell Linux desktop is either part of Gnome or allied with Gnome. The OpenOffice.org folks are mostly concerned with Gnome integration and Mono (Novell's development answer) is also closely aligned with Gnome. Heck, even Firefox is a GTK application. Novell executives knew that they had to do some cutting, and so they lined up with the rest of the commercial Linux world and will now primarily support Gnome. This should help the Novell sales folks too. Now they don't have to worry about talking about two different desktops and can simply concentrate on Gnome.

      It really was only a matter of time before this happened. Novell was essentially the last corporate sponsor that hadn't thrown its weight behind Gnome. With Novell moving into the Gnome camp which distribution do you plan to give your money to if you want to continue supporting KDE? Linspire is still KDE based, I suppose.

    53. Re:Management by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      I stated earlier in a comment that I wonder if companies prefer gnome for legal reasons. Do the qt libraries for trolltech require the $$$ version because they are making money off their distros? It sounds like its a shift for liability to the user if that user decides to install it.

      Also what if companyX uses kde and suse and developes software to sell with kdevelop and QT libraries. They are now in violation of the trolltech license but they never agreed to one remember? See the slippery slope? SuSE does not want to be sued by companyX developing the software with kdevelop for failure of disclosure of the license. I am not a laywer but I am curious about this argument.

      I would be sympathetic to gnome too if I were novell or sun for that reason. However, as a user you are more than welcome to run and install kde and I guess all the tools for yast2 will still be there.

    54. Re:Management by RAMMS+EIN · · Score: 1

      ``A bad company is driven by engineering. The role of marketing is to sell what the developers invented or want to create.''

      I don't think that's a really bad approach. These companies tend to produce great technology, which gets rediscovered 10 or 20 years later and brought to the masses. For a description of a really bad company, try this one:

      The worst companies are driven by marketing. Marketing promises to deliver certain features, then the managers push the programmers to implement them. The result is a product that has most of the promised features, but is so bad it drives those who use it into the ground.

      --
      Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
    55. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      KDE is not why SuSE makes a bit of money. Wasting the amount of resources and time that KDE integration required, as opposed to the simpler interactions and avoiding the Qt licensing problems is a big fiscal win for Novell.

      People buy SuSE because of the lengthy support agreements of 7 years and the availability of competent technical support based in Europe, along with the fairly up-to-date releases and practices of making a free distribution that nearly matches the commercial ones a few months later for download. But getting rid of Qt licensing helps ease that need for a second distribution.

    56. Re:Management by sricetx · · Score: 1

      Yes, this is suprisingly stupid move on Novell's part. SuSe has always been primarily a KDE distro. I really like SuSe 10.0 and was even considering buying stock in Novell, but not now after this announcement. I guess I'll either just stay on 10.0 for a long while and not upgrade, or will go back to Mandrake/Mandriva.

    57. Re:Management by einhverfr · · Score: 1

      First of all, I don't know anyone who hasn't seen this coming. Anyone here blindsided by this? I doubt it.

      Secondly, I don't think that people choose SLES because of KDE. Or at least not if they are smart. They are more likely to choose it based on YAST and Red Carpet than on KDE.... So I think you are right that this isn't that big of a deal.

      Third, it is not like KDE support is going away. It is just not the default install. There may be a little grumbing at first, but in the end, I don't see too many people getting too unhappy about it.

      After playing with OpenSuSE 10 and Fedora Core 4, I have to say that I like the desktop experience of OpenSuSE better (GNOME on both) than FC4, but for servers, I think FC4 is a little easier to manage. But I use both.

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    58. Re:Management by Jason+Earl · · Score: 1

      You forget at least Trolltech.

      I didn't forget TrollTech, I just don't consider them to be "major." Although I will say this about TrollTech. I bet that TT's management is kicking itself that it didn't switch to the GPL sooner. If TT would have switched to the GPL before Gnome got off to a concrete start this whole discussion would be academic now.

    59. Re:Management by Agarax · · Score: 1

      Its better than having 10 thousand little applications that all start with K and whose names have little or no relation to what they actually do.

      --
      Remember folks, slashdot doesn't have a -1 "disagree" moderation!
    60. Re:Management by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      QT is dual licensed. If a company wants to produce a commercial app, they need to purchase a QT developer's license and the product will NOT be GPL'd. Some would say it would be MORE constrained that it would under the GPL. Others would say less.

      --
      resigned
    61. Re:Management by Coryoth · · Score: 1

      I bet that TT's management is kicking itself that it didn't switch to the GPL sooner. If TT would have switched to the GPL before Gnome got off to a concrete start this whole discussion would be academic now.

      You know I really don't think that's true. Sure we might not have a GNOME environment based on GTK+, but given the deep differences in philosophy between GNOME and KDE I think we would simply be facing a decision between KDE and some project that forked from KDE early on (around 2.0 I would be guessing) to follow the same design approach that GNOME has now.

      Jedidiah.

    62. Re:Management by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      And thus the big question becomes: Why Did Novell buy SuSE? Just to run it into the ground?

      --
      resigned
    63. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, because they could something better from Microsoft.

      Java Desktop is just another tombstone in the Linux Desktop cemetery.

    64. Re:Management by rm69990 · · Score: 1

      SUSE Pro was never aimed at the business user. Novell Linux Desktop was, and Novell always pushed Gnome on this product anyway. If you even go to their site, go to NLD, all of the demos and screenshots are shown on Gnome, and none on KDE. For SLES, I'm pretty sure a sys-admin doesn't give two shits whether he is using Gnome or KDE to set up a server. A lot of them probably stick with CLI anyways. If a business used SUSE Pro, then they will probably continue to do so, and SUSE Pro will continue to use KDE and Gnome. So where's the beef?

      So again, I repeat, as a lot of people seem to miss this, it is only Novell's server products and Novell Linux Desktop that is getting rid of KDE. SUSE will continue to have both.

    65. Re:Management by xouumalperxe · · Score: 1

      Just to quickly rebute your reasons to hate Gnome: Swapped OK/Cancel buttons are a matter of experience. Neither is intuitive (I think, but IANA Ergonomy expert), and time will make you grow used to either. Big widgets are a Good Thing. They mean big, easy to acquire, targets. I find that in university (where the computers run KDE or fluxbox, no GNOME available) I have to aim MUCH more carefully. That means I'm distracted from what I'm doing, and that it disrupts my workflow. The fact that the default font size is also lower doesn't help in the slightest, either. I'm a big defender of making choices based on actual ergonomic arguments, rather than the cool factor, which seems, at least to me, a big factor in KDE design.

    66. Re:Management by Jason+Earl · · Score: 1

      Novell is hardly "running SuSE into the ground." In fact, Novell has *increased* the investment that SuSE has received, has released YaST and Hula and has done lots of other stuff that SuSE needed to do to stay competitive with RedHat.

      However, Novell's investors want to see a leaner Novell, and Novell's professional desktop (the one it sells) is based on Gnome software (just like everyone else's professional desktop). The KDE folks should have seen the writing on the wall when Novell made Mono their primary development option, and when the "Novell Desktop" was a modified Gnome desktop.

      What Novell hasn't done well is create the "complete package" that everyone thought that they would. Heck, Novell hasn't even integrated its server software with SuSE yet. Personally I agree with Novell's management. If Novell isn't going to sell KDE, why should they spend money developing it.

    67. Re:Management by Jason+Earl · · Score: 1

      That's a good point. However, a schism in the KDE world would have been much easier to deal with than two completely different toolkits that only share X as a common denominator.

    68. Re:Management by Jason+Earl · · Score: 1

      QT isn't dual-licensed as far as Novell is concerned. The last thing that Novell wants to do is to have to start worrying about yet another license when shipping Linux software, especially a commercial license. Novell wants software that can be combined with both commercial and GPLed software without having to talk to a pile of lawyers, and that limits its choice of development libraries to either an MIT-style license or the LGPL.

      Not to mention the fact that Novell is trying to build a set of developer tools that it can use to woo Windows developers to Linux. It doesn't want to tell these developers that if they want to build commercial applications they need to talk to some company in Sweden.

    69. Re:Management by civilizedINTENSITY · · Score: 1

      I think the point was that if QT had dual licensed originally, GNOME wouldn't even be. In terms of "forking KDE to follow the same design approach that GNOME has now", that wouldn't be a fork, that'd be a major from-the-ground-up rewrite. Which is *lots* of work. Which is why it took a license war reaching fever pitch to get into the activation energy levels necessary to start GNOME. The GP has a point, in that if QT had dual licensed originally then KDE would be the Linux desktop. They didn't. GNOME has the momentum, now. History is just what happens...

    70. Re:Management by IANAAC · · Score: 1
      Why Did Novell buy SuSE? Just to run it into the ground?,

      My guess is to primarily continue development of a top-notch server which would net them some cash, second a decent desktop.

    71. Re:Management by Sri+Ramkrishna · · Score: 1

      You are absolutely correct and someone mentioned this to me as well that it's very likely not useful to fund two competing technologies that don't work well together. (they can if they tried hard though)

      sri

    72. Re:Management by civilizedINTENSITY · · Score: 1

      Ah, but they need to purchase the license *before* they begin developing. Because if you go with the free-as-in-beer approach, you are promising to make it free-as-in-speech, with that Free GPLed QT. You can't produce under the GPLed QT, and then buy a license and recompile and say it was all done under the commercial license. It wasn't.

      You can't get a license to release GPLed software as commercial from QT. Trolltech is very specific about choosing, and choosing wisely, up front, at the beginning. If you did start with a GPLed QT, and did a lot of work, you'd find yourself having to a)buy a commercial license, and then b)code around the GPLed work you've done, that you can't use in a commercial work.

    73. Re:Management by TechnologyX · · Score: 0

      I like the LGPL better, I can take the code, use it in a closed source app, and fuck over the OSS community without retribution, instead of handing them every piece of code I've ever written like I owe them something.

      --
      Slashdot sucks
    74. Re:Management by aCapitalist · · Score: 1

      I stated earlier in a comment that I wonder if companies prefer gnome for legal reasons. Do the qt libraries for trolltech require the $$$ version because they are making money off their distros? It sounds like its a shift for liability to the user if that user decides to install it.

      If the shipped code is GPL compatible then a distro wouldn't need to pay Trolltech any money.

      Also what if companyX uses kde and suse and developes software to sell with kdevelop and QT libraries. They are now in violation of the trolltech license but they never agreed to one remember? See the slippery slope? SuSE does not want to be sued by companyX developing the software with kdevelop for failure of disclosure of the license. I am not a laywer but I am curious about this argument.

      Novell is basically just following the lead of RedHat and Sun. They're not going to let Trolltech dictate prices on proprietary development. And their also not going to pass on this "liability" to their customers who might want to sell proprietary code in the future. This isn't much of a concern right now, but if desktop linux was ever to take off then you'd basically have everybody held hostage by Trolltech in terms of pricing and the future direction of the toolkit.

      It was inevitable that the big corporate players would all standardize on Gnome.

    75. Re:Management by Macka · · Score: 1


      Yeah, that's what turned me off KDE too. As much as I think its a superior design under the hood, and is more flexible, etc, etc. At the end of the day I just wanted to use a simple clean interface with one of each type of app on display in the menus at any one time, by default, as I move from one customer system to the next. Gnome pretty much gives you that "out of the box" and KDE doesn't, at least the last time I looked. So guess what, when customers ask me for a recommended Linux distro, I suggest one that focuses primarily on GNOME. That's pretty much ruled out SuSE until now.

    76. Re:Management by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1
      First, A company that buys top of the line technology and after that screws it magestically for the sole reason that it is "Not Invented Here (tm)" is bound to have some serious troubles down the road.

      Maybe Novell is looking at this from a long-term business viewpoint. For example, look at message 13959373. It seems that Novell was the last big sponsor of KDE development, the rest have jumped on the GNOME bandwagon.

      So do you think it is really wise for Novell to continue to paint itself into the corner of isolation with KDE?

      Your message sounds more like that of a KDE fanatic, than business-oriented viewpoint it purports to be. ;-)

    77. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Desktop-Linux means KDE in Europe

      Perhaps the majority of the french and german GNU/Linux or *BSD users out there prefer KDE, but that doesn't mean the rest of europe does, the majority of swedish GNU/Linux or *BSD users I've met prefers GNOME.

      Perhaps it has something to do with the Swedish Conspiracy
    78. Re:Management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      omg. I have never seen a more obvious troll.

  11. Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The sooner Linux gets over its visual identity crisis the better.

  12. nuts by arkhan_jg · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is not good news. SuSE was one of the big beasts that helped develop and improve kde in a distro, and is one of the main reasons I used it in the past. I did get sick of RPMs in the end though.

    Why is that so many people prefer kde over gnome, yet redhat, debian-based distros like ubuntu and now SuSE use gnome as their primary? What main distros will be left that uses kde in preference? I can only think of mandriva now.

    I'm not criticising gnome, it's a fine project and a good desktop environment, but I really like the unified desktop, reusable kparts and configurability you get with kde. I'm far from alone, as the vibrancy of kde-look.org shows. How come gnome, which is not *that* much superior to kde (some would argue that it's inferior at the moment) is making all the headway?

    --
    Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
    1. Re:nuts by slavemowgli · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Debian etc. have historically rejected KDE because Qt used to not meet Debian's Free Software Guidelines etc. Those days are long over, of course, but the animosity towards KDE seems to have remained.

      As for Novell... hard to say. But it's worth noting that many core KDE developers are from Germany, and SuSE is (was), too; Gnome, on the other hand, is pretty much a US development, and Novell is also a US company. Coincidence? Maybe, but I wouldn't be surprised if these things did play a role, in both cases...

      --
      quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
    2. Re:nuts by diegocgteleline.es · · Score: 4, Informative

      How come gnome, which is not *that* much superior to kde (some would argue that it's inferior at the moment) is making all the headway?

      Usability. It's that simple.

      I mean, it's not the lack of a kparts equivalent, being programmed in a 70's language - c++ is a bad OO language, but C is much worse as "OO language" still gnome went with C (and you have to admit those even if you're a gnome zealot)

      Fortunately, KDE 4.0 is focusing in usability. The reasons that keeps many people away from KDE is usability, anything else. KDE is great, in some aspects their technology is ahead of other desktops and not just gnome (I love kparts). Bring usability to kde (ie: wait for kde 4.0) and you'll see lots of users switching to kde

    3. Re:nuts by Jords · · Score: 1

      The think stopping me from going to kde is the bloat. When i can still play my games on kde as fast on my enlightenment desktop, i'll switch. When kde does'nt swallow several hundered megabytes of ram, i'll switch. When Kde starts as fast as enlightnemnent, i'll switch. Kde is very usable in my opionion.... untill you try to use a resource hungry app. Then you switch back to enlightenment/*box/xfce. (and possiblly others)

    4. Re:nuts by fossa · · Score: 1

      Why is that so many people prefer kde over gnome, yet redhat, debian-based distros like ubuntu and now SuSE use gnome as their primary?

      Perhaps "so many" isn't so many... I personally agree with two comments above. One states "KDE feels clunky to me", the replay states "KDE is more mature and solid". I prefer GNOME largely because of its (more) minimalist look. While I don't use KDE much, from what I hear it has many nice features that GNOME does not (kio stuff, kparts, scriptability), but I still prefer the GNOME look.

      I guess I agree more with the philosophy "options are where the developers couldn't make a decision". It's not KDE and it's not GNOME, but yesterday I was using Microsoft Word and looking through its options... "[y/n] Insert deletes selection?" among 10,000 others. In my opinion, applications should either be inherently flexible (much like stringing together pipes on the command line is flexible), or make decisions and stop bothering me. Honestly, something as fundamental as "insert deletes selection" really needs to be an OS wide option, or no option at all... (and for the record, it should not delete the selection; I spent 20 minutes of careful mousing to select all that, damned if you're going to make me redo it because of one mistaken keypress. But I leave that option set to "yes" for consistency with every other application out there so I don't drive myself crazy). If one method is clearly superior to the other, get rid of the other. If it isn't clear which is better, change the design. GNOME may make the wrong decisions, but at least they try. MS Word just gives up and includes *everything* as an option, and I get the same feeling from KDE.

      Another thing I can't stand about KDE kis kthe knaming kscheme. Kbut kthat's kjust kme. Ok, that was low. Seriously though, it's hard to find the kapplication you want from an alphabetized menu.

    5. Re:nuts by Bogtha · · Score: 1

      I'm not criticising gnome, it's a fine project and a good desktop environment, but I really like the unified desktop, reusable kparts and configurability you get with kde.

      I feel the same way, but obviously our personal preferences aren't what's important. What I don't understand though is that KDE seems far more popular than GNOME when it comes to end-user preferencess, and about equal when it comes to developer preferences. Yet KDE is doing much more (developing an entire office suite, an entire browser, etc), and yet it's GNOME that is getting virtually all the distribution support these days.

      How come KDE is not only doing more with less, but not being supported for this? Is it because KDE prefers Free Software while GNOME caters to proprietary software too?

      --
      Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
    6. Re:nuts by drgonzo59 · · Score: 1
      You are right about the main difference about KDE and GNOME. That is why I started using GNOME, even though for years I swore by KDE. I was just more productive in GNOME, in UI design sometimes "less is more".

      As you have also pointed out, besides the language difference between the two there is another more subtle difference between KDE and GNOME. To me, it seems that KDE wanted to create an environment that looks familiar to MS Windows so the new users don't feel lost. The problem with that is that years of research in HCI (Human Computer Interraction) have shown that MS Windows doesn't have the best UI. GNOME wanted to apply some of the new/better/different UI design approaches and thus created something that is farther way from MS Windows but also, in the long term, more usable.

      Out of all the desktops out there I personally think Mac's OS X is the best one. They have put a lot of money in usability and design of the interface, that is why a lot of people use it and like it even thought performance-wise the machines are behind the Intel compatible ones. And GNOME seems closer and more similar to Mac OS X than Windows.

      NOTE: I use Windows at home it because it runs some of the stuff I need and I don't have a choice. I don't own a Mac cause it is too expensive for me, but on Linux I have a choice and I use Ubuntu's GNOME Desktop.

    7. Re:nuts by chabotc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually i think usability is a 'small' part of the corperate move towards gnome .. Its accesability!

      Gnome has had a lot of contributions from Sun to improve accesability, high contrast/large font options, screen reader support, screen magnifiers, style guides and a lot of things refering to US and international accesability specifications that software needs to live up to before its acceptable to some goverment- / organisations. (great internationalization & font support thru pango, flexible text directions, etc must play a factor too)

      I think a lot of the big projects choose gnome/gtk for this reason too, and its definatly why redhat picked gnome, so they can sell to those markets, and its probably why Novell decided to pick gnome as well

      Big organisations and goverments have different demands, and gnome seems to fit them well; Home users might have different demands (though some do require the accesability!), but with all the $ flowing to gnome, the area's where its not up to spec yet, it will be soon i guess

    8. Re:nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Gnome, on the other hand, is pretty much a US development"

      Ya, that is why we have GUADEC every year and it is bigger than the US GNOME confrences. Half of the room at the Boston Summit this year was from Europe even.

    9. Re:nuts by idlake · · Score: 1

      Why is that so many people prefer kde over gnome, yet redhat, debian-based distros like ubuntu and now SuSE use gnome as their primary? What main distros will be left that uses kde in preference? I can only think of mandriva now.

      Think about it. You're a commercial Linux distributor and you're trying to sell your $80 distribution. If you pick KDE, you have to tell your commercial customers that they also have to buy a $2000 commercial development license from Troll Tech, before they start doing any kind of GUI development that integrates with the desktop. KDE proponents can argue as much as they like that the $2000 are worth it, but even if they are right, that's going to be a really hard sell. And it's not just the Linux distributions, it's also Sun with their desktop (Gnome-based), wxWidgets, and IBM SWT.

      Slight differences in quality between KDE and Gnome aren't going to matter relative to the difficulties of that sales argument.

    10. Re:nuts by shywolf9982 · · Score: 1

      GNOME is technically inferior. But, as far as my experience goes, GNOME is much more intuitive than KDE.

      If I remember correctly, there has been a lot of work (mainly conducted by Sun) into usability for the GNOME desktop. This was a lot of time ago, before the version 2 came out. At the time, I laughed at them, since I thought than paying people to use things instead of paying developers was a bad move.

      But I have to admit that, despite the large amount of implementation/architectural problems of GNOME, I feel better using it than using KDE. And since at my job we're doing some little "experimenting" on the feasibility of a linux desktop solution (meaning, if we should seriously think of switching some of our employees to linux) I realized that the newbie feels way more comfortable with GNOME than with KDE.

      KDE is much more a geek-oriented DE than GNOME, being more focused on tech things than actual "feel".

      That's my 0.02$, but I see it this way.

      --
      nbody2002:If you can read this you may be addicted to the internet
    11. Re:nuts by idlake · · Score: 1

      Those days are long over, of course, but the animosity towards KDE seems to have remained.

      It's not a question of animosity; the dual-license, while conforming to FOSS guidelines, is still a problem.

    12. Re:nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Gnome, on the other hand, is pretty much a US development,

      Jeff Waugh and several other GNOME developers are Australlian and Miguel Icaza and several other GNOME developers are Mexico. GNOME based Ubuntu is based in South Africa.

      I think the reach is just a bit broader than the US.

    13. Re:nuts by FooBarWidget · · Score: 1

      "I mean, it's not the lack of a kparts equivalent, being programmed in a 70's language - c++ is a bad OO language, but C is much worse as "OO language" still gnome went with C (and you have to admit those even if you're a gnome zealot)"

      Yes, but back when it was developed, it made sense to use C. C++ compilers back then sucked. Especially today, rewriting everything in another language for the sake of using another language is nuts. Furthermore, even today C++ has ABI issues (see this page for details) while C does not, making it easier for developers to distribute C binaries.

      KDE is nice though. It's a good move to at least ship kdelibs, so that KDE binaries can work out-of-the-box (more or less).

    14. Re:nuts by nutshell42 · · Score: 1
      This has nothing to do with the GNOME/KDE discussion because Gnome is an even worse ressource hog than KDE.

      But it's always nice to see a fellow enlightenment user =)

      --
      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
    15. Re:nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I still got my Slackware which ships with KDE as the main DE.

    16. Re:nuts by Elektroschock · · Score: 0, Troll

      Oh. Yeah, Great. business buys desktop solutions because they can be easier used by the blind. I don't want to be cynical, it is important to improve accesibility, but... Who cares about it. It might be a surplus for some.

    17. Re:nuts by ksheff · · Score: 1

      Gnome has always run better than KDE on low memory/slow cpu machines for me.

      --
      the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
    18. Re:nuts by Jason+Earl · · Score: 1

      Accessability is likely to be the piece of the puzzle that stops the Massachussets OpenDocument Format deal. For companies that want to sell to government institutions it is a huge big deal (this is why Sun paid to get it done for Gnome). It's not a big deal to me, I can see fine (and if I couldn't see, I would use EmacsSpeak :), but I am not buying quadzillions of dollars of software.

    19. Re:nuts by pair-a-noyd · · Score: 1

      Gnome, on the other hand, is pretty much a US development

      Erm, no.. Gnome is a Mexican development. Gnome is a product of Mexico.

      "Miguel de Icaza, 26, was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He studied math at the Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico. He started writing free software in 1994 and has been working on the GNOME project since 1997. He currently works as a Systems Administrator for the Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico."

    20. Re:nuts by Hope+Thelps · · Score: 1

      business buys desktop solutions because they can be easier used by the blind. I don't want to be cynical, it is important to improve accesibility, but... Who cares about it. It might be a surplus for some.

      For companies that employ a significant number of people, yes these issues really matter. A great deal of time and money is, rightly, spent on ensuring buildings and the tools within them are accessible to people with widely differing abilities. I'm sorry that it doesn't matter wherever it is that you work.

      --
      To summarise the summary of the summary: people are a problem. ~ h2g2
    21. Re:nuts by Ambassador+Kosh · · Score: 1

      How about this for usability. Open up konqueror to any kind of remote resource you want ie sftp, ftp,webdav, etc and then drag one of those files to a file upload control in a webpage in konqueror and hit submit the form. KDE will appropriately download the file from the remote resource and upload it to the website. KDE makes drag and drop really work transparently. If you try the same thing in windows in any browser I tested (firefox, opera and IE) it loads the item you drag onto the file upload control. If you try it on firefox, opera etc on linux it does not do anything at all.

      Yeah gnome looks a little simpler but looks don't count for much and I have helped customers actually get their jobs done faster and easier using the ioslave system in kde. I just don't want to waste time using gnome, windows, macs etc to get my work done when all of them will cost me more time with their "easier" systems and make my job harder to actually get done.

      --
      Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD! :)
    22. Re:nuts by rsheridan6 · · Score: 1

      I sat my non-techie wife down in front of a KDE desktop and she used it with no problems and no guidance from me, which is not surprising considering that the UI is essentially a windows rip-off. I'm not sure what usability problems you're referring to.

      --
      Don't drop the soap, Tommy!
    23. Re:nuts by the_womble · · Score: 1
      the animosity towards KDE seems to have remained

      True, pity that more people like Debian did not buy RMS's argument against the LGPL. I wonder if he himself does in the case of KDE!

      KDE developers are from Germany, and SuSE is (was), too; Gnome, on the other hand, is pretty much a US development

      How could you think that? Just because all the major US based distros prefer Gnome, the remaining major European distro (Mandriva) prefers KDE, and SuSE preferred KDE as long as it was European owned and switched shortly after becoming US owned!

      Ubuntu, wwith South African ownership, seems to be making a genuine effort to make both KDE and Gnome work well - I use Kubuntu myself.

    24. Re:nuts by civilizedINTENSITY · · Score: 1

      Perhaps what was meant was that "GNOME is of the Americas?" Many in the US confuse "America" with the US of America, and forget about the rest of the (two) continents.

    25. Re:nuts by Sri+Ramkrishna · · Score: 1

      Try it in a large company when you have people of all ranges. The more options you have the more nervous people become. As long as you don't have to go to KControLCenter and have to fuss with things, usability is probably okay. I take it your wife isn't a fiddler right? But when she wants to try out something then thats when usability comes into play.

      Windows/DOS was famous in scary dialog boxes where people had no idea what it meant. Even today in GNOME if I hit delete in Rhythmbox I wonder "Am I deleting the song off the db or is it removing it permanently." Those examples of bad usability. The computer needs to be explicit on what it's doing.

      Sorry, rambling comment.. hope it made sense.

      sri

    26. Re:nuts by zsau · · Score: 1

      There is no continent known as "America". (There's one known as "North America" and another known as "South America", but that's irrelevant.) In English, the only thing "America" (reliably) applies to is the United States of America. Whilst speaking English, it's a very good idea to use the English definitions of words. (To refer to both North and South America collectively, it is common in English to say "the Americas", the "Western Hemisphere" or the "New World".)

      PS: It is most galling when Europeans confuse many regions where there are many English-native speakers with the USA. Most certainly, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are not part of the USA, yet in these countries "America" is and has been since before there was a United States of America referred to the contemporary equivalents (such as revolting colonies) of the US (Perhaps not by every single speakers in these areas, and it may not be official policy, but by a significant-enough proportion that you cannot assume anyone who calls the USA "America" is American).

      (I've assume you're a non-native user of English. If you are using English natively, yours is a lost cause and you know it. Please ignore this post as I shall retrospectively ignore you.)

      --
      Look out!
    27. Re:nuts by leereyno · · Score: 1

      Usability?

      There is a very specific reason why I use KDE, because I can customize it to behave exactly the way I want it to. As a result my default desktop is very usable. I don't have the preferences of the developers shoved up my nose. Gnome on the other hand is nowhere near as configurable. Not only that, but the default config (at least on Redhat/Fedora) is just plain funky. The developers have clearly spent WAY too much time using macs, to the point that they seem to assume that EVERYONE is either a mac user or wishes they were one. I'm responsible for setting up and configuring Linux systems where I work. I have customization scripts that I run after the initial install the do various things. One of those things is to make KDE the default desktop and to install a default configuration for KDE into /etc/skel that mimics the Windows user interface. The plastik theme in the recent versions of KDE looks and works better than windows itself IMHO. I've never had anyone complain about their system being configured in this way.

      I'm shocked that any distribution would actually push Gnome over KDE. I've always thought it was silly of Redhat to do it. Not that I noticed really since all of KDE is also included when you do a complete install, which is what I almost always do. The only reason I can think of to push Gnome is that dumbing things down and limiting the ability of users to customize the interface limits Redhat's support costs. Both Redhat and Novell are basing their business model off of selling support for the OS. The fewer support calls they get, the more money they make in the end.

      If the Gnome guys would learn a thing or two from KDE and make it equally configurable then I quite frankly wouldn't have a preference. But until Gnome gets fixed I'll stick to KDE.

      Lee

      --
      Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
    28. Re:nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is no continent known as "America". (There's one known as "North America" and another known as "South America", but that's irrelevant.)

      Saying things like that just makes you sound hopelessly parochial. There are a number of different conventions for identifying continents and a single continent of America is definitely one of the mainstream ones.

      The wikipedia article on this is actually reasonably decent.

      Personally I'd go with a 5 continent model (Antarctica, America, Eurasia, Africa, Australia) but there are good arguments for other groupings.

      If you want to say that that even adds to the confusion of what "America" means then go right ahead, but to say baldly that "there is no continent known as America" merely makes you sound uneducated.

    29. Re:nuts by zsau · · Score: 1

      Okay, I'll provisionally retract that comment, but with the note that I don't know anyone who would default to using "American" to refer to modern cultural or legal things pertaining to the N&S America, nor anyone would interpret "American" in such a way, who also uses English as their native language. (By an explicit or implicit change of context, such a use may be the obvious one, but it's not "default".)

      It still doesn't change the default English definition of "America(n)", or make the majority of English speakers (who don't come from the US) American as our friend the GGP suggested.

      --
      Look out!
    30. Re:nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fair enough, and I apologise for the harsh tone of my comment. People applying their own local conventions for things like continents as though they are some absolute truth annoys me more than it should.

    31. Re:nuts by rsheridan6 · · Score: 1
      If I understand what you're saying, it's that the KDE Control Panel is an addictive waste of time on a scale comparable to crack cocaine or Everquest, and GNOME's lack of configurability saves us from ourselves. While that's probably true for some people, surely it's possible for large institutions to lock down a control panel if it's a productivity killer for them.

      For my wife it just came down to which one had saner defaults. KDE looks and feels like Windows, which she and everybody else already knows, and GNOME looks like something that was designed from first principles as if today's users were blank slates who had nothing invested in any particular UI, so she she chose KDE.

      --
      Don't drop the soap, Tommy!
    32. Re:nuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Objective C is the solution for shortcomings of C++ and C, and GNUStep (or Cocoa on OSX if you prefer) is already the ultimate development environment out there for Objective C.

    33. Re:nuts by civilizedINTENSITY · · Score: 1
      ah but it isn't "a single continent", so it couldn't be one of the mainstream ones. There are two continents, joined by a land bridge. America refers to a geographical region, yes. But not to a single continent. Mirriam Webster:
      Usage: geographical name 1 either continent (N. America or S. America) of the western hemisphere 2 or the Americas /-k&z/ the lands of the western hemisphere including N., Central, & S. America & the W. Indies 3 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
  13. Good Idea by shinygerbil · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I use KDE and Gnome on the same distro. Generally I use KDE, but I can use either just as well, so if most major software companies go the Gnome way, I'll be right there with them. At least somebody is trying to make some useful decisions, rather than splitting things up. If only more companies would do this...

    --

    Steve
  14. sweet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great news. Now if they switch to deb instead of rpm, I'm in.

  15. Not KDE or alternative WM Killing News by bagboy · · Score: 1

    Many other distros will still have alternatives available. Gentoo makes it easy for either WM. Qt is highly used on embedded and portable devices - so KDE will not be dying off.

  16. It's true, the times are a changing by matt+me · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is another in a chain of announcements this year that show how much in the world of Linux. Today's is a final good riddance to the days when *the* choice was Red Hat vs SUSE, America vs Europe, GNOME vs KDE. I guess this is a move to make SUSE more comfortable for Ubuntu users, the product which I bet (open)Suse and Red hat (Fedora) see as their biggest threats right now. Windows users are difficult to pull. But to make users switch distros is easy (I'm in Fedora, but very much attracted to Ubuntu right now). I think we'll be seeing more user-pulling moves from distros soon. shipit is only a start.

    1. Re:It's true, the times are a changing by C0vardeAn0nim0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      the kind of fraternal war that killed pretty much all of the comercial unices...

      how many of them are still around ? HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, SCO...

      comercial distros should focus in bringing windows users on board the FOSS wagon, not trying to steal users from each other. in this regard KDE is a much better choice, mostly because is the one that looks and feels more like windows.

      techies can adapt to diferent paradigms much easilly than regular users, and what regular users know is windows. at the begining, give them something almost identical to what they're used to, then move them gradually to something better. mind-twisting changes can be somewhat traumatic, and will probably scare new users enough so they return to the place they feel more confortable: Billy G's hands.

      --
      What ? Me, worry ?
  17. Kubuntu by badriram · · Score: 2

    Personally I use Kubuntu, it has been working very well and they do have latest and greatest versions.

    However I do support Novell on this, the linux distributions need to standardize on some desktop, and it was not helping having different distros from novell and suse using different window/desktop/ui managers.

    1. Re:Kubuntu by Spetiam · · Score: 1

      Personally, I'd like to see more development energies be expended to the furtherance of Enlightenment.

    2. Re:Kubuntu by GuyWithLag · · Score: 1

      You have to keep in mind that GNOME has some very corporation/enterprise-friendly features (amongst them the ability to lock down the desktop and to apply settings on each login), partly because these parts have been developed (and paid for) by corporations. These features make it a bit more attractive to businesses, and I would wager is the real reason Novell standardises on it - remember, their customers are other businesses, not indiniduals.

    3. Re:Kubuntu by Gnulix · · Score: 1
      amongst them the ability to lock down the desktop and to apply settings on each login

      And KDE doesnt?

  18. There were signs by saterdaies · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To an extent, one could see this coming. SUSE 10 was the first edition of SUSE to treat both desktops equally. Rather than having YaST default to KDE, it now prompts users to select either GNOME or KDE with no indication of prejudice. They've also been adding GNOME-centric things like Beagle. Novell's own NLD chose GNOME over SUSE's KDE for NLD 9. SUSE 10 was one of the first distributions to support GNOME 2.12 (beating Ubuntu while Mandriva which came out significantly later still uses GNOME 2.10).

    While I'm still a bit surprised to see Novell give such a slight to KDE this soon, there were signs that they were becoming a GNOME operation.

    1. Re:There were signs by canuck57 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      While I'm still a bit surprised to see Novell give such a slight to KDE this soon, there were signs that they were becoming a GNOME operation.

      I am not, although KDE is a good interface, I have always favored GNOME. So to me, seeing SUSE carry GNOME right there along with KDE was good and is now one of the reasons why I now run SUSE 10. The other is SUSE 10 supports my 54g wireless card.

      But I suspect there is more to it. Proprietary Qt libraries inside of KDE have always plagued KDE adoption. And quite frankly, I like programming in the GNOME/GTK+ environment and usually have no trouble to move such works to Solaris x86 or Sparc.

      Qt is KDE's achilles heel.

    2. Re:There were signs by Homology · · Score: 1
      But I suspect there is more to it. Proprietary Qt libraries inside of KDE have always plagued KDE adoption. And quite frankly, I like programming in the GNOME/GTK+ environment and usually have no trouble to move such works to Solaris x86 or Sparc.

      Proprietary Qt libraries? I've got news for you: QT is GPL licensed as well.

    3. Re:There were signs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      libraries should be LGPL

    4. Re:There were signs by canuck57 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Proprietary Qt libraries? I've got news for you: QT is GPL licensed as well.

      Closer to QPL, read the following to understand more...

      http://www.ofb.biz/modules.php?name=News&file=arti cle&sid=364&mode=&order=0&thold=0

      The short if it is:

      A smooth roadmap ought to include licensing and other non-technical concerns along with the technology. Unless KDE can get Trolltech to release Qt/X11 under the LGPL, or at least get a guarantee that Qt/Commercial licenses will never go above a certain price and never have any more restrictions in usage than the present EULA has, the roadmap will always have a certain air of uncertainty to long-term enterprise decision makers.

      By Timothy R. Butler Editor-in-Chief, Open for Business July 05, 2005, 22:32:41 EDT

    5. Re:There were signs by idlake · · Score: 2, Insightful

      While I'm still a bit surprised to see Novell give such a slight to KDE this soon, there were signs that they were becoming a GNOME operation.

      It's business, and I don't think they had a choice. Supporting both was costly and wasn't working well (Gnome on SuSE was no fun) and so they had to pick one. Gnome was the obvious choice: it's clearly good enough, it's what they use with Mono, it's what IBM picked for SWT, and it's what most other distributions use. And, most importantly, their commercial customers are not dependent on licenses from another company (TT).

    6. Re:There were signs by PCM2 · · Score: 1
      While I'm still a bit surprised to see Novell give such a slight to KDE this soon, there were signs that they were becoming a GNOME operation.
      Signs? What, you mean like buying Ximian and putting Nat and Miguel in key operational roles?
      --
      Breakfast served all day!
  19. Very surprising! by Morky · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In a shocking turn of events, Novell goes with the desktop founded by one if their key employees. I really thought that Ximian purchase was just a ploy to take the top Gnome developers out of the game so that KDE could flourish. I guess it was because they actually like Gnome. Go figure.

  20. From OSnews by matt+me · · Score: 1
    To quote "Rumors circulating that Novell is going to kill off its popular Linux desktop lines are completely false. The GNOME interface is going to become the default interface on both the SLES and Novell Linux Desktop line - "The entire KDE graphical interface and product family will continue to be supported and delivered on OpenSuSE.""
    Just thought should port some accurate reporting over to Slashdot.

    http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=12551

    1. Re:From OSnews by Elektroschock · · Score: 1

      "will continue to be supported and delivered on OpenSuSE." So KDE will be supported as a second class citizen by SuSe? No thanks! They are not serious! Why did Novell buy a KDE distribution? In order to kill its market and convert it to Gnome? I think this management of Novell is 100% clueless about the market of SuSe.

    2. Re:From OSnews by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This still means that

      0) SUSE Linux as a retail product seems to be dead (was also expected).
      1) KDE won't be default on openSUSE
      2) KDE will just be maintained by the community.
      3) KDE will work on SUSE as well as KDE on Redhat does.

      expected result:

      4) KDE people will switch to Kubuntu or elsewhere.

    3. Re:From OSnews by cartoon · · Score: 1

      Novell didn't buy a KDE distribution. They wanted an enterprise ready distro. Two choices: Red Hat or SUSE. Red Hat was probably too expensive.

      The enterprise/business end of Linux is Gnome. Sun, Red Hat, Novell and IBM all lean to Gnome, some more than others.

      "KDE distribution"... get real. Who chooses a distro on the basis of the primary desktop environment?

      --
      //Cartoon
    4. Re:From OSnews by Elektroschock · · Score: 1

      SuSe is a very mature enterprise distribution. When did they start? They grew and grew as an SME and than stupid Novell took them over. We all thought this will be the end of SuSe and it now turns out to be true. Novell which is clueless about SuSe destroys Suse which is an enterprise ready distribution widely used in Europe for 10 years in order to create its own Novell enterprise rip-off. Using the old trademark Novell, killing the best SuSe distribution in favour of a second choice desktop.

      Many people over here learned to know Linux by SuSe. Nerds switch to Debian and other exotic distributions. Mandriva is even more user-centric. But: Who wants a boring gnome desktop? Gnome 1.x was nice, a true hacker's desktop. But gnome 2.x? You cannot sell this, sorry.

      Most people over here don't know KDE, this is true. They think KDE is Linux.

    5. Re:From OSnews by weierstrass · · Score: 1
      accurate reporting

      You must be new here.

      --
      my password really is 'stinkypants'
    6. Re:From OSnews by cartoon · · Score: 1

      Over here, over there... where I am (yes, I'm in Europe), most people don't care. And I am from the country where Qt was made.

      --
      //Cartoon
    7. Re:From OSnews by NicklessXed · · Score: 1

      Over here, over here... Where is your "over here"? Anyway, "over here" (in germany, where, incidentally, SuSE happens to come from), users don't give a fuck. And they certainly don't think "KDE is Linux". Get real, man!

    8. Re:From OSnews by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn. I bet somewhere deep within the bowels of /. CO headquarters, there's an altar with twinkling candles next to a black silhouette of your AC portrait. Who else starts a list at 0 other than a hard core nerd. You, sir, defintely belong here. By the way, do you find it difficult typing these posts with only 9 fingers?

    9. Re:From OSnews by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have your XDM implementation run KDE instead of GNOME. Wow. That was difficult.

  21. Good move by gimpimp · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    This is a fantastic move by Novell. We use Suse at work, and I always make sure to put Gnome as the defaut desktop on a new install. I'm not a Suse user at home, as it's too much of a 'mish-mash', with a Gnome desktop, you're still using KDE/QT apps for config. Hopefully, we'll see a new breed of Gnome/mono config tools for a real Gnome desktop.

    Go Novell!

    --
    i wish i was but oh well
    1. Re:Good move by fearlezz · · Score: 1

      Fine for you. I prefer both WM's to be threated equally like SuSE 10 does. So gnome lovers can use gnome, and kde lovers can use kde. I've been using KDE since version 1 on RedHat, on Slackware and recently I switched to SuSE. But the minute SuSE abandons KDE, I'll switch back to Slackware or Gentoo.

      And for my users at the office: they just ajusted to KDE. I will NOT let them switch to yet another platform. If the next version of SuSE lacks perfect support of KDE, any new computer will probably have Mandriva installed.

      KDE is not an option, it's a requirement.

      --
      .sig: No such file or directory
  22. Makes sense ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The look and feel of KDE represents its code structure. The same holds for GNOME.

  23. READ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "The entire KDE graphical interface and product family will continue to be supported and delivered on OpenSuSE," said Mancusi-Ungaro.

  24. Gnome is an error. by Lolaine · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When Novell Linux Desktop was released, we as Novell Partners started using it, and used it's default desktop (Gnome 2.6) as our desktop. Having used Gnome in the past year or so is my biggest computing life's error. Everything have been problems for us. Nothing works as expected, session management is a mess, gconf crashes a lot, esd is still there and nautilus is inflexible. Gnome is being guided towards being a Desktop for dummies, but it's weird behaviour only make users unconfortable with that Desktop. Now I'm going back to KDE, and I am currently remembering what was to have fun in the desktop.

    Also, we support some clients with NLD9, and everything are problems, from mime types to gconf. Our support team has started to hate Gnome a lot. Our roadmap for our clients is to switch them to KDE, but with this decision, it will not be a Novell "official" product, it will be probably OpenSuSE.

    With Novell having bought Ximian, it's logical that Novell standarizes on Gnome, but with this decision, SuSE only losses, and so does Novell. Will have to think twice before suggesting a partner renewal... They still have cool products, but they are taking the grown decisions (again and again)

    --
    ------- The last Sig. got fired.
    1. Re:Gnome is an error. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree. This is a misguided decision - if it's true, then it's goodbye SuSe for me. GNOME has been falling behind KDE as a desktop for a long time, and their philosophy has diverged to a point of no return. I simply won't throw away my time working in a desktop-environment designed for computer illiterates, sorry.

    2. Re:Gnome is an error. by pintpusher · · Score: 1

      Gnome is being guided towards being a Desktop for dummies, but it's weird behaviour only make users unconfortable with that Desktop.

      Unfortunately, I have to agree. Although I've only got a couple months of GNOME under my belt and haven't taken the time to perfect its set-up like I did with KDE, I find I am constantly frustrated with by things that should "just work". Example, there is no way I can see to make nautilus open sub-folders in the same window when file-browsing. Maybe I'm stupid (wouldn't be the first time), but I hate my desktop cluttered with a bunch of unneeded windows from farther up the directory tree. There also seems to be less direct access to the nuts&bolts of things in GNOME than in KDE. I'm sure its all impression, but its putting me off and I'm just about ready to head back to KDE for good.

      of course, I use Debian, so this is probably all moot :p

      --
      man, I feel like mold.
    3. Re:Gnome is an error. by Sri+Ramkrishna · · Score: 0

      What are you? Some kind of nut? You're going to move off of a supported vendor solution to your own? What are you goign to pay Novell for then? If you have a problem with GNOME gconf or whatever it's the vendor's job to fix it. Thats what you're paying them for. This sounds more like a bunch of hand wringing and then going off to do your own solution without any support. Who is going to fix all your kernel bugs, yoru glibc bugs, and everything else?

      jeezus..

      sri

    4. Re:Gnome is an error. by grumbel · · Score: 1

      There should be either an option in the preferences or if that still isn't the case, you can use gconf-editor to turn Naulitus into browse-mode at default: /apps/nautilus/preferences/always_use_browser

      About less direct access, yes, Gnome only exposes the important stuff via the GUI, rest is only available via gconf-editor, however I havn't found that to be much of a problem, since gconf entries are documented and searchable it isn't much of a problem to find them.

      In the end I think Gnomes by far biggest problem is Nautilus and they should have got rid of that years ago, it never was pretty, it was extremly slow, down to simply being completly unusable for large directories for years and only got fixed resently, I have no idea why they picked at the default file browser. There are many aspects that I love about Gnome, but I could never stand using Nautilus for longer periods of time, it simply makes so much obvious things just plain wrong. Gnome should have choosen Rox, turn that a bit more into a Gnome app and be done with it, it provides a much more sane user experince.

    5. Re:Gnome is an error. by swimmar132 · · Score: 1

      In later versions of Gnome, nautilus doesn't have spatial browsing on by default.

      Also, if you start the gconf-editor, there should be an option in one of the nautilus configs to disable spatial browsing.

    6. Re:Gnome is an error. by xouumalperxe · · Score: 1

      In nautilus, go to edit > preferences > behaviour, then tick the "always open in browser windows" checkbox. That's all it takes

    7. Re:Gnome is an error. by opkool · · Score: 1

      If you like KDE, please give Mandriva a testdrive.

      Mandriva is a very good distro for Desktop usage. Mandriva does favour KDE, although Gnome is inside the distro full force. Looks like they try to keep a balance, although the default desktop is KDE.

      I use Mandriva as my desktop and I couldn't be happier.

      Peace

    8. Re:Gnome is an error. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think if you double-middle click it opens in the same window. Yes, isn't it intuitivie?

    9. Re:Gnome is an error. by pintpusher · · Score: 1

      well, fancy that...

      --
      man, I feel like mold.
  25. KDE and Gnome as one? by bigtrouble77 · · Score: 1

    I really wish kde and gnome could somehow combine their projects. I primarily use gnome, but there's a ton of kde-centric apps that I love to use. Unfortunately they don't look good under gnome. Most people aren't going to go through the loops to get the fonts in kde apps to render properly in gnome.

    I think a gnome-style window manager with the features and app support of kde would be killer. Sometimes I think gnome is a bit too simplistic. It seems both projects have different design philosophies so I doubt this would ever happen.

    1. Re:KDE and Gnome as one? by Elektroschock · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, be serious. What real interoperability problems are left? Today you can configure Gtk apps to look like KDE ones. Intrestingly most "gnome" apps are just non-qt ones thus assimilated by the gnome desktop which lacks integration. It was a problem from Gnome that it is unable to interoperate properly with KDE. Is it visual appearence? Give us a few month and there will be no discussion on that anymore. Crosstheming is very close.

    2. Re:KDE and Gnome as one? by bigtrouble77 · · Score: 1

      I agree, I've never had a kde app not work in gnome. As far as kde apps not looking good in gnome and vice versa, I don't think most people care whos fault it is. They only care if things work well. Cross theming, if it is what I think it is, would be a phenominal step foreward.

      If the two groups could interpolate perfectly, then there'd be no reason for a distro to pick one over the other. Obvously they're not there yet.

    3. Re:KDE and Gnome as one? by Biomechanical · · Score: 1

      With the two different projects using two different core interface libraries like they are, I can't see them combining at any time.

      I currently use KDE. I like the Mac OS style menu-bar being up the top, adjusting to which ever program I'm currently using, as well as having my KMenu, "System Tray", clock, and search function link all neatly arranged at the top of my screen.

      Right at the moment I'm running a compile of KDE 3.5.0 Beta 2 - Hard Masked.

      There are several Gnome apps I like, but that menu-bar thing is annoying - the fact that GTK doesn't seem to have any way of copying the Mac OS style of screen top menu.

      That's the first thing that put me on KDE instead of Gnome, it's ability to be configured to look like damn near anything resembling Windows XP or Mac OS X, and although I have had my desktop look like Mac OS X for a little while - care of Baghira - I've only kept a few noticeable interface influences on it while customising the desktop to really be mine.

      Gnome was not so easy to make it look the way I wanted, so it didn't stay for long on my desktop.

      The important thing is, I have the choice. We all have this choice, and that's actually more important than how any one of these individual desktop environments is built because if there's one we don't like, we can move on to another one.

      All of our apps will work - gnome apps just need a few gnome libraries installed, as do kde apps - so we can pick and choose on a whim.

      I'd like some aspects of Gnome put into KDE, and some aspects of KDE copied into Gnome, but I don't expect that to happen for a while.

      They're still free though - free to use, sell, and screw with under the hood - so maybe someone one day will fork both into this drooling monstrous hybrid of whiz-bang eye-candy and god-awful tastelessness some of us desire. :)

      --
      His name is Robert Paulsen...
    4. Re:KDE and Gnome as one? by arevos · · Score: 1

      KDE and GNOME should share a theme engine, not combine. That way applications look the same on both desktops, but we don't get any of the disadvantages that would come from a merger.

    5. Re:KDE and Gnome as one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They would look the same, but they certainly feel the same. If they would look the same users would get more confused, not less.

  26. In other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In other news the GNU/HURD project decided to standardize on the bash prompt.

    "We at GNU believe on standardizing on what is relevant to developers. You can easily multitask to multiple instances of enterprise bash without using Engelbart's moose, mouse, whatever that weird invention is called".

  27. Not no naysayer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "In what must be one of the least unexpected announcements of recent times, [...]"
    What's with the double negation? This ain't not unnecessary!

  28. SUSE has ruined why I loved them by tannhaus · · Score: 1

    This has really floored me. The thing I liked, and I noticed many reviewers liked, was the polish the KDE desktop had in SuSE. Everything seemed to fit together wonderfully. It was a distribution for those that loved KDE.

    Gnome is behind KDE and probably always will be. Every new release of QT pulls KDE further to the front. It really sickens me that the major linux distros are choosing an inferior product and trying to force it on us. Smells a little bit too much like Microsoft versus OS/2 to me.

    1. Re:SUSE has ruined why I loved them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How does this remind you of Microsoft v OS/2?

      Insane

    2. Re:SUSE has ruined why I loved them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >How does this remind you of Microsoft v OS/2?

      A big technical hodgepodge that is inferior in technology get's acceptance because of lobbying and money. The technical superior software (in this case even better liked by the community) is shut down.

      > Insane

      That's what Novell's decision is indeed!

    3. Re:SUSE has ruined why I loved them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      SuSE 10 supports both and that's probably how it's gonna stay in the future; Novell products, OTOH, will be GNOME centric.

      About forcing something on you, they aren't as long as it's free software. Novell turned SuSE into open source software, so that's a good thing.

      Why GNOME? Probably because of better accessibility (which is a *must* for some possible clients) and usability.

      I also don't get why people think a desktop should become the standard, or winner. That is thinking like Microsoft; thinking unlike Microsoft is supporting the availability of as many desktop environments, distributions and etc as people need. And if someone's still developing something, someone needs it.
      Companies will choose the default that they think better suits their clients. Since it's all free software, you shouldn't be too concerned about it. Just look for the package that better suits you, I'm sure it's out there.

  29. Seriously? We should care about this? by jht · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Posters here on Slashdot and all over always wonder why Linux hasn't made more of an impact in the desktop world. Well, this is the biggest reason (or representative of it, at least). In the Windows world or even the MacOS world, no regular users give a hoot what window manager they run. They don't care which packaging system they use, either. All they know is that they buy the OS and it works, and that programs written for the platform just work. And if they go out and buy an off-the-shelf program for their computer, it just installs. The underlying technology is irrelevant. Windows users don't really care about the difference between InstallShield and .MSI files - they just know that they double-click on SETUP.EXE or INSTALL.EXE and it installs the darned program. Mac users know they either double-click to run an installer or just drag a program into their Applications folder. And yes, I know there's ways to run X11 apps on both Mac and Windows, but basically the user doesn't have to know the difference between, for instance, Carbon apps and Cocoa apps. They don't choose between competing windowing systems. They just use the computer.

    Linux systems are more or less founded on choice. Which is a great thing, but has no relationship with user-friendliness or consistency. Remember part of the original motivation behind GNOME - it was because a crew of folks was unhappy with the QT licensing. So they reinvented the wheel to deal with it. That's what's great about both Open Source and Free software, but it's also why a wide-open platform is not going to gain mainstream use anytime in the foreseeable future. Even if either KDE or GNOME shut down all their development efforts tomorrow, someone would pick up the dropped torch and keep it going. And then competing vendors would still have to pick one or the other.

    The day Linux desktops start spreading is the day all the big projects decide they need to focus less on eye candy and more on making the system as simple, consistent, and reliable as possible. Kind of like OS X.

    --
    -- Josh Turiel
    "2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
  30. Nice... by Motor · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I distinctly remember submitting this as "standardising"... only to have it edited and Americanized (both in the title and most irritatingly in the text itself). What a thoughtful action from a website with editors that wouldn't know the correct spelling of a word if a dictionary was violently shoved up their arses.

    --
    We all know that crap is king
    Give us dirty laundry!
    1. Re:Nice... by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 1

      You might recall that the correct spelling of the word in American dictionaries is "standardizing," not "standardising." This is useful to remember when it is considered with another fact you'd do well to keep in mind: Slashdot is US centric. Not to say that there aren't users from other countries, just that the majority of its readers and all of its staff are from the US. If you don't like the cultural imperialism, get off of the website.

    2. Re:Nice... by Adam9 · · Score: 1

      No entry found for standardising.

      Did you mean standardizing?
      Suggestions:
      standardizing
      Standard-wing
      standardise
      standardisation
      standardiser
      standardised
      standard nine
      standards
      standard's
      standards'
      standardize

    3. Re:Nice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      s/arses/asses/g

    4. Re:Nice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe things would be easier if Americans didn't need to dumb down an already existing language. It's hardly the people correctly using the language who are in the wrong. One thing to have a preference for one spelling over another, another to correct someone who was not incorrect to begin with.

    5. Re:Nice... by mincognito · · Score: 1

      That is least unexpected.

    6. Re:Nice... by Motor · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Chambers English dictionary: standardise, standardisation, standardising - to make, or keep, of uniform size shape etc.

      Dictionary.com is full of crap, that's why I never use it. Quite apart from that, if you done a bit more checking you'll find that dictionary.com does in fact have an entry, under standardise, which just goes to show what a poorly organised piece of crap it is.

      As for this being an American site (other reply) -- yes, but then my submission wasn't written by an American, was it? Edit the title if you wish, but not *my* text. The story says "Motor writes:"...

      --
      We all know that crap is king
      Give us dirty laundry!
    7. Re:Nice... by JamesD_UK · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It doesn't particularly matter which way you spell the word or where you are. See http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutsp elling/ize

    8. Re:Nice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Standardize" is the correct spelling. "Standardise" is not the traditional spelling, and is considered incorrect by the Oxford English Dictionary, which is the most respected English dictionary.

    9. Re:Nice... by Kethinov · · Score: 1

      British English has been dying for almost 100 years in lieu of America becoming a major power and British English speaking countries losing their status as major powers. Eventually American English will take over. Unless you feel like starting another world war to correct this obviously important (to you) problem, I suggest you get over it and start buying American dictionaries for your schools, or all you die hards are going to look as ridiculous as America looks to other countries for not using the metric system.

      --
      You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
    10. Re:Nice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That works both ways. If it doesn't matter, then why was it edited when there was nothing wrong with it?

    11. Re:Nice... by rsax · · Score: 1
      British English has been dying for almost 100 years in lieu of America becoming a major power and British English speaking countries losing their status as major powers. Eventually American English will take over.

      Really? And you are basing this on.....? British English is the most popular around the world due to past British colonies. Which other country besides the US uses American English?

    12. Re:Nice... by Al+Al+Cool+J · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry, but that is what editors are supposed to do. They take submitted text and edit it so that it conforms to their publication's style guide, with consistant spelling, punctuation, etc. Granted Slashdot isn't the most consistant publication in the 'verse, but if US spellings is what they've opted for then, that's the way it is.

    13. Re:Nice... by Motor · · Score: 1

      I don't care whether slashdot editors spell their text -ize, -izing or even their usual pigeon-english. I didn't... and it was edited and attributed to me, that's what pisses me off.

      --
      We all know that crap is king
      Give us dirty laundry!
    14. Re:Nice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh shut your fucking yob. Are you from Manchester?

    15. Re:Nice... by nutshell42 · · Score: 1

      Most off teh "nooz" on /. dont use US spelings ether

      --
      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
    16. Re:Nice... by JoaoPinheiro · · Score: 0

      Perhaps you mean the uncultural imperialism? :P

    17. Re:Nice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're talking to an American. The world ends at the U.S. border as far as he's concerned.

    18. Re:Nice... by everphilski · · Score: 1

      **worlds tiniest violin**

      they were trying to save you from looking like an idiot on a us-based and us-centric website but apparently that's not what you had in mind.

      -everphilski-

    19. Re:Nice... by idlake · · Score: 0, Troll

      You know, you'd have a point if "standardizing" was a US invention, but it isn't; it's a traditional British spelling that's still correct even in Britain. And it probably has fallen into disuse simply because easily irritated people like you are trying desparately to find an identity for Britain separate from the US.

    20. Re:Nice... by idlake · · Score: 1

      Because in the real world, editors, not authors, get to pick their preferred form.

    21. Re:Nice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, looking like an idiot would involve saying something that was actually incorrect and illiterate... like "worlds tiniest violon". Cuntwit. This was just edited because, at best, their U.S. audience is a bunch of parochial morons, and at worst because the slashdot editor was also a parochial moron who didn't know any better.

    22. Re:Nice... by skribble · · Score: 1

      Look, this is supposed to be about KDE vs GNOME, This is totally off topic I mean sheesh. I mean clearly one way of spelling is so much better then the other, even though they accomplish the same tasks the interface... wait I'm confused... I guess this is on topic... ... ... ARRRGHHHH!!!! help us...

      --
      --- Nothing To See Here ---
    23. Re:Nice... by psykocrime · · Score: 1

      FWIW, we're not *all* like that. Some of us Americans acknowledge that the rest of the world exists, and is just as important as (or more important than) the USofA.

      --
      // TODO: Insert Cool Sig
    24. Re:Nice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hardly. You talk more like an immigrant. Move back to France and enjoy your riots. You filthy eurotrash socialist imposter...

    25. Re:Nice... by zsau · · Score: 1

      Actually, "standardize" is just as wrong in Australia as "tire" (for "tyre") or "center" (for "centre").

      --
      Look out!
  31. Re: Best KDE-centric distro *now*? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So you imply that before this annoucement, the SuSE Linux Enterprise Server or the Novell Linux Desktop was the best KDE desktop out there? Color me skeptical.

  32. (k)ubuntu -- complete platform for the enterprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    looks like mark shuttleworth had a good gut feeling about including kubuntu into his realm. now that novell shuts down their complete line of desktop and workstation products [ http://linuxtoday.com/it_management/2005110401826O PSSNV ] he's the new kid on the block. he even announced at the ubuntu conference that he switched his personal desktop to kubuntu [ http://www.kubuntu.org/announcements/kde-commitmen t.php ] already.

    instead of novell's silly shareholders (who drive management to mimic redhat in order to) succeed catch up with the first player on the linux server market, they are now challeneged by a newcomer with a complete offering in his portfolio: rock solid server foundation (debian), and two fully supported desktop environments (ubuntu for gnome, kubuntu for kde).

    sweet alternative!

    i'll certainly consider this platform now. we have 5 SUSE sles servers running our business, and we have about 120 suse 9.2 kde desktop workstation systems. we are currently evaluating nomachine nx and freenx to switch the workstations to thin clients accessing a loadbalanced dual-node desktop application server. gnome sucked here completely -- kde with its kiosk lockdown mode shines.

    i'm sure I can realize this with debian and/or kubuntu too.

    novell goes down the same road they went down with dr-dos, word-perfect and netware. what their management touches turns to shit.

    farewell! this time forever.

  33. If this is true... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. What happens to OpenSuSE?
    2. I wish luck to Novell & Gnome as this DE has indisputable qualities (as usability and beauty, for instance), but...
    3. What if someone really prefers KDE (like me)? Though luck? Wait for someone to make a Knovell?
    4. I'm in a position to recommend Red Hat or SuSE for server usage, whatever weight my opinion might have... most big IT providers require one or other. I was favouring SuSE. Sorry, Red Hat just won a recommendation if this news is true.
    5. I use Mandra... er, Mandriva, which just got closer to be recommend it for servers (for desktop, too, but guess what, my boss just loves Windows).

    DISCLAIMERS:
    1. Trademarks belong to their respective owners.
    2. These opinions are mine, personal, not of my employers.
    3. Why I prefer KDE?

    Gnome simply has killer looks. I envy it, honestly.
    But, when it comes to DEs, I'm ready to trade a spectacular appearance for better internal workings.
    And my perception is that KDE works better than Gnome. I guess KDE advances faster than Gnome, towards a kind of integrated experience which get closer to Mac OS in the near future, leaving Windows behind (as it may already have done).
    This said, KDE and Openoffice.org could use some dieting and I hope they get unbloated as is traditional with free/open source software.
    4. What about an auto-numbering feature in Slash for people who itemize everything? ;-)

  34. Novell/Suse Desktop Now Matches Suse Support Level by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gnome Desktop = Novell/Suse Customer Support = CRAP Other commercial distro may default to Gnome, but they are not exclusively Gnome. Even Redhat allows you to use KDE. Suse can blow...

  35. You Misspelled a Word by soloport · · Score: 4, Funny

    "In Europe, you cannot konquer the Desktop market with Gnome."

  36. Re:Seriously? We should care about this? by LordPhantom · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Wait, what?

    the day Linux desktops start spreading is the day all the big projects decide they need to focus less on eye candy and more on making the system as simple, consistent, and reliable as possible. Kind of like OS X.

    Do you seriously think that Mac isn't BUILT on eye-candy? OSX has the most glitzy window manager out there.... fortunatly for Macintosh it also works.

    Trying to say that Linux will be sucessful if they don't focus on the "cool" factor is simply uninformed - the truth is they need to do both, focusing on only eye-candy or stability is myopic.

  37. Big Mistake by ac7xc · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Novell is making a huge mistake by attempting to shove a Desktop down the throats of consumers and businesses. Some like KDE and others like Gnome it is the purchaser that should have the choice.

    1. Re:Big Mistake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They still do have choice. Gnome is simply the default. And if you noticed, which it seems like no one has, the change is not in SuSE Pro distros, only Sles and NLD.

  38. Re:Seriously? We should care about this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He's not saying that OS X doesn't have eyecandy, he is saying that it isn't the primary focus. Apple developed the interface 4 years ago and hasn't changed it significantly. They don't have 23 different ways for it to look. There are small choices you have, like the color of the buttons, but every Mac looks like every other Mac. Apple computers are consistent. Linux computers are not. There is a time for eyecandy and a time for ease-of-use development. Linux hasn't gotten to the eyecandy stage yet.

  39. Debian supports KDE well... by MsGeek · · Score: 1

    Just do it. Debian Sarge is the easiest Debian yet. If you add Sid packages you can bring it up to the newest KDE. Too bad about SuSE.

    I don't like Gnome, but it's funny: GTK+ apps are often better than KDE apps. Thankfully KDE handles both gracefully.

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
  40. Another announcement by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    In related news, Slackware announced it is standardizing its desktop interface to the bash prompt.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Another announcement by pschmied · · Score: 1

      Bastards!

      Well that just tears it. I'm starting a distro call Zlackware that uses zsh.

      -Peter

  41. Dists are moving to GNOME for a reason by DrXym · · Score: 4, Interesting
    It's not because it's intrinsically "better" (it isn't), it's not because it's got better apps (some are, some aren't). But what it has in spades is simplicity and usability. KDE is a kitchen sink and it's a mess of options, buttons and menus that most people couldn't care less about. Anyone trying to appeal to enterprises (or just people who don't want a million options) would choose GNOME.

    As it happens I just installed SUSE 10 and I quite like it. I'm using KDE right now but even the integration efforts of SUSE can't paper over the cracks. Just seeing 6 menu items in a row in Konq that say "Configure" just makes me shudder. If I had a choice I would use GNOME, but the GNOME integration in SUSE is terrible (where is the input from Ximian?). Therefore it's a surprise to hear they're now going to favour GNOME. I guess they've decided its better to go with Ximian than with SUSE.

    1. Re:Dists are moving to GNOME for a reason by Arandir · · Score: 1

      Your post presupposes that corporations are intelligent. They are not. The larger a corporation (or any organization) becomes, the less its decisions are based on reason and logic and the more they are based on politics and compromise.

      --
      A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
    2. Re:Dists are moving to GNOME for a reason by legirons · · Score: 1

      "Just seeing 6 menu items in a row in Konq that say "Configure" just makes me shudder."

      Perhaps in a later version of KDE, the option windows could be tabbed, to show options for each of the components something uses, rather than have it on the menu.

      It does seem quite logical, when you have an app that's just comprised of KParts, to have options to configure each. Presumably if you select a particular option in your Konqueror window, you get that option in every other KHTML component (email, newsreader, etc.) so you are configuring a component of the application, rather than the application itself.

      And there's all the menu/icon/keyboard mappings, get their own configuration menu -- but then they do in most programs. Microsoft Word has a separate menu for configuring menus, another menu for configuring toolbars, a button in a dialog box for configuring keyboard shortcuts, etc. Does GNOME have a better configuration for that sort of thing, that KDE could look at copying?

      I thought KDE allowed you to configure things either in the control centre, or within the application, and both of those configuration routes display the same settings dialog, since it's all modular. That seems quite logical to me from a programming viewpoint, although such modularity can seem confusing to people who are expecting everything to be optimised for one particular way of using it.

    3. Re:Dists are moving to GNOME for a reason by Gnulix · · Score: 1
      But what it has in spades is simplicity and usability.

      No it hasn't. It's supposedly simplicity makes it suck at usability.

      KDE is a kitchen sink and it's a mess of options, buttons and menus that most people couldn't care less about

      You could have used "I" instead of "most people", because you are obviously only talking about your own feelings.

      Just seeing 6 menu items in a row in Konq that say "Configure" just makes me shudder.

      There you go, it's your feelings you're discussing, not those of the entire community, not even a large portion of the community.

    4. Re:Dists are moving to GNOME for a reason by DrXym · · Score: 1
      No it hasn't. It's supposedly simplicity makes it suck at usability.

      That must mean OS X really sucks right?

      You could have used "I" instead of "most people", because you are obviously only talking about your own feelings.

      No. Most people. Stick any random 100 people in a usability lab and make them do tasks in well tuned GNOME or KDE and GNOME would win everytime. KDE is a dogs dinner of buttons, menus, tabs, options with all the common stuff mixed in with the uncommon stuff. There is no way anyone who knows the slightest thing about UI design or usability would think different. The one thing KDE has going for it from a usability standpoint is consistency - apps do resemble each other in terms of menu structure and shortcuts but nothing has been done to address the complexity.

      I'm sure that KDE is just fine for some power users, but it certainly isn't fine for anyone else. And I say some power users - as a power user I find it a bore to have to spend 10 minutes to figure out how to turn off the stupid single-click-to-launch-apps behaviour that KDE inflicts on people by default. That single click thing stands as a massive red flag that KDE doesn't pay enough attention usability or it would have been changed a long time ago.

      There you go, it's your feelings you're discussing, not those of the entire community, not even a large portion of the community.

      So tell us which idiot in this community had the great idea of inserting 6 menu items in a row starting with "Configure" and each leading to their own dialogs, some of which are extremely complicated. Which idiot thought it a great idea for Konq to ask if I want to accept cookies when I start it the first time, but doesn't even offer to explain what a cookie is? Which idiot designed the main Konq prefs dialog to have 17 sections, comprising of 26 tabs with many options per tab, where a good half of those options are extremely esoteric / advanced.

      It's funny, but every other browser is configurable from a couple of menu items at most. No other browser, be it Opera, IE, Firefox, Safari, Mozilla or even the AOL-buggered NS8 even remotely approaches the complexity of Konqueror. The comparison to Safari which shares a similar engine is particularly damning.

      And that's just one app. The whole desktop is like that. In many ways KDE is far superior to GNOME, but anyone who thinks it has the edge on usability or simplicity is wrong. Start by reading some human interface guidelines from various operating systems and note the rationale for doing things in a certain way. Then count the number of ways KDE screws up. Aside from what the complexity means to the user, it means as much again to a sysadmin who might have to maintain hundreds of desktops and answer dumb user questions.

      BTW, in case you think that I believe GNOME is perfect, I don't. But at least it's trying, and its efforts at usability and strict adherence to its HIG are paying off in spades. If it was a feature contest, KDE might win, but IBM, Red Hat, Sun, and Novell realise that its much more than that.

  42. Re:suck it up KDE fans, you can still help us win by arevos · · Score: 2, Insightful

    People should choose their desktop environment based on personal preference, not to participate in software zealotry.

  43. One can think of distros in terms of levels... by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    Level 1 distros have a certain number of users, or a certain level of functionality.
    Leve 2 distros less than level 1.

    I think they can be grouped in a manner similar to consumer electronics.

  44. gnome: survive@novell as GUI server admin terminal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    looks like the decision to chop the complete retail suse desktop product line is meant to push the worldwide novell organization into a redhat-like server-only subscription-based business

    standardize on gnome?

    yes, as the GUI terminal used by admins for maintaining there servers!

    but novell is going to loose lots of existing customers with this strategy, and win only few new ones.

    o well. novell management are not famous for continuing a well running business. they proofed themselves on unix, dr-dos, wordperfect and netware already.

    kde they will not kill. kde can happily switch to kubuntu. gnome is in danger to go the way to hell where previous novell products are waiting for it!

    if i were a gnome type, i wouldnt rejoice so much!

  45. Re:Both by symbolic · · Score: 1


    Both desktops have their strong points, and quite frankly, I don't know what all the fuss is about, epecially from people who insist that Linux should standardize on one or tho other. After all is said and done, it's really no different than choosing Firefox or Opera for your web browsing. I've used both desktops, and although having used gnome recently, I thing having a choice is a good thing.

  46. Ximian (IBM+Ventures Capital ) has won by marchetta · · Score: 1, Informative

    Ximian originally founded by Ventures Capital + Sun contracts + IBM have a lot a hidden power PR guys smart engineers (Miguel Nat ) cool applications (beagle ifolder mono ecc ) cool gnome patches (gnome-panel with rounded edges stripe image into the menu and so on ) cool core gnome developers from nautilus (Dave Camp) to Evolution to bonobo ecc Novell has choosen Gnome as default desktop because they can lead the development thanks to theirs key developers.

  47. and the winner is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    VHS

  48. Non-KDE-Centric fork of Kubuntu by The+Monster · · Score: 4, Funny
    Kubuntu or Mandriva - both were pretty KDE-centric last time I checked them out.
    Kubuntu is still KDE-centric, and probably will continue to be. But I hear there's talk of a GNOME-centric version of Kubuntu in the works. I wonder how that one's coming along....
    --

    [100% ISO 646 Compliant]
    SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.

    1. Re:Non-KDE-Centric fork of Kubuntu by mp3phish · · Score: 3, Funny

      Maybe you are thinking of Ubuntu?

      Just a thought. Maybe you didn't realise that Kubuntu is just a spin off of Ubuntu.

      --
      Your ignorance is infinitely greater than you realize.
    2. Re:Non-KDE-Centric fork of Kubuntu by MentalMooMan · · Score: 1

      Captain obvious to the rescue!

      (no offence intended)

      --
      43rd Law of Computing:
      Anything that can go wr
      fortune: Segmentation violation -- Core Dumped
    3. Re:Non-KDE-Centric fork of Kubuntu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I hear there's talk of a GNOME-centric version of Kubuntu in the works."
      -------
      I phoned Mark (Shuttleworth), and he confirmed.

      It's going to be called GKubuntu, and they are currently looking up what the south african language meaning for it is.

    4. Re:Non-KDE-Centric fork of Kubuntu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I'm sure you didn't offend that person with your equally stupid commentary ...no offence intended of course.

    5. Re:Non-KDE-Centric fork of Kubuntu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's already being forked off to a KDE-centric version. It's going to be called Kgkubuntu. I don't know if that means anything in any negro "language".

    6. Re:Non-KDE-Centric fork of Kubuntu by anupamsr · · Score: 1

      Perhaps, Gubuntu?

      --
      I forgot to be anonymous.
  49. Gnomes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ain't Elves more trendy than Gnomes this days?

  50. So... is this the same Novell company? by jko · · Score: 1

    ... that got awarded with 17 pages in Chapman's book about '20 years of high-tech marketing disasters' (In Search of Stupidity)?

  51. best decision? by beforewisdom · · Score: 1

    I've used a variety of linux desktops.

    I see this decision not so much as a confirmation of Gnome's quality, but as a confirmation of the criticisms of trolltechs licensing of the QT.

  52. To KDE or not to KDE, that is er was the question by FishandChips · · Score: 1

    Wait a couple of weeks for the dust to settle. There have been all sorts of changes announced at Novell and all sorts of rumors swirling around as well. The publicity side of things hasn't been very competently handled by Novell and it's hard to know exactly what's going on at the moment.

    In any case, from the sound of this, Novell's commercial Linux products will now focus on Gnome, but it's free products - i.e., OpenSUSE - will continue to offer both Gnome and KDE as they do now. If this is true, it really doesn't make much of a difference. Products intended for corporate desktops and "special situations" are always going to be tightly focused subsets of what's available. It's long been clear that Gnome is more suitable for that market. Common sense really on Novell's part. SUSE 10 shows that they can put a Gnome DE together with the best of them anyway.

    This all rather begs the question of whether Novell really know what they are doing at the moment. Their chairman is very reminiscent of the swivel-eyed "Dr Gil" of Apple fame and we know what happened to him. Novell's make or break is in the enterprise, just as Red Hat's is. This sphere has absolutely nothing to do with some promising free desktops like K/Ubuntu or the merits of amarok or k3b. Sorry if this disappoints the Ubuntu-fanciers on here but that's business for you.

    --
    Las qué passoun
    tournoun pas maï
  53. Re:Bye-bye, SUSE! Bye-bye Novell! by aergern · · Score: 1

    Actually, SUSE predates Redhat. But since Americans equate Redhat with Linux. I guess that's an easy mistake to make.

    --
    Tell me what you believe...I'll tell you what you should see.
  54. dumb move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gnome sucks.

  55. Remember what JWZ said? by IGnatius+T+Foobar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In one of his typical prima-donna rants earlier this year, Jamie Zawinski (one of the "popular kids" here at Slashdot High) spoke of Netscape's acquisition of Collabra, and how the Collabra people ended up forcing their culture onto Netscape from the bottom up -- eventually destabilizing and destroying the company by sending them in all the wrong directions.

    It's clear now that the exact same thing is happening to Novell. The acquisition of Ximian was a BIG mistake. It added absolutely no value to Novell (I think it happened because "someone knew someone" in Massachussetts and they did it to keep Ximian's investors from losing all their money) and what happened next? Slowly but surely, the Ximian people are taking control of Novell. This latest move proves it -- SuSE was well known as a KDE powerhouse. They did more for KDE than any other single company out there (except maybe Troll Tech). Now, the Ximian people have dismantled SuSE's KDE leadership, and are probably well on their way to dismantling any other strategic advantage any other part of Novell may have had.

    So long Novell, it was a grand run, but you're letting the wrong people take charge and even though you may not realize it yet, you're in a downward spiral.

    And since I know Miguel and Nat are reading this -- listen up, guys, stop being a couple of pushy blowhards and do the right thing for your company. Let the grownups run the show please.

    --
    Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
    1. Re:Remember what JWZ said? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who the fuck are you to call JWZ a prima-donna? What have you ever created?

    2. Re:Remember what JWZ said? by algaeman · · Score: 1

      I think what Novell really wanted from Ximian was Red Carpet. RCE has already been rolled into a Novell branded product (Zenworks Linux Management). Mono is a nice gizmo that came with the deal, but really doesn't have a lot of profit potential. It's much better as a thorn in Microsoft's side. Ximian Desktop was not of much use to Novell, but since it is Nat's pet project, they let it linger for a while.

    3. Re:Remember what JWZ said? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      The "pushy blowhards" are KDE proponents--people who were so out of touch that they invested hundreds of man-years in developing a desktop before they even noticed that they had a massive (and obvious) licensing problem on their hands. Now, they are still pushing an unworkable dual licensing scheme for the toolkit. When will these idiots learn?

      It's good that the SuSE distribution is moving to a desktop developed by people who dotted their i's and crossed their t's before shipping. Getting rid of KDE as the default is the best thing that could happen to SuSE.

    4. Re:Remember what JWZ said? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a leader in the niche of rpm-based KDE distros, Novell switchs now to the market of rpm-based Gnome distros, led by RedHat. Do the Novell (ximian) folks really believe they will be able to take some of RedHat's customers away??

    5. Re:Remember what JWZ said? by a.ameri · · Score: 2, Informative

      Correct you are my friend. Honestly, what did Ximian bring to Novel in terms of actual products? What happened to Ximian Desktop, that lovely modified Gnome with a devilish monkey wallpaper? Have you heard anything about it? No, it's been discontinued. Do you remember their Red Carpet? That usless shi!t that was supposed to unify software deployments? What happened to it? It turned out that Novel already had a similar product, and so RC has been discontinued. And you know what, as lovely as that crashoholic buggy Evolution is, and Mono (which is going for a long catch-up phase with the releaasse of C# 2.0 and the new .Net framework) these are bringing a total of $0.00 in terms of revenue for Novel.

      Buying Ximian was a terrible mistake that Novel made during their hurry to jump into the Linux bandwagon. As if that was not enough, it seems that the Ximian guys now hold major positions in Novel, and have been put into positions to be able to kill SUSE's especial relationship with the KDE community. As other's have mentioned, SUSE was only strong in Europe, and in Europe, desktop Linux means KDE. I know that the Munich municipality is definitly going to have a strong word with SUSE about this.

      I'm sure this won't affect KDE much. KDE just gets better with every release, and with 4.0, it will put all those usability criticisms to rest once and for all. But I do know that this will affect SUSE. The whole YAST2 is written with Qt, and it will be a massive redundant job to rewrite the whole thing in Gtk+. Also, this probably means that SUSE 10.0 was the last release that I bought, and I know I am not alone in this boat. Happy gconf hacking SUSE!

      --
      -- /* Those who don't underestand Unix, are condemned to reinvent it poorly */
    6. Re:Remember what JWZ said? by prefec2 · · Score: 1

      I'm not a standard SUSE and KDE user, but my mother is. The causes were:
      - Better local support (as we live in Germany)
      - SuSE had better hardware support
      - most things work fine.

      But since 8.x series, the SuSE-Linux started to get worse.
      In 9.0 USB-support was not working perfectly.
      In 9.1/9.2 it failed to work at all (at least with the camera my mother owns).
      So we updated it to 9.3 and now it worked again. At least for one day. But when we unplugged the camera and reattached it in the same session (which could happen, if the camera goes in suspend mode anytime), the camera got an new USB-identification. And the applications reacted in an unsatisfying manner. For example the photoalbum tool started and wasn't able to find the camera.

      To get the machine totally confused, add a usb-stick.

      Most of these problems come from the fact, that SuSE implemented their own solutions for hw detection and hotplugging.

      SuSE uses subfs to mount CDROMs and sticks instantly. But this causes some trouble. And hal, dbus etc. are better solutions to the same problem. That's why they started using it in 9.3. but theirs still using subfs, which gets now confused with hal, hotplug and friends.

      Beacause this change started before Novell aquired SuSE, I guess it has something to do with the move to business customers with special needs and away from the classical desktop (geek) user.

    7. Re:Remember what JWZ said? by subsolar2 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Correct you are my friend. Honestly, what did Ximian bring to Novel in terms of actual products? What happened to Ximian Desktop, that lovely modified Gnome with a devilish monkey wallpaper? Have you heard anything about it? No, it's been discontinued.


      Mostly true ... XD is pretty much not needed since those changes have gone into mainstream Gnome.


        Do you remember their Red Carpet? That usless shi!t that was supposed to unify software deployments? What happened to it? It turned out that Novel already had a similar product, and so RC has been discontinued.


      Well Red Carpet basically just got renamed "Zen for Linux" the product still exists.


      And you know what, as lovely as that crashoholic buggy Evolution is, and Mono (which is going for a long catch-up phase with the releaasse of C# 2.0 and the new .Net framework) these are bringing a total of $0.00 in terms of revenue for Novel.


      FUD ... the devlopment version of mono already implement 99% of C# 2.0.


      Buying Ximian was a terrible mistake that Novel made during their hurry to jump into the Linux bandwagon. As if that was not enough, it seems that the Ximian guys now hold major positions in Novel, and have been put into positions to be able to kill SUSE's especial relationship with the KDE community. As other's have mentioned, SUSE was only strong in Europe, and in Europe, desktop Linux means KDE. I know that the Munich municipality is definitly going to have a strong word with SUSE about this.


      Well currently Gnome is *better* than KDE for Enterprise use especially with it's Accessibility features which are a requirement for government use. The licensing of the core libraries is much more GNOME friendly for integration with proprietary enterprise apps also. For their target audience, corporate & government organizations (not hobbyist), it's a better choice than KDE.

      I very much doubt that Munich will say anything to Novell.


      I'm sure this won't affect KDE much. KDE just gets better with every release, and with 4.0, it will put all those usability criticisms to rest once and for all. But I do know that this will affect SUSE. The whole YAST2 is written with Qt, and it will be a massive redundant job to rewrite the whole thing in Gtk+. Also, this probably means that SUSE 10.0 was the last release that I bought, and I know I am not alone in this boat. Happy gconf hacking SUSE!


      I'm sure your wrong .... with Novell sponsering less KDE development and more GNOME it's likely that the situation will go the other way. My guess is that they will replace YAST2 with something completely different, probably written in Mono that integrates with eDirectory/LDAP.

    8. Re:Remember what JWZ said? by Stinking+Pig · · Score: 1

      1) JWZ rocks. I don't claim to judge his code, but his rants are funny and well-informed.
      2) I can totally see that sort of company-cancer happening... it certainly happened to Cable & Wireless when they bought Exodus.
      3) From a distro perspective, this makes me unhappy. I had just ditched Mandriva for its lack of stability and lousy hardware support. SuSE 9.3 rocked, and SuSE 10.0 is even better. I thought I had reached a point at which I could quit mucking around with distro changes, but it looks like I'm going to have to go elsewhere for that for my laptop.
      4) Miguel and Nat have already made their opinions of other people's opinions clear. A fine example of the Nader effect in action, though it's in slow-motion.

      --
      "Nothing was broken, and it's been fixed." -- Jon Carroll
    9. Re:Remember what JWZ said? by wolverine1999 · · Score: 1

      I think Novell is doing the right thing in supporting GNOME. That is not to say that KDE is not a good environment, but GNOME is a good desktop too.

      So I support their choice!

  56. Corporate desktops vs. User choice by OpenServe · · Score: 1

    There is certainly a case for standardizing upon a single DE for corporate workstations. In this environment, the most important apps are: Web browser, Office suite, Java/.NET business apps (which are probably through the web, but some may have client components). From this perspective, it doesn't matter so much which DE is used. Both are basically just a way to launch the 3-4 apps used daily and manage the open windows. Compared to KDE, GNOME is a barebones DE, so it makes sense to use it when you don't want to hastle with users playing around with settings and screwing up their workspace. (I've found it's also great for elementary school students because it's so incredibly simple and intuitive.) But simplicity is simultaneously GNOME's strength and weakness. What GNOME really needs is an "advanced mode" that gives the power users more control and more options. This is especially true of the Nautilus file manager, which is utilitarian enough to drive experienced users crazy! :) (not to mention the kioparts integration with Konqueror is downright useful.. fish:// anyone?)

    Because their desktop goals are corporate-minded, it's no surprise that Novell is going with GNOME. But what about personal desktops and applications? This is where KDE really shines because of the apps available. K3b (CD/DVD writing), Kopete (IM), Digikam (digital camera and album manager), and Amarok (iTunes-style media) are so far ahead of their GNOME "competitors" that DE choice hardly requires thought. Yes, you can run all these apps under GNOME, but then you miss out on some of the desktop integration and you double-up on memory usage.

    It will be interesting to see where KDE 4 goes, with its focus on simplification and HCI guidelines.. perhaps it'll finally gain more corporate desktop interest in the US.

  57. Incorrect by codergeek42 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Remember, though: officially supporting two (rather large) different desktop projects, which are created and designed with different fundamental idealogies, is *much* more costly to Novell, in terms of time, energy, paying hackers, etc.

    Considering that Novell recently laid off a lot of people, perhaps reducing their overall cost by only officially supporting one desktop project will likely increase the quality of their distribution too.

  58. From someone who uses both by Qbertino · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'd pick KDE. KDE is more consitent than Gnome and does a better job at ridding the crappyness of the x86 Linux Desktop anachonisims, such as XFrees ancient non-existant Font management or the lack of XFree clipboard usage. Since 3.0 KDE just says "GIMME THAT! I'll take care" and gone are two major anoyances of the pure OSS Desktop. Be it that it weighs heavier than Gnome but if todays systems can take such behemoths as XP, Mac OS X, then they shure can handle KDE.

    I actually find Gnome prettier and less clutsy in apperance and I dislike the fact that default KDE apes the crappiness of Windows Keybindings, but on the other hand I love KDEs easy configurability. The utility libs are, afaict, more sophisticated (example: editor widget) and KWin has evolved from a joke of a WM it was to a solid foundation for KDE. Unlike Gnome the KDE people don't change their core WM every odd month - in the end it paid off.

    This is the general impression I've had about KDE/Gnome the last two years. I've actually wondered why Ubuntu uses Gnome as default. From what I can tell, the core Gnome team members are probably better at advocacy than the KDE people. That could be the reason.

    One last indicator makes the last solid point:
    The reality is that I miss an awfull lot in a pure Gnome enviroment, but I nearly miss nothing in a pure KDE setup.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
    1. Re:From someone who uses both by swimmar132 · · Score: 1

      Um, Gnome has font management. Not sure what you mean by 'clipboard usage'.

  59. qt is still problematic. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    when a person downloads or installs free software, and finds tools to develop software in the distro, they often don't realize that using the toolset (and i'm talking about Qt tools here) obligates them for thousands of dollars in licensing fees to Trolltech.

    as far as i know, this is the only code on free downloadable linux distros that does this, although i think mySQL may have some similar issues.

    Qt and Trolltech keep talking about how they are "just as free as anything else" but i don't see how that can be, given the costs for the toolkit alone, plus yearly renewals, is far greater than the cost of microsoft tools...and no other distro based linux toolkits have such obligations.

    a small business user downloading linux for a server, and writing a single app, could be liable for massive penalties without even knowing it.

    trolltech and qt zealots often say "well, a business can afford the licenses" but a lot of small businesses barely eek by, or close entirely within a couple of years, and they want thousands of dollars a year in licensing?

    1. Re:qt is still problematic. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      QT is GPLed dipshit. Nobody is incurring thousands of dollars of licensing fees UNLESS they want to use the non-GPL version of QT for their non-GPL programs. That is a small problem, but it is not at all a problem for open-source programs.

    2. Re:qt is still problematic. by Elektroschock · · Score: 1

      Then why don't you use GTK to develop applications for KDE? This is pure FUD. It is not a problem of KDE. It is a problem of Gnome fanatics who are incapable of integrating into KDE and fix their toolkit. Just remind you of the stupid file dialog games. It is simply nonsense to say KDE is qt and Gnome = everything else. They are desktiop environments and toolkits should integrate in both of them. Who cares whether KDE is developed with QT?

    3. Re:qt is still problematic. by mrm677 · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but open-source doesn't mean just GPL. I work in acadamia and everything we write is open-source. But for various reasons I won't get into, we don't license as GPL and we also integrate other non-GPL "open source" libraries. Hence I would need to purchase a $1000+ QT license. This isn't out of the question, but there is a reasonable alternative that is LGPL.

      Sorry, but the core libraries of an OS environment cannot be GPL. This is why the LGPL exists. Microsoft doesn't charge money to link with their various GUI toolkit libraries. Yes, the development tools cost money, but you can develop with free compilers and still link to their libraries.

    4. Re:qt is still problematic. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are desktiop environments and toolkits should integrate in both of them.

      Are you saying that QT 'should' integrate with Gnome? Have you told Trolltech?

    5. Re:qt is still problematic. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ideally, all software should be free, however, we live in the real world. What linux needs most to succeed on the desktop in the commercial sector is commercial grade "applications" (Photoshop, Illustrator,AutoCad, etc. Gnome (GTK+) uses the LGPL, so commercial (non-free) applications can be developed and linked against the GTK+ libraries. KDE on the other hand, uses QT. The QT license is free for non-commercial applications, but that isn't going to do much to get the range of game software, graphics, educational, etc. that Linux needs to make inroads into the desktop. Check out the pricing for a QT license for developers to develop the "commercial" applications for linux. url:http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt/pricing.h tml and you wonder why all of the major distributions are standardizing on Gnome?

    6. Re:qt is still problematic. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What on earth are you babbling about? :-)

      I never said KDE is the problem. I did say Qt is still problematic, for the reasons I mentioned. The parent post of mine mentioned Qt as a possible source of the issues.

      In a lot of ways Trolltech is ignoring history. In the early days of CP/M and DOS, there were no free compilers. MASM for the 8080, and later for the 8088, was about $1200 as I recall.

      Borland entered the compiler fray at $99 a pop and then dropped their price to $49 after a couple of months. Phillipe Kahn became a billionaire.

      It's a shame TrollTech can't learn from this example.

      (some of the dates and times may be incorrect--it's been awhile, but that's the way I remember it)

    7. Re:qt is still problematic. by cpghost · · Score: 1

      Yes, I concur. This is absolutely true. I'm developing apps for government agencies, and since it is rarely possible to release such software under the GPL (BSD-like license would be fine though), I have to use GNOME/Gtk+ for this kind of stuff. This is really a pity, cause I love C++ and Qt's clean and nice API; but for licensing reasons, GNOME/Gtk+ is right now the ONLY way to go. Sadly.

      --
      cpghost at Cordula's Web.
    8. Re:qt is still problematic. by falonaj · · Score: 1
      Which licenses do you use?

      You can use Qt with a number of other open-source licenses as well, for example the Artistic license.

      This is possible because Qt is triple licensed (GPL/QPL/proprietary), and the QPL specifically allows to use Qt for any OSI-approved application.

      The question is whether the open-source license allows linking against a differently licensed library (like the Artistic license), or if it forbids this (like the GPL).

  60. "It's the apps stupid" by Mongoose · · Score: 1

    GNOME has far more applications that are used everyday. Look at all the 'must haves' at least using Gtk+ as the widget set. Also have you used Gtk# applications? My god... I can use the same hexeditor ( bless ) at work on windows as on linux at home -- just copy the exe to windows.

    1. Re:"It's the apps stupid" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "GNOME has far more applications that are used everyday"

      Really? Such as?

      If there's one subject where KDE kicks the crap out of Gnome, that is applications, in both quantity and quality.

      Don't tell me Gimp or Firefox are Gnome apps, please...

    2. Re:"It's the apps stupid" by civilizedINTENSITY · · Score: 1

      You are confusing Gnome with GTK. The GP said, "Look at all the 'must haves' at least using Gtk+ as the widget set." So Firefox *is* a GTK app, because it uses the Gimp Tool Kit (GTK). Likewise, the Gimp most obviously uses the Gimp Tool Kit. The Gimp is why GDK and GTK were originally created. Gnome is built on GTK, which is built on GDK, which then goes on top of xlib. KDE is built of kparts, on top of QT, which (at least on linux) then goes on xlib. So Gimp and Firefox are GTK apps, rather than QT apps, plain and simple.

    3. Re:"It's the apps stupid" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that's exactly my point. He first says

      "GNOME has far more applications that are used everyday"

      But to prove this point, he says this after that:

      "Look at all the 'must haves' at least using Gtk+ as the widget set"

      Well, GTK+ apps and Gnome apps are different beasts. Where are those killer Gnome apps?

    4. Re:"It's the apps stupid" by civilizedINTENSITY · · Score: 1
      He was replying to "Why is that so many people prefer kde over gnome, yet redhat, debian-based distros like ubuntu and now SuSE use gnome as their primary?" and "I'm not criticising gnome, it's a fine project and a good desktop environment, but I really like the unified desktop, reusable kparts and configurability you get with kde."

      The response is that as kool as kparts are, the QT dependence and commercial viability of GTK means Gnome dominance, which really means that someday in the far future "gparts" will be the standard. Thus, GTK Firefox is a perfect example of Gnome vs KDE.
      GTK+ was initially developed for and used by the GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program. Therefore, it is named "The GIMP Toolkit", so that the origins of the project are remembered. Today GTK+ is used by a large number of applications, and is the toolkit used by the GNU project's GNOME desktop.
      Thus the GNU Object Model Environment and the GNU Image Manipulation Program are both part of the GNU. I think you'd be willing to admit that at the very least, this is an example of GNU dominating KDE/QT?
  61. Re:Oh well another reason not to use SUSE by frankm_slashdot · · Score: 1

    personally im a gentoo fanatic.. and use it on everything. but unless youve had the PLEASURE of installing SUSE.. or watching one of your parents install SUSE with their eyes closed and in less time than it takes to watch Star Wars Episode IV without commercials..... then you really are in no place to make those comments.. unless you want to make them from the platform of ignorance.. which i dont think you want to do....

  62. Could pricing have anything to do with it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ideally, all software should be free, however, we live in the real world. What linux needs most to succeed on the desktop in the commercial sector is commercial grade "applications" (Photoshop, Illustrator,AutoCad, etc. Gnome (GTK+) uses the LGPL, so commercial (non-free) applications can be developed and linked against the GTK+ libraries. KDE on the other hand, uses QT. The QT license is free for non-commercial applications, but that isn't going to do much to get the range of game software, graphics, educational, etc. that Linux needs to make inroads into the desktop.

    Check out the pricing for a QT license for developers to develop the "commercial" applications for linux. url:http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt/pricing.h tml

    and you wonder why all of the major distributions are standardizing on Gnome?

  63. I was wondering when that was going to happen by idlake · · Score: 1

    It doesn't matter how good KDE is (and it's pretty good), its dependence on a dual-licensed GUI library kills it in commercial applications. Qt proponents can swear up and down that it doesn't matter to commercial customers, but the fact is that it does.

    It's not necessarily driven by cutomers, it's driven by vendors: no vendor like IBM, Sun, or Novell can depend for their commercial business on Troll Tech. If Novell stuck with Qt, basically, Troll Tech could set the terms under which Novell's commercial customers can develop. That simply doesn't make sense, in particular if there is a less restrictive and widely used alternative.

    This move also makes sense because Novell is heavily invested in Mono, and Mono GUIs are generally written in Gtk#.

    1. Re:I was wondering when that was going to happen by Klivian · · Score: 1

      It doesn't matter how good KDE is (and it's pretty good), its dependence on a dual-licensed GUI library kills it in commercial applications. Qt proponents can swear up and down that it doesn't matter to commercial customers, but the fact is that it does.

      You often her that argument, but you never or hear see the follow up to it. Locally then the competing LGPLed library should be the preferred one for commercial applications. Why is it that the number of commercial Qt programs outnumber the GTK+ counterparts, with a rather large margin?

  64. Typical stupid novell move by iksrazal_br · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I was afraid this would happen once novell bought Suse. To Novell's credit, up until now they have played smart - don't alienate your base users - primarily KDE users since pratically day one. Up until now what has Ximian and Evolution done for their bottom line? Mono? Puhlease. Suse Professional is their cash cow. Lose KDE and I lose Suse, I stop buying Suse professional, and I stop installing and recommending Suse to my clients who are spending top dollar - its that simple. I have my mom running Suse, my wife running Suse, my colleagues running Suse, and I install Suse for large telecoms. I lost redhat in 2002 after using it since 1996, and though I'd be sad for a while I'm sure I can switch again.

    From what I have seen - unscientifically - KDE has been steadily gaining more market share then Gnome. I subscribe to the linux journals monthly desktop orientated pdf and they seem to agree. I have nothing against Gnome - I just happen to like KDE. Back in '99 I thought it was better for me and I have really liked KDE's progress ever since.

    Where to go from here? First, I hope this is all wrong - I'm an enthusiastic Suse user. Kubuntu I suppose, but its a tough sell for my clients. Kooler heads prevail and I hope Novell is smarter than this, but somehow I doubt it. History shows Intel let the engineers create Itanium, and Novell has in the past bought Unix for top dollar and sell it to SCO for a huge loss, along with Corel etc.

    Say it aint so, novell.

    iksrazal

    1. Re:Typical stupid novell move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was afraid this would happen once novell bought Suse.

      Sad but true. I agree that so far Novell seemed to try and play smart - although it still looked like death from a thousand paper cuts due to missing/shifting focus at times. But this one might just be the first of the bell tolls.

      To people arguing that 'this is corporate, nothing to see, move along' - whereas until now different versions of SLES meant different versions of the same programs to support, this weill bring along a whole new set of support issues. And there's the trickle-down issue: with official focus on Gnome, how long until any meaningful KDE support is relegated exclusively to OpenSUSE or 3rd party package maintainers? Actually, nevermind that, how long will Novell still be paying KDE developers if KDE will no longer be relevant to their main cash cow?

      Oh well, all good things come to and end eventually, I guess. So long, SUSE, it's been nice while it lasted.

    2. Re:Typical stupid novell move by mrm677 · · Score: 1

      They have no choice. You cannot expect your customers to pay Trolltech thousands of dollars to develop non-GPL GUI software to is seamless with the desktop environment. I had this issue in acadamia...even though I was developing open-source software, we couldn't license it as GPL for various legal reasons.

      If QT was LGPL, Novell would probably stick with KDE.

    3. Re:Typical stupid novell move by iksrazal_br · · Score: 1
      Not being LGPL is difficult for us who are independant app developers - I've actually written some Qt code. For Novell they have deep pockets that can make up for it in time saved, as they have done up until now. Qt tools and libs are pretty slick plus its C++ instead of C - better IMHO for desktop apps.

      Of course Novell GPL'd Yast and other tools after they bought Suse, so for GPL apps it doesn't matter. Have any examples of non-GPL'd apps by Novell using gtk ?

      My new sig: - they'll take KDE away from me about the same time when they take away my guns - they tried that recently here in Brasil and failed too.

      iksrazal

    4. Re:Typical stupid novell move by cheshire_cqx · · Score: 1

      Try KNOPPIX http://www.knoppix.com/, http://www.knoppix.org/. The live-CD is great and it installs like a champ.

    5. Re:Typical stupid novell move by cheshire_cqx · · Score: 1

      Oh for an edit button! Knoppix is OK, but what my addled brain was trying to type was Mepis (http://www.mepis.com/, http://www.mepis.org/) which I prefer over Knoppix, especially if I'm actually going to install it on the HDD.

    6. Re:Typical stupid novell move by phulshof · · Score: 1

      I think that if a customer wants to provide an application to sell, it is likely it wouldn't write it in such a way that it only works on one desktop anyway, so I think your point is moot. They will choose the library that fits them best, and write the application for that library, and it should work on both GNOME and KDE without any trouble.

  65. Kubuntu by dhart · · Score: 1

    Kubuntu, anyone?

    Kubuntu is fully free (supported by a non-profit foundation, and not tied to a commercial distro or the whims of random flailing companies), and will always use KDE, becuase it's userbase/community driven.

  66. Licencing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess one major advantage for Gnome is that commercial companies can develop for it without buying licences. You can write an application for Gnome, and keep the source closed without paying anyone. You can write an application for Microsoft Windwos without paying anyone. You have to get a QT licence if you want to do a KDE app.

  67. It Is 'Just' GNOME For The 'MyLinux' Distro!! by Halvy · · Score: 0

    In building the MyLinux (c) Multimedia, Ham/Amateur Radio centric, 'It Just Works' distro, I've chosen Gnome ONLY, for the obvious reasons:

    - Oldest & most Mature

    - Most flexible (esp. sound/video wise)

    - Looks 'best' (crisper, more 'Mac' like)

    - Most stable, ie. doesn't crash or 'break' as often as Kde

    When this distro is ready for release, I will notify /. :)

    --

    The InterNet is a terrible thing to waste. Arrest Bill Gates, and shut down Microsoft immediately.

    --
    I will gladly loose all of life's battles.. in order to win the war..
  68. Why I dislike Gnome by linuxguy · · Score: 1


    Nautilus. It is brain-dead. Ever try accessing a WebDav folder with Nautilus? Lets just say it puts up a fight. And then after the fight when I thought I had won, I found out that the beast would not let me edit .txt files on the webdav folder. It would let me copy from and copy to there but not let me edit the files right there. Ugh.

    And when I told it to always open .txt files with gvim editor, did it listen as expected? Not at all.

    Formatted the Fedora Core 4 hard drive and installed Suse 10 and never looked back. Nautilus is Konqueror's bitch. And Suse kicks Redhat's ass. And I had been using Redhat for over 10 years.

    And now I hear about Suse getting comfy with Gnome? Nooooooooooooooo. Gnome is a piece of trash!

    1. Re:Why I dislike Gnome by megrims · · Score: 1

      Right. Which part of your gripe actually relates to gnome?
      You don't have to use nautilus..

      (I for one, use XFCE4)

  69. I'm a Gnome user but.... by inkysplat · · Score: 1

    Novell moving to Gnome didn't come as a suprise to me, it makes quite alot of sense, the amount of apps starting up on linux that are generally GTK+ based is greatly out weighing the QT and KDE apps. However don't forget Gnome and KDE have similar goals, and so are thus in competition. If Gnome is being favoured more, then this is just more fuel for the fire in the KDE camps. With this move aswell it does leave a gap in the linux distrobution market, for a KDE-centric distro.

  70. Idiot Mods by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    C'mon, this post doesn't remotely qualify as flamebait except to KDE fanatics. Stupid mods.

  71. Dissecting Marketing Droid Talk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the eweek article has a few very interesting lines, quoting and paraphrasing Greg Mancusi-Ungaro (novell director of marketing for linux and open source -- ex-ximian, for those who need this info to judge the guy's credibility).

    'As for the Evolution e-mail client, "this is a stable, mature product, so we are redeploying its developers to other more strategic projects." However, "It also has a lot of community support, and we plan to leverage it with other e-mail programs like Hula." Novell is making one large strategic change. The GNOME interface is going to become the default interface on both the SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server) and Novell Linux Desktop line. (....) "The entire KDE graphical interface and product family will continue to be supported and delivered on OpenSuSE," said Mancusi-Ungaro.'

    this is all in response to a previous linuxtoday.com [ http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2005-11 -04-018-26-OP-SS-NV ] opinion piece that claimed "Novell Is Chopping Its SUSE Linux Workstation and Desktop Product Line". now, I'm asking the avarage slashdot reader to stop scanning this posting. this is now going to be a "reading between the lines". you won't be following easily here. so don't bother. all the 3l3373 readers, carry on.
    "we are redeploying its developers" in my book, this amounts to a complete disolution of the previously existing Evoluton development group in India.
    [one bonus point to Mancusi-Ungaro proofing himself as a master of euphemisms.]
    "to other more strategic projects" in my book, this amounts to the complete dropping of any future Evolution support by novell. Evolution once was dubbed as "a strategic cornerstone to conquer the linux desktop market".
    [one bonus point to Mancusi-Ungaro proofing himself as a master of deceit.]
    "it also has a lot of community support" in my book, this amounts to a lame justification for dropping Evolution. as for the substance of the claim: i can't say anything. from a cursory look however, it seems the community support for Evolution isnt quite famous.
    [one bonus point to Mancusi-Ungaro proofing himself as a master of blurring the line.]
    "default interface on both the SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server) and Novell Linux Desktop" in my book, this amounts to the confirmation of the linuxtoday claim which said "Novell Is Chopping Its SUSE Linux Workstation and Desktop Product Line". Or do you see it mentioned? SLES is not "workstation", and NLD is not "SUSE product line".
    [one bonus point to Mancusi-Ungaro proofing himself as a master of talking wishi-washi.]
    "KDE (....) will continue to be supported and delivered on OpenSuSE" in my book, this amounts to saying that novell drops support for kde. novell and suse had made it a big point before that opensuse was not a product, but a project. being an *open* project, it may be well assumed that kde will still be supported there, by the community, not by novell.
    [one bonus point to Mancusi-Ungaro proofing himself as a master of con.]

    Verdict: Mancusi-Ungaro is a clever marketing droid. most slashdot readers would easily fall prey to him.

    1. Re:Dissecting Marketing Droid Talk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I love you!! ;-)

  72. Re:suck it up KDE fans, you can still help us win by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    People should choose their desktop environment based on personal preference, not to participate in software zealotry.

    Okay, I agree with you so far as your the choice of desktop environment is concerned, but surely you'd agree that people should make their Slashdot posts based on zealotry? That's the whole point!

  73. doesn't hurt by whizack · · Score: 0

    doesn't hurt that novell owns Ximian

  74. woosh! by The+Monster · · Score: 4, Funny

    woosh!

    --

    [100% ISO 646 Compliant]
    SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.

  75. you don't need a kde-centric distro. by gregorlowski · · Score: 1

    What is the best KDE-Centric distro?

    Just use Debian (or Kubuntu if you insist on getting the bleeding edge version of KDE) or really ANY distro.

    Seriously, your distro doesn't have to be KDE-Centric. Most large distros provide KDE, GNOME, and a dozen lightweight wm's. KDE will never disappear from Debian because there are hundreds of debian developers who use it. Just `apt-get install kde`.

    I don't use it myself. I mostly use wmi, and I have gnome on the computer that I try to make user-friendly for my wife. KDE is a good DE and so is gnome. I prefer gnome, but it's basically just because of the look and feel, and I also like writing small apps in gtk in a few languages (although I did write a pyqt app once that I still use on my sharp zaurus and qt is totally fine).

    I sort-of standardized my gui usage on gtk and gnome a couple years ago when QT was not fully GPL on every platform. If Trolltech had been fully open-source with qt, gnome probably would have never happened. As it is, they're both great and both very open now. I hope both projects continue to develop and learn from each other.

    I doubt any decisions on the part of novell to standardize on gnome will be a serious setback for kde. Others will continue to use KDE, and it'll continue to develop.

  76. KDE isn't Open Source? Right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Forgive me if I don't understand all there is to know about the subject but isn't KDE (or the Qt libraries from which it's built) not Open Source? It makes a lot of sense to me that Novell would choose a FREE desktop environment. It's going to win out in the end because people won't pay royalties to develop applications that aren't GPL'ed. Many companies will want to develop Linux applications and if they have to pay for Qt to do it they'll resist and just develop GNOME anyhow.

    They had to pick one...so why pick one that isn't completely free?

    1. Re:KDE isn't Open Source? Right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      KDE as well as QT are fully open source! The thing is that GNOME people want to make it sound differently by spreading FUD.

    2. Re:KDE isn't Open Source? Right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ideally, all software should be free, however, we live in the real world. What linux needs most to succeed on the desktop in the commercial sector is commercial grade "applications" (Photoshop, Illustrator,AutoCad, etc. Gnome (GTK+) uses the LGPL, so commercial (non-free) applications can be developed and linked against the GTK+ libraries. KDE on the other hand, uses QT. The QT license is free for non-commercial applications, but that isn't going to do much to get the range of game software, graphics, educational, etc. that Linux needs to make inroads into the desktop.

      Check out the pricing for a QT license for developers to develop the "commercial" applications for linux. url:http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt/pricing.h tml

      and you wonder why all of the major distributions are standardizing on Gnome?

  77. To quote Darth... by n9uxu8 · · Score: 1

    Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

    Dave

    God, I hate gnome...

  78. Offtopic, sorta by rsax · · Score: 1
    It's not necessarily driven by cutomers, it's driven by vendors: no vendor like IBM, Sun, or Novell can depend for their commercial business on Troll Tech. If Novell stuck with Qt, basically, Troll Tech could set the terms under which Novell's commercial customers can develop. That simply doesn't make sense, in particular if there is a less restrictive and widely used alternative.

    Hmm seems like deja-vu. MySQL seems to be more popular than PostgreSQL for whatever reasons. MySQL commercial users rely on Innobase. Oracle acquires Innobase. Oracle can do whatever they want now with regards to potential future Innobase licensing negotiations with MySQL. So what would be the logical choice now?

    1. Re:Offtopic, sorta by idlake · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure that's quite comparable. AFAIK, you can use MySQL commercially without linking to it. Unlike Qt, you can certainly commercial develop code that works with MySQL without buying a license for development. Also, it's pretty easy to move from MySQL to other databases for most code, while it's really hard to move from Qt to some other toolkit.

    2. Re:Offtopic, sorta by rsax · · Score: 1
      I'm not sure that's quite comparable. AFAIK, you can use MySQL commercially without linking to it. Unlike Qt, you can certainly commercial develop code that works with MySQL without buying a license for development.

      I'm not sure I understand that. Why would you want to use MySQL without linking to it? I'm quoting this from MySQL's site....

      • If you include the MySQL server with an application that is not licensed under the GPL or GPL-compatible license, you need a commercial license for the MySQL server.
      • If you develop and distribute a commercial application and as part of utilizing your application, the end-user must download a copy of MySQL; for each derivative work, you (or, in some cases, your end-user) need a commercial license for the MySQL server and/or MySQL client libraries.
      • If you include one or more of the MySQL drivers in your non-GPL application (so that your application can run with MySQL), you need a commercial license for the driver(s) in question. The MySQL drivers currently include an ODBC driver, a JDBC driver and the C language library.
    3. Re:Offtopic, sorta by idlake · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure I understand that. Why would you want to use MySQL without linking to it? I'm quoting this from MySQL's site....

      Because MySQL runs as a separate process/service; you talk to it over the network. Under those circumstances, the GPL doesn't apply to the client software. If you use GPL client libraries to talk to MySQL, then your software does need to fall under the GPL, but there are also LGPL client libraries. Note that it doesn't matter what the explanation of the license says, it only matters what the license itself says.

      The other differences are that MySQL will sell you a commercial license for deployment even if you developed under the free license (TT won't), and, most importantly, that MySQL, unlike Qt, implements a standard that is also implemented by many other databases. Qt's license wouldn't be a problem if there were another usable implementation of the Qt APIs under the LGPL or BSD license (even if the TT implementation were "better" in some way).

      Again, I'm not passing judgement, I'm just saying that a GPL/commercially-licensed Qt doesn't have a prayer as the basis for the desktop of a commercial Linux distributions in the long term. The circumstances for MySQL are different, so I expect MySQL will continue to be widely used.

  79. GNOME and KDE; the pox on both your houses. by knorthern+knight · · Score: 1

    Don't get me wrong, the GNOME and KDE groups both make great *APPLICATIONS*, like KOffice and its GNOME equivalant (Gnumeric, AbiWord, etc) and let's not forget Gimp. However, the GOME and KDE *DESKTOPS* both suck dead bunnies through a garden hose.

    *I DON'T RUN DESKTOPS, I RUN APPLICATIONS*. If I really wanted a fat, bloated, pointy-clicky-touchey-feeley-oowee-GUI, I would never have left Windows in the first place. Blackbox with fbpanel as the "launchbar" is just right. My emergency backup machine is a 6-year-old Dell, 450 mhz PIII with 128 megs of RAM. For everything except internet TV and manipulating 2560x1920 digital photos in Gimp, it is perfectly OK with Blackbox. As for KDE or GNOME, when they started up, I got to watch the "desktop icons" being painted in slow motion. It was painful. On my current AMD64, 3000+ cpu with 2 gigs of RAM (running Gentoo linux in 32-bit mode) GNOME/KDE are OK. Blackbox screams along.

    --

    I'm not repeating myself
    I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
  80. Umm.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Am I the only user who find Gnome a bitch to work with because of it's registry like config thingie

  81. Blog It! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Quick! Someone make a blog entry about this being the end of KDE as a desktop, then in a few hours we can all see the /. headline "The Death of KDE?"!

  82. KDE must-have apps by billybob2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think a lot of Suse customers will not be so pleased.

    Of course SUSE customers won't be pleased. There are many must-have desktop apps built on the KDE framework that don't have any good gtk equivalents:

    AmaroK music player -- Steve Jobs' nightmare, the single greatest threat to Itunes on the Free Software platform.

    DigiKam -- The most feature-rich application for digital photo management.

    Konqueror File Manager" -- Embeded image/PDF/music/video viewing (via KMPlayer) and a tree-view arrangement of the filesystem familiar to Windows users (Nautilus doesn't come anywhere close)

    Seamless, transparent network file access on SMB, FTP, SSH and WebDav networks from _any_ KDE application.

    Kaffeine -- The most polished FOSS movie player.

    Baghira -- A native QT style that faithfully imitates OS X eyecandy, aimed at new users coming from the Mac world.

    KDE and QT also make up a technically superior platform for developers, drastically lowering the learning curve for programmers new to FOSS development. KDE apps can be built from the ground up using the best development tools in the Free Software world (which also happen to be built on QT/KDE):

    QT designer for GUI development

    Kdevelop for syntax highliting, application templates, and project organization.

    BKSys environmentfor a complete replacement of the autotool chain (libtool+automake+autoconf+make) that will make dependency a whole lot more simpler and efficient.

    Gnome is way behind KDE with regards to these features. The only reason Redhat's doing so well with Gnome is because they're targeting geeky sysadmins who don't care about having a good-looking desktop. The other 99% of the world does care, and gnome just doesn't fit the bill.

    1. Re:KDE must-have apps by chronicon · · Score: 1
      Of course SUSE customers won't be pleased. There are many must-have desktop apps built on the KDE framework that don't have any good gtk equivalents... Gnome is way behind KDE with regards to these features.

      Thank you!

      I probably have close to ten different distros loaded on my HDD at any given time, and the GUI I gravitate towards is KDE. Specifically KDE on SuSE. This announcement that they are moving it to Gnome is bad news. The SuSE desktop has to be the best among the lot, and YaST is (IMO) by far the best & most complete GUI-based configuration tool I've seen.

      I rebuilt my sister's box--they had Windows ME on it (groan). In addition to the (groan again) WinME reinstallation, I also set up a SuSE partition on it for them and shipped it back. When they got it, they couldn't get their modem working under WinME so they called up and asked, "What about Linux?" I talked my sister through using YaST to set up the modem and they were back on-line within a few minutes.

      Since then, she has decided to stick with SuSE altogether...

      When I was contemplating which distro to put on their machine, it was down to a choice of Ubuntu or SuSE. Even though I regard Ubuntu as a fine distribution, SuSE won out. The well implemented KDE interface combined with YaST made it the ideal choice for introducing them to Linux. A MS Windows-like environment and killer config tools.

      I didn't RTA, but I am hoping (as has been said here) that KDE continues to be implemented in OpenSuSE.

      What is life without Amarok? ;-)

    2. Re:KDE must-have apps by MrResistor · · Score: 1

      Thank you, I couldn't have put it better. I started using Linux with Suse6.1, and I've been a loyal customer ever since. I used WindowMaker for a while, during the KDE2.x days, due to the performance and stability issues KDE had at the time, but since KDE3 I stopped doing that. My few, brief forays into Gnome territory have been quite disappointing, and I guess it's not just me, nor just a Suse thing.

      The only thing I could think of off the top of my head while I was writing that was k3b, otherwise I would have made a list like that myself.

      --
      Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
    3. Re:KDE must-have apps by MrResistor · · Score: 1

      When I was contemplating which distro to put on their machine, it was down to a choice of Ubuntu or SuSE. Even though I regard Ubuntu as a fine distribution, SuSE won out. The well implemented KDE interface combined with YaST made it the ideal choice for introducing them to Linux. A MS Windows-like environment and killer config tools.

      Indeed. My experience has been that people who start their Linux experience with SuSE invariably stick with Linux, using it as their primary, and in many cases exclusive, OS within 2 years. They may not all stick with SuSE, but they do all stick with Linux.

      More to the point, I suppose, is everyone I've ever met who called Linux a "toy OS" or said it "isn't ready for primetime" hadn't tried SuSE.

      --
      Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
    4. Re:KDE must-have apps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, and add K3B to that list as well.

      I remember a while ago a Gnome-specific distro (don't remember which one) was forced to include all KDE libraries and stuff in its distro, just to be able to run K3B, which honestly doesn't have an equivalent in the Gnome world.

    5. Re:KDE must-have apps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you've forgotten:

      K3B, the best media burning GUI that exists on Linux
      Kile, an excellent LaTeX editor
      Quanta, a very nice web development environment
      Krusader, an awesome twin-panel file manager
      Kstars, a great Desktop Planetarium :)

      The list goes on and on.

      what does Gnome offer to match all these apps? And don't give me the OpenOffice, Firefox, Gimp, or Gaim bullshit. They're just using GTK and are not truly Gnome apps.

    6. Re:KDE must-have apps by Shawn+is+an+Asshole · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Baghira [sourceforge.net] -- A native QT style that faithfully imitates OS X eyecandy, aimed at new users coming from the Mac world.

      Have you ever used OS X? Baghira doesn't come close. It sortof gets the look, but the feel very poor compared to the real thing. Try OS X for a week or so, then see if you think Baghira comes anywhere near it. I'm posting on a PowerBook (w/ Tiger), BTW.

      Kdevelop [kdevelop.org] for syntax highliting, application templates, and project organization.

      Eclipse? KDevelop used to be my IDE of choice until I started using Eclipse.

      Kaffeine's cool, though it'd be nice if I could close it without having to killall -9 it afterwords. It seems that every time I close it, it instead goes into the background and starts taking up all the processor. Latest version, multiple distros. If they could fix that it truely would be an awesome player.

      QT designer, I'm not going anywhere near that. I'd like to have the option to dual license my work some time in the future...

      AmaroK is awesome, I can't praise that enough. Whenever I'm away from Linux I have to get by with iTunes (Mac, Win).

      --
      "It ain't a war against drugs.it's a war against personal freedom" --Bill Hicks
    7. Re:KDE must-have apps by Shawn+is+an+Asshole · · Score: 1

      I have to second Quanta and K3B. Both rock. I can't get by without Quanta. It's the main reason I install KDE on my Mac...

      --
      "It ain't a war against drugs.it's a war against personal freedom" --Bill Hicks
    8. Re:KDE must-have apps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Konqueror File Manager" -- Embeded image/PDF/music/video viewing (via KMPlayer)
      > and a tree-view arrangement of the filesystem familiar to Windows users (Nautilus
      > doesn't come anywhere close)

      Nautilus.

      Having said that, I do think KDE is better polished than GNOME in many ways, it's the licensing (GPL / pay $ to trolltech) that's keeping the big distros from using it.

    9. Re:KDE must-have apps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Steve Jobs' nightmare, the single greatest threat to Itunes on the Free Software platform.

      Wow, that's really not saying much. I would have thought that a confessed clone like GNOME's RhythmBox would be more fitting.

      A native QT style that faithfully imitates OS X eyecandy, aimed at new users coming from the Mac world.

      What new users coming from the Mac world? The ones that don't exist. Poor imitations of the visual style do nothing but highlight how awful the interface itself is. "Skins" don't mean shit.

      I'm sorry, but your list sounds like "Stuff I Use" instead of any kind of actual meaningful statement.

    10. Re:KDE must-have apps by civilizedINTENSITY · · Score: 1

      That seems less than relevant, since you can run those under Gnome as well as KDE. The desktop you choose isn't going to limit you choice of apps. In fact, you don't need to run Gnome or KDE in order to use those applications.

    11. Re:KDE must-have apps by swillden · · Score: 2, Insightful

      QT designer, I'm not going anywhere near that. I'd like to have the option to dual license my work some time in the future...

      Huh? QT designer doesn't force you to use any particular license.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    12. Re:KDE must-have apps by billybob2 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Some more must-have KDE/QT desktop applications:

      K3b -- Best CD and DVD authoring program with intuitive wizards, on the fly transcoding between WAV, MP3, FLAC, and Ogg Vorbis, normalization of volume levels, CDDB, DVD Ripping and DivX/XviD encoding, Save/load projects, automatic hardware detection/calibration and much more.

      Klik -- Gives non-expert access to bleeding edge versions of apps without requiring any compilation or permanent installation.

      KDE Control Center -- Centralized location for desktop control. Controls _all_ common aspects of the KDE applications: language, power settings, special effects, icon and window themes, shadows, shortcuts, printers, privacy, etc. This is what makes KDE so well integrated -- all KDE apps respect changes made here, so they all have the same feel. SUSE has even made YAST a module of the KDE control center so users can access distro-specific settings from here. Compare this to the dismembered approach Red Hat (and other gnome distros) have been forced to adopt in the absence of a centralized gnome control center. (ie. a bunch of individial programs named redhat-config-**** that nobody can ever remember)

      Wireless Assistant -- Most user-friendly app for connecting to wireless networks. Managed Networks Support, WEP Encryption Support, Per Network (AP) Configuration Profiles, Automatic (DHCP, both dhcpcd and dhclient) and manual configuration options, Connection status monitoring, etc

      MythTV -- The most advanced analog and digital TV viewer/recorder in the Free Software world (built using QT).

      KDE Education -- Educational (Science, Literature, Geography, etc) programs for children. Could play a big role in whether school districts decide to use Free Software in their classrooms.

      Quanta -- Rich web development environment for PHP, CSS, DocBook, HTML, XML, etc with advanced context sensitive autocompletion, internal preview and more.

      Cervisia -- User-friendly GUI frontend for CVS.

    13. Re:KDE must-have apps by asv108 · · Score: 3, Interesting
      There are many must-have desktop apps built on the KDE framework that don't have any good gtk equivalents:

      AmaroK music player

      Banshee, developed by a Novell employee, is leaps and bounds ahead of any existing music app for linux.

      DigiKam

      F-spot, also by a Novell employee.

      As far as all of the other applications you mentioned, each has a gnome equivalent that in many cases does a better job.

    14. Re:KDE must-have apps by Shawn+is+an+Asshole · · Score: 2, Interesting

      QT does, which you'll be developing for if you use qt designer. If you develop something with the free version it has to be under an approved license. You also can't later use that code with the commercial version:

      "Please note that it is necessary to choose either the Open Source or Commercial license at the outset of development. Trolltech's commercial license terms do not allow you to start developing proprietary software using the Open Source edition."
      http://www.trolltech.com/company/model.html

      It's not like I'm planning on doing proprietary software, who knows what I'll be doing a year from now. I'll probably release some of the stuff I develop internally as GPL (I hold the copyright) but do a ghostscript-like scheme for a few parts of it (release it under GPL after a certain time). If I go with QT, even after I pay their $1800 I wouldn't be allowed to do that under the license.

      --
      "It ain't a war against drugs.it's a war against personal freedom" --Bill Hicks
    15. Re:KDE must-have apps by zsau · · Score: 1

      They're just using GTK and are not truly Gnome apps.

      So? They often integrate well enough that the average user can't tell the difference because they all look and feel the same, follow the same interface guidelines and so forth (to a degree at least). Does it matter what underlying library system they have? And why should Gnome-developers re-write programs that behave perfectly well-enough for them?

      The thing is, there's only one Qt-based desktop environment popular on free operating systems: KDE. On the other hand, there's a lot of Gtk+-based DEs, so that people writing programs in Gtk+ make try to them useful for these people too.

      There's also a difference in perspective. KDE is the core as well as every application that runs on KDE. On the other hand, Gnome is just the core, with a bunch of sattelite apps designed to integrate well with Gnome, that use the Gnome libraries to varying extents. This is, I think, part of the history of Gtk+ and KDE: Gtk+ was written for a random program and adopted by a desktop environment, whereas Qt was brought into the free software world by being adopted to a desktop environment.

      (Firefox and OpenOffice.org aren't Gtk+, they just emulate it, poorly. They miss out on many of Gtk+'s best features in doing so.)

      --
      Look out!
    16. Re:KDE must-have apps by FooBarWidget · · Score: 1

      That doesn't matter. Kdelibs will be installed so KDE apps will continue to work. It's just that the desktop environment is GNOME.

    17. Re:KDE must-have apps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "So? They often integrate well enough that the average user can't tell the difference because they all look and feel the same, follow the same interface guidelines and so forth (to a degree at least). Does it matter what underlying library system they have?"

      Well, the thing is, once you're used to the level of integration KDE apps offer, this mixture of GTK apps just does not cut it. KDE offers almost everything you need to work on your computer. Right, Konqueror as a web browser is still not as good as firefox, and Koffice is not as mature as OpenOffice yet. But at least the apps are there.

      I can use GTK apps on Gnome, right, but I might as well use them under any other WM. Gnome as an environment might be OK, but as a desktop platform is a complete failure. That's why I think all the support Gnome receives is wrong, it would be far easier to fix the problems KDE has than to fix Gnome's broken and messy architecture.

    18. Re:KDE must-have apps by spyfrog · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh, please. Come on - F-Spot isn't coming close to Digikam.
      One example - Digikam comes with Canon Raw format built-in in Suse.
      Can F-spot even be made to display RAW files?
      I haven't managed to make it do that - hence it is worthless to me.

    19. Re:KDE must-have apps by zsau · · Score: 1

      I suppose it depends on to what extent and in what ways you want your programs to integrate. Still, it doesn't negate my original point which is that it's not fair to exclude Gtk+-non-Gnome apps on the grounds that they aren't Gnome apps, because people who run Gnome desktops and fire up the Gimp don't see it as a foreign program; it's just another program. A bit like Firefox on Windows. It's not foreign, it's interface is just a bit different in some ways from Office. (Not picking Firefox because it's a cross-platform app, but because it's the only other program that runs on Windows I could think of (aside from other cross-platform apps).)

      Regarding fixing KDE, it has a number of problems which are probably insurmountable, blocking the further development. KDE has the spectre of TrollTech over them (which is probably a concern looking for a problem but it still exists and many people the Major Commercial Distros care about are never going to get around it). KDE's written in C++ which (as I understand it) severely limits its acceptibility to many programmers as well as the development of bindings for different languages. Most importantly, it's impossible to "fix KDE's problems". KDE's problems are things like its implementation of customisability and Windowsness that Gnomers hate with a passion, but KDErs couldn't live without. You'd end up forking the environment. (TBH, I think that would be the best thing that ever happened to the free desktop, but I don't think Gtk+ will ever go away...)

      If it weren't the cost that was the problem, a better option would be for all the major and lesser desktop environments that try to be mainstream and complete (e.g. KDE and Gnome, as well as Xfce and ROX and probably some others I can't think of just now) to come up with a plan to redesign the whole underlying system from the ground up, so that they share as much of the ground as possible. The toplevel stuff would remain completely different. KDE would keep its truckload of menus and Windows button orders; higherlevel stuff could remain written in C++. Gnome would keeps its spartan prefrence dialog boxes and Macish button orders; higher level stuff could remain written in Python or gcj or Mono or whatever's the flavor of the day.

      Of course, that's never going to happen, but at least a fork of KDE might mean that you can get the technical advantages of KDE without its user interface (if that exists).

      --
      Look out!
    20. Re:KDE must-have apps by div_2n · · Score: 1

      There are many must-have desktop apps built on the KDE framework that don't have any good gtk equivalents

      Last time I checked, you can run KDE apps in Gnome and vice versa by installing the libraries as the post mentions. Given that, I just don't see this as a valid argument.

      Personally, I really don't care as long as it just works and does all the things I need and want it to do. If Gnome doesn't have it and KDE does, I'm sure it will be added if enough people want it just like anything else. So far I haven't yet heard a good reason that someone MUST use KDE over Gnome beyond preference. Not that preference isn't important, but the vast majority of potential future Linux users have probably never heard of either and, like me, just want it to work.

    21. Re:KDE must-have apps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Banshee, developed by a Novell employee, is leaps and bounds ahead of any existing music app for linux.

      I'm actually a GNOME user, and I happen to have been running Banshee for a while (Rythmbox don't support editing ID3 tags), however, I must disagree that it's "leaps and bounds ahead of any existing music app for linux".

      I belive that title goes to AmaroK, it's just no comparison, wich is a shame, since I can't stand running non-native applications under GNOME (I have to switch environments before running, or I'll go completely and utterly nuts! Can't stand the inconsistency between apps).
      This goes both ways, three or so years ago I was a KDE user, and I couldn't even run The GIMP without switching to gnome first, or I would just get stuck on staring at all those inconsistencies between KDE/QT apps and The GIMP, wich is a GTK+ application (and no, gtk+ mimicing QT themes just aren't enough, there are much more things wich separates KDE apps from GNOME apps than the shape and color of widgets).

      I'm hoping that Banshee will eventually take on AmaroK, but as it stands now this is currently KDE's "killer app" I'm afraid.

      However, the grandparent poster stated that KDE is the "best development tools in the Free Software world" [for GUI applications], this simply isn't true, that title undoubtedly goes to GNUStep (if we're completely Free environments such as GNU/Linux or *BSD, otherwise it's sibling; Cocoa on OSX, is the king).
  83. Yawn by renrutal · · Score: 0

    Just because they're moving, it doesn't mean they'll drop the support and you will never see KDE again in the Novell world.

    Any good distro should just support both, plus XFCE4 and any other good Desktop Environments, Window Managers, etc.

  84. I've been seeing this same post for days by bferrell · · Score: 1

    all referencing eweek. Just once I'd like to see something directly from Novell. SO far, I have not seen that.

    When I see it from Novell in a press release or somesuch, I'll worry about it.

  85. I don't think so... by flithm · · Score: 1

    Uhh there's quite a few!

    Gnome is by no means the de-facto standard.

    Kubuntu defaults to KDE, so does Mandriva, SuSe did too, same with Mepis, Knoppix, Xandros, Slackware, also Gentoo is 100% agnostic obviously, same with all non Linux unices I'm aware of (ie *BSD).

    The list really does go on and on. And in fact of the top 10 distros (according to distrowatch.com) 5 default to KDE, one defaults to Fluxbox, and another has no default (Gentoo). That's 7 of the top 10 distros that don't use Gnome!

    Out of all the distros listed on distrowatch.com, 216 use KDE as the default desktop environment, while only 135 use Gnome.

    Obviously you didn't think very hard did you?

    1. Re:I don't think so... by scotch · · Score: 1

      Distrowatch is a pretty lousy place to go for meaninful statistics about Linux.

      --
      XML causes global warming.
    2. Re:I don't think so... by killjoe · · Score: 1

      Go back and read my post. Notice the word "major" in front of the word "distro". I didn't say there were not a plethora of smaller and "geeky" distros that default to KDE I said there were no "major" ones.

      Who are the "major" distros?. Novell, redhat, debian, ubuntu and maybe linspire.

      Yes they all default to gnome.

      --
      evil is as evil does
  86. Modded as troll? by Knnniggit · · Score: 1

    Anyone else find it funny that the parent got modded Troll talking about TrollTech?

    --
    Brain kills internet cells.
  87. Different modes? by miffo.swe · · Score: 1

    A move to gnome isnt that much of a fuss. You can still run KDE without any problems. The big difference from what i understand is that all apps from Novell will be coded for Gnome but they will as before work just as well under KDE. The dafault desktop is easily changed at installation time.

    The only thing i think Gnome needs is a profile choice for the user. Like a couple of different gconf setting to choose from. One "Gnome" mode, one "XP" mode and perhaps an "Mac OS" mode. This would make transition much easier without letting go of what i percive as what the Gnome developers like their desktops like. This ofcourse damands easier profile handling in Linux but thats very needed anyway, I run a couple of terminal servers on linux and managing gnome or Kde profiles aint no picnick.

    --
    HTTP/1.1 400
  88. SuSE going down the toilet by AaronW · · Score: 1

    As far as I'm concerned, SuSE Linux has been going downhill. I really like KDE, but SuSE 10 seems quite unstable. I don't think it's KDE since I run the stock KDE at work on my Sun workstation. I have had nothing but trouble since upgrading from 9.3 to 10 and think they jumped the gun on moving to GCC 4.0. Everything seems less stable.

    I like KDE and all of the options and features available through it. With Gnome, I was often frustrated looking for various options, like a menu editor (which they finally added), or just changing the focus policy in the window manager.

    I'm also running into issues compiling some of the multimedia add-ons SuSE does not include because they jumped to GCC 4.0. Some of which refuse to compile due to bugs in the new version.

    I will likely soon look for a new distribution, since YaST has caused me no end of problems... sound is unreliable, KDE keeps locking up when starting up, and Konqueror is really flakey. That and the fact that SuSE seems to love pushing software before it's ready, like beta versions of Open Office.

    --
    This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
  89. Nationality not an issue. by pavon · · Score: 1

    Coincidence?
    Yes.

    The reason that Novell has been leaning towards Gnome in because their top linux desktop developers are from Ximian. Novell hired them because their projects (Mono, Evolution, etc) filled an important role in the corporate market that they are targeting. However, they also happen to be the founders and large contributers to the Gnome project.

  90. People should care because Gnome has a by msimm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    culture of elitism and is a desktop that spends less time listening to its users then most of the others. KDE has been a leader in both usability, flexibility and responsiveness. Unless the core Gnome development group starts making some serious cultural changes I think this is a lose-lose for both Novell and its users.

    Standardization *needs* to happen. But why choose the desktop that most frequently alienates it's own user base?

    I'm sure there are a lot of people who would argue against everything I've just said, but look at the trends. I'm not saying Gnome is a bad project or the developers aren't good/respectful/worthy as those in any other project. But KDE has managed to pull itself up as a desktop for the people, and I respect that (even if I use Blackbox still most of the time).

    I'll be sticking with RHEL for the time being anyway. Supports both and runs solidly.

    --
    Quack, quack.
  91. Preference dialog behavior by a1ok · · Score: 1

    I'm trying for the Nth time to move to Linux (I keep failing due to games :( ) and am currently using Ubuntu Breezy on my desktop. I was quite dismayed to find that the new dumbed-down dialogs are instant-apply, I often like to browse among options and don't want to remember what was the original value every time!

    Since my priority is to make sure I use Linux for everything except games, I'm going to keep using Gnome as I'm more familiar with that rather than KDE (was using it earlier in FC3 and RH). But I'm already thinking of switching to Kubuntu later, two things I disliked about the drive to 'simplify UI' for Gnome are:
    1) Preferences insta-apply - I consider this a very BAD thing :(
    2) Same wallpaper across desktops in Nautilus - if I use multiple desktops, would like an easy indication of the current one.

    I'm quite happy with either UI, though personally I wish E 0.17 would crawl out from wherever its hiding :D Just wanted to vent on things I disliked about Gnome, and also - can someone confirm that the latest KDE still has the Apply/Reset options for prefs? I've checked online and that seems to be the case, but would like a confirmation.

    Also - if anyone has tips on using Ubuntu on amd64 w/ 64 bit kernel (apart from info in ubuntu forums or guide) please post that in a reply to this comment. I'm especially interested in precompiled packages for Wine - so I can try to run War3 :)

  92. See ya Suse!! by pair-a-noyd · · Score: 1

    I've been a Suse fan since 8.1 and just purchased 10.0 (I've used all versions of Suse from 8.1 to 10.0)
    I'm a hardcore KDE fan. I've played with Gnome and I despise it deeply.
    I despise Gnome equally as much as I despise M$ winders.

    This is the dumbest thing I have see Suse do since I've been onboard the Suse fanwagon..

    I won't use Fedora so that's out. I guess I'll stick with my 10.0 until it becomes badly outdated then I'll go to Gentoo so I can have it MY way..

    Thanks Suse, you've been a great distro for a long time, a good friend.
    But the time has come for us to part ways...

  93. This is really disappointing. by Enahs · · Score: 1

    I hate to throw my voice in with all the negative stuff, but it's how I feel.

    First, GNOME has shown future promise, but it's done that for a while now. Great proof-of-concept; now, let's move on to what the real desktop's going to be like. Oh, this is the real desktop? You're kidding, right?

    Second, GNOME was the desktop that was started largely because KDE had showstopper legal issues. Now that Miguel is hellbent on pushing Mono and Novell is throwing energy behind it, GNOME has showstopper legal issues, and of a much higher magnitude at that.

    Seriously, what's with this? Red Hat shat on KDE when it had legal issues; why is everyone jumping on the GNOME bandwagon now despite the legal issues? If they want to be consistent, Red Hat and Co. should be treating GNOME like the leper it is.

    --
    Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
    1. Re:This is really disappointing. by CRCulver · · Score: 1

      Second, GNOME was the desktop that was started largely because KDE had showstopper legal issues. Now that Miguel is hellbent on pushing Mono and Novell is throwing energy behind it, GNOME has showstopper legal issues, and of a much higher magnitude at that.

      Mono isn't going to cause any legal issues for GNOME because the GNOME community really isn't interested in it. People seem to think that because Mono is championed by Miguel, and Miguel was the founder of GNOME, then this technology will become part of GNOME. In reality, Miguel hasn't been an important player in GNOME in quite some time, years really, and the GNOME community is well aware of legal risks, which is why they aren't touching this.

    2. Re:This is really disappointing. by Enahs · · Score: 1

      Miguel isn't important???!? Mono isn't an issue?????!?

      What the hell are you smoking?

      C'mon. Look at all the truly interesting stuff that people are clamoring for. GNOME fanboys I know play their music in Muine, keep their various notes in Tomboy, and are just dying to index their stuff using Beagle. And I hate to point it out, but F-Spot is in the official GNOME CVS.

      Take a look at this http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=9780">stor y now several months old listing SEVERAL Mono-based apps. You think Mono's just going to be a minor footnote in the history of Free Software? Especially with Novell employing core GNOME people? You're deluding yourself.

      As we learned with KDE, people flock to legally encumbered Free Software for some reason.

      --
      Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
  94. we're a past British colony too... by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 1

    So apparently lumping them all together as surely acting that way because they were once colonies isn't necessarily accurate.

    Canada uses the British "s" and "u" rules, but they also use a lot of Americanisms, like "sidewalk", "fall" and "mad" to mean angry.

    It's pretty funny. The American rules are basically the British rules at the moment the two countries started to drift apart. But yet the British get all mighty like we're the ones who do things wrong. Many people (some even linguists!) also say that American accents (I don't know which one they mean) are also just versions of British accents from the colonial days frozen in time.

    Finally, an editor is supposed to make the text understandable by all. That might mean switching "pavement" to "sidewalk". It might mean changing "aubergine" to "eggplant". And it might mean switching "colour" to "color" and "standardize" to "standardise".

    Look at the site below, the BBC:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1147246. stm

    It has a cop from Kentucky, USA saying "At a distance it looks like a real bill, it's got the green colour,". Why would the BBC put a u in color? This is an American speaking. The word as the speaker knows it is "color". The BBC translated it for the reader, just like slashdot did.

    Here's my main point on all this:

    If you don't like it, start your own site.

    If it makes you feel better, the new version of Grand Theft Auto from Rockstar (Leeds) seems to be permanently in metric and use "u" variants of words, despite being set in America.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
  95. Qt vs GTK , the real thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Years ago I went through the development framework of KDE, Qt. I was immediately surprised by the huge power of that platform versus GTK .
    It might have been Qt's C++, or the Qt vs GTK "Hello World!" lazy-man choc but I then simply sticked to Qt (the troubles came later).
    I mean I don't know much of the widget wonders of GTK so I possibly can't tell, but I just found a good bunch of classes around me with Qt and I was happy.
    Perhaps for KDE losing such a strong 'mainline supporter' as SuSE the big deal is for the Qt platform losing terrain and future, and all the wasted/ to be wasted efforts when building up a gnome program vs a KDE one.

  96. KDE developers deserve it by r00t · · Score: 0, Troll
    The KDE developers are not really part of the free/open software community. They are wolves in sheep's clothing.
    • Back when Qt was not GPL-compatible, the KDE developers ignored the problem. "Qt is cool!" they thought, while taking GPL software from other people and porting it to KDE. For this, we ought to throw the bastards out of the free/open community. Heck, we could sue them.
    • For years, the KDE developers thumbed their noses at everything but C++. Even the Win32 API is based on C, with MFC on top, and GNOME's gtkmm over gtk is a similar situation. Deliberate and somewhat hostile exclusion of so much of the free/open software world is disgusting.
    • Now you can get a GPL version of Qt. This is enough to shut up RMS, perhaps because RMS himself is enough of a bastard to put the GPL on popular libraries like libgtop and libreadline. It's not really friendly though. The LGPL is most appropriate for libraries. (some of the Creative Commons and MPL-like licenses are OK too, but why be complicated?) With the LGPL, the library itself has GPL-like protection for itself without infecting library users. This is very fair, and a rather well-accepted compromise between GPL and BSD. If we allow Qt to become the standard, then Troll Tech gets to collect a tax from every proprietary developer. Now, maybe collecting such a tax isn't bad, but annointing Troll Tech as tax collector is more than a bit unfair.
    There are plenty of alternatives, so it's not as if GNOME could halt development now. GNOME is just the best. We also have GNUstep and XFCE, plus the perfectly servicable traditional setup.
  97. wrappers is what we need by russ_allegro · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What we need is drop in shared library replacements for kde/qt and gnome/gtk.

    For example, I like kde, I think its open file dialog is much more robust, I think all of it works more the way I want it to. There are some great programs that use gnome/gtk though. I should be able to do a drop in shared library wrapper replacement with the gnome/gtk libraries which actually call the kde/qt function calls. So then the actual gnome/gtk program which uses shared libraries thinks it is calling a gnome function call, in reality that function call is calling the kde/qt function.

    While we are at it we could do the same thing the other way around for people that like the gnome/gtk stuff.

  98. Re:Best KDE-centric distro now? Slackware! by snikulin · · Score: 1

    this is an easy one.

  99. Now I can consider SuSE by r00t · · Score: 1

    For every person like you, there is at least another like me.
    Until now (next release?), I would not consider using SuSE.

    I guess SuSE was listening to their customers.

  100. So what? by bhunachchicken · · Score: 1

    I, for one, will continue to use KDE and so long as there are many many other people who do the same then that is all that really matters.

  101. novell and suse by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 1

    Suse is ok, but it's not the world changing distro everyone told me it was. Doesn't really matter to me anyhow. I can compile KDE if I need to. I bet someone will pick up the package maintenance for KDE and you won't even notice novell ditched it.

    --
    Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
  102. [OT] The green fairy by empaler · · Score: 1

    Well, it is named after a main ingredient in one of the most popular french drinks...

  103. animosity by r00t · · Score: 1

    There's nothing wrong with some well-deserved animosity.

    Back when Qt did not have the GPL as an option, KDE developers ported various GPL apps to use Qt. They then distributed those apps. Since the original Qt license was less free than the GPL, the KDE developers lost their license to the GPL code. They thus were infringing copyright. They could have been sued, with massive damages if any of the copyrights were registered.

    Since then, the Free Software Foundation has officially re-granted the GPL license to the KDE developers. Not every abused developer has done this though.

    In any case, somebody who refuses to respect the primary free software license is not to be trusted.

    1. Re:animosity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a bunch of lies.

    2. Re:animosity by idlake · · Score: 1

      In any case, somebody who refuses to respect the primary free software license is not to be trusted.

      Yes, I think that's the real point. The KDE developers were well-intentioned, but with the original KDE debacle, they have demonstrated very bad judgement when it comes to licensing issues, and we simply cannot trust them anymore to make sound judgements in this area. They are also wrong on the dual-licensing issue, and the defections of the various Linux distributions clearly demonstrates that.

      They were in denial back then, and they are in denial now. I wonder how long it will take them to come around this time, and what kind of rabbit they are going to try to pull out of a hat now.

  104. DBUS maybe? by r00t · · Score: 1

    SuSE has made Linux kernel modifications to support notifying the GNOME desktop of events like plugging in a device. Now, if you plug in a camera, the desktop reponds in a sensible way. You're offered a chance to move pictures off your camera, etc.

  105. Re:gnome: survive@novell as GUI server admin termi by justsomebody · · Score: 1

    Oh, my god. As I was reading your title my eyes started flashing like Google crawler.

    p.s. You forgot to put KEYWORDS in front. That would really spin me off

    --
    Signature Pro version 1.13.2-3 release 83.5 beta3try7 after-breakfast edition
  106. It's the license that driving this decision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ideally, all software should be free, however, we live in the real world. What linux needs most to succeed on the desktop in the commercial sector is commercial grade "applications" (Photoshop, Illustrator,AutoCad, etc. Gnome (GTK+) uses the LGPL, so commercial (non-free) applications can be developed and linked against the GTK+ libraries. KDE on the other hand, uses QT. The QT license is free for non-commercial applications, but that isn't going to do much to get the range of game software, graphics, educational, etc. that Linux needs to make inroads into the desktop. Check out the pricing for a QT license for developers to develop the "commercial" applications for linux. http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt/pricing.html and you wonder why all of the major distributions are standardizing on Gnome?

  107. I have defeated your strawman! by roystgnr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    basically the user doesn't have to know the difference between, for instance, Carbon apps and Cocoa apps.

    Just to check, I started up a Gnome app while running KDE. No problem. The other way works fine too. The only things developers and users are forced to choose are what toolkits or what user interfaces they prefer.

    It always seems to be pundits like you who complain in the users' names about choice - users either don't know there is a choice (because they're using whatever was default on their distribution) or don't care there is a choice (because the existance of one compatible choice usually doesn't make the other any worse). Do you know any real users who don't like having choices? Tell them I ordered them to use Gnome. There, no choice anymore, it's all better.

    Different packaging systems are a much better example of problems caused by choice, because there you can have some incompatibility - I can't double-click-install every SuSE package or Mandrake package on my Fedora system, and I can't install *any* Debian package without digging into "Alien" howtos. That means more work or less compatibility for software developers, and that's a bad choice... but, of course, it's the same bad choice that developers are forced to make when they choose to write OS X applications or Windows applications. It's not even that bad, since Linux developers can statically link all libraries and make a self-installing install.sh script to be compatible with every distribution (or can distribute source code to be compatible with a dozen other Unices), but OS X or Windows developers who want to be compatible with OSes from multiple companies need to use crossplatform API wrappers from day one.

    1. Re:I have defeated your strawman! by HiThere · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure. It's been true in the past that, e.g., some sound applications would run into trouble on either KDE or Gnome, but not on the other, because the desktop had grabbed the sound card, and were insisting that all access go through them.

      This may have been solved now...I can't really tell because my current sound card is ... well, it isn't exactly working, even though it's sort of working.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  108. Open what? by msbsod · · Score: 1

    Who says Open Source implies Open Mind? Thanks, Novell!
    There are 415-1 Linux distributions left.

  109. I just switched from Ubuntu 5.10 to SUSE 10.0 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought Ubuntu 5.10 was the best Linux I've ever used, but only SUSE 10.0 would handle my new Athlon mobile laptop's hardware correctly. Gnome in SUSE 10.0 is solid. It does everything Ubuntu did, plus it handles all the more proprietary things like Eclipse, win32codecs, Real and Adobe perfectly.

    Happy to be with SUSE, happy to be with GNOME.

  110. Sure, they can now grab Red Hat customers by r00t · · Score: 1

    Red Hat patches the Hell out of things with wild and reckless abandon. There was the famous gcc 2.96, the hacked-up Linux 2.4 with NPTL "support", and even a "sort" command that wouldn't sort!

    Novell's SuSE can beat these clowns once KDE has been shed.

  111. MEPIS or MANDRIVA by ylikone · · Score: 1

    Really, they are nice KDE based distros.

    --
    Meh.
  112. I am European and I prefer GNOME by PostHuman7 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    It's time to bury KDE!

    If Linux wants to get to next level it must adopt GNOME as the standard desktop and GTK as the standard GUI library.

    This is the way to go!

    1. Re:I am European and I prefer GNOME by spyfrog · · Score: 1

      Well, bury KDE and count me out of Linux. I will rather use MS than Gnome.

    2. Re:I am European and I prefer GNOME by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I feel the same. KDE is what gives my Linux desktop an edge and makes me cry each time I'm forced to use Windows. Gnome does not offer me anything Windows doesn't do.

  113. I don't understand the problem by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

    I have used SuSE for years. I can install Gnome or KDE or both... The default check mark is on KDE... I guess new the check mark will be on Gnome. I have become very fond of Gnome KDE seems so busy compared to KDE.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    1. Re:I don't understand the problem by rhendershot · · Score: 1

      ditto on fedora. just as an example, my son is 12 and a year or so ago I moved him off of windows 98 to fedora. He loved KDE. All the buttons were in places he fairly expected from his Windows experience. He loved being able to configure the desktop his own way (only he really knows what that means).

      Something interesting happened. He moved to Gnome a few months back. Stayed with it. Says it's just "easier". I never tried to influence that except to say I used Gnome. I felt it was the choice that was the point of it. I suppose sometimes when he had a problem my answer of 'I've never used that one I use Gnome's....' might have played a part. But, he manages his own machine mostly - updates and installs all his own stuff .

      So it's a "real" decision. I'm biased and never found a reason to use KDE, except way, way back when I first had a machine capable of X (486DX). Sun's choice of Gnome influenced me. But the Choice it the point.

      We really need to get out of the "market share' business-speak FUD that that Redmond co. pushes. It's not about 'nobody will use xxx if they don't have critical mass'. With the GNU/Linux platform, there is enough reason to us y instead of x, or z instead of y, or whathaveyou from enough people to keep a LOT of things alive.

  114. Well so much for SuSE by kimvette · · Score: 1

    I've been using SuSE for the past year and a half because it is the KDE-based distro which WORKS. Now they're dumping KDE/kwin as the primary interface? WTF? I actually LIKE integrated apps. I LIKE DCOP because I can automate nearly everything, be it command line or GUI.

    Thanks Novell, I'll be switching to Mandriva if you do this.

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
  115. Once again, Novell chooses the wrong road by DiamondGeezer · · Score: 1

    Does anyone still need convincing that Novell's upper management has no clue? SuSE was known as a great KDE distro, so that's why we're going to standardize on Gnome.

    Brilliant.

    Memo to turnaround specialists and consortium builders:

    Buy Novell sooner rather than later. Then you get get rid of the useless Soviet-style bureaucracy and reverse the idiot decisions before all of the investment that Novell has made goes right down the plughole.

    Novell is full of people either without a clue or been made to regret ever challenging their leaders over anything. The only thing a neck is for in Novell is not for sticking it out, but for ducking when the brown squidgy stuff hits the electrical whirly thing.

    True story: I know someone who worked who had a great idea. He patented it. He presented it to Novell because he knew that if Novell used the patent, it could break into the next wave of the Internet well before any of its competitors. He was told to talk to the VP in charge of investments. The VP told him that the only way to get Novell to even consider the patent and the accompanying business plan for investment was to leave the company and then present it from outside because Novell did not invest in the ideas of its employees. At all. Ever.

    --
    Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question
    1. Re:Once again, Novell chooses the wrong road by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Corel Corp. was a company like that.They also got some money from M$.Look what happened to CORL investors...

  116. It's all about the licensing... by hagbard5235 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The general tendency of corporate providers of Linux to favor Gnome because of the licensing terms. If you are a writer of commercial software, or any software that isn't GPL compatible, you cannot use the Qt/KDE stack for your app. You can use the LGPL GTK/Gnome stack. Because a big part of the selling point of commerical Linux distros is the fact that other commercial software is certified to run on them, they MUST provide good support for GTK/Gnome. Now you get some bean counter coming through wondering why we are supporting two desktop environments. Well, you can't cut the GTK/Gnome stack, because of the commercial support, because of the licensing. So they cut (or under resource) KDE.

    Please note, I'm a GPL proponent for the most part. I understand fully *why* trolltech does what it does with QT, and approve of their business model, but it's the use of the GPL for infrastructure libraries in Qt/KDE that is driving the commercial side towards Gnome/GTK.

    As for me... I'd kill for Qt bindings for Eclipse... but the Eclipse Public License is not GPL compatible, and the GPL is intrinsically incompatible with the mixed open source /commercial plugin ecosystem around Eclipse, and so it will never happen. As a result I'm trapped with the Gnome moronicly 'usable' file dialog, which constantly makes my life hard...

    1. Re:It's all about the licensing... by kimvette · · Score: 1

      When I came across this thread I immediately sent a long email to Novell customer relations, stating that if they dump KDE then I will be dumping the very distribution which won me (and consequently many of my company's workstations and servers) back over from Windows to Linux, after my not having touched Linux since 1997 or 1998.

      I also stated that I suspect Trolltech's licensing is the underlying reason - and if that is indeed the case, why couldn't Novell work with Trolltech to change the licensing, or just buy them out, since Novell has the resources and can and has done that very thing with larger companies (e.g., SuSE, Ximian).

      I dislike Gnome. No, I downright abhor Gnome, Gtk, and everything about it EXCEPT its liberal LGPL licensing. I've become less of a fan of GPL licensing and more of a fan of LGPL lately, ever since we considered developing Linux apps. GPL is not friendly to gaining commercial support (hence, you do not see many Linux games, Linux apps, etc) but Gtk is. However Gtk is an ugly environment for developers, and Qt/KDE is much more developer-friendly. If you want to offer a closed source app, you have a couple of options with Qt:

        - GPL the GUI, completely split out the business logic and make the product two-tier or three-tier
        - pay Trolltech's completely ridiculous ($1,900 / seat / year) licensing fee

      Heck, at that price, it's cheaper to develop Microsoft Windows applications, fully licensed and everything, and you don't have to give away the farm with your product, either! Of course you won't have a prayer of going cross-platform if you do that, but you will be able to afford to develop the product. $1,900/seat is a ridiculous fee and plays right into the "Unix is more expensive" FUD.

      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    2. Re:It's all about the licensing... by Bill+Kendrick · · Score: 1

      If you are a writer of commercial software, or any software that isn't GPL compatible, you cannot use the Qt/KDE stack for your app.

      Or, like, you can pay to license it. That seems pretty standard in the commercial software world. :^P

  117. Watch the user base dwindle by tom581 · · Score: 1

    I have been an ardent Suse fan for the past eight years. I appreciated the choices offered in desktop managers, as well as the free remote updates and the wonderful work done on YaST system management services. I didn't think much of the Novell buyout of Suse, but rather viewed it as a possible shot-in-the-arm to lend more support and visibility to Suse in the business world. This latest move by Novell disappoints me. I see this as a poorly directed business move, without regard to the existing user base. I run KDE because of the rich application support. I've tried Gnome on numerous occasions, but have found the application selection to be very weak. Now I'll have to find another release to use. Forget Redhat, it's crap, and it smells too much like M$. Guess I'll just have to jump into some hackerware release like Debian or Slackware.

    1. Re:Watch the user base dwindle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here is an opinion on possible cause of Novell's decision:

      http://tinyurl.com/bslfu

  118. There is no conspiracy by typical · · Score: 1

    There is no conspiracy.

    There are more people out there hacking OSS on Linux in C than C++ -- while I have a fair number of things depending on C++ on my system, it's much smaller than the number of C apps on my system.

    This means that there are more developers tending toward the GNOME camp. This means more apps for GNOME.

    Most applications have some sort of KDE and some sort of GNOME implementations; however, of the remainder, there are more GNOME-only apps than KDE-only apps.

    Nobody is going to make you stop using KDE. There are still people using GNUStep happily (and it continues to be steadily developed). However, the "business-oriented" distros, the ones that are trying to address the bulk of regular-old-users out there, are choosing GNOME. This does not need to impact your life; those users aren't going to use emacs either, yet I continue to use emacs. It's just not a big deal, unless you're worried about being with the most popular crowd -- and if that were the case, you'd probably be using Windows.

    --
    Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
  119. Hmm... by typical · · Score: 1

    You submitted an article to a website hosted in the US. The website is generally US-centric due to the large number of US users. The article submitted regarded a US company. Your submission contained words that were incorrect in US English spelling. The US-based editor corrected the spelling to be consistent with most of the rest of the site.

    Now you are complaining.

    I mean, don't get me wrong; it's really silly when people attack (clearly British) people using British spellings. But this was a pretty straightforward editorial call. Slashdot could use *more* grammar editing, not less.

    --
    Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
    1. Re:Hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. The spelling wasn't incorrect... not even for the U.S. It was "international", I wouldn't expect them to edit it anymore than I'd expect them to convert kilometres into miles.

      2. consistent with most of the rest of the site. Nice use of "most" there.

      3. Do you really think the slashdot editor responsible was "making it consistent", or do you think he thought "that's spelled wrong. I'll correct it," and just didn't have a fucking clue that it was actually perfectly correct spelling. I know what I'd put my money on.

    2. Re:Hmm... by mickers · · Score: 1

      Not seeking any flames, but as an Australian citizen of this global community, it's easy to see where this attitude gets the US the reputation that that US *is* the global community. When was the last time you saw a www.website.com.us? Almost by default, the global .com has become part of the US 'standard'. If I register a .com address in Australia, I recognise that it's designed to be global, and accept or embrace what that will mean in terms of my readership. In the US, many wouldn't know that there are such things as country codes. Just a mini-rant .. we now return you to your normal programming ...

    3. Re:Hmm... by typical · · Score: 1

      Not seeking any flames, but as an Australian citizen of this global community, it's easy to see where this attitude gets the US the reputation that that US *is* the global community. When was the last time you saw a www.website.com.us?

      Well, for a long time, and during the period that .com got established, the US *was* pretty much the global community. [shrug]

      --
      Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
    4. Re:Hmm... by typical · · Score: 1

      The spelling wasn't incorrect... not even for the U.S. It was "international", I wouldn't expect them to edit it anymore than I'd expect them to convert kilometres into miles.

      Wrong. That is a British spelling. It is incorrect in US English.

      Nice use of "most" there.

      Slashdot isn't phenomenal when it comes to editing. I appreciate efforts like this to improve the state of things.

      Do you really think the slashdot editor responsible was "making it consistent", or do you think he thought "that's spelled wrong. I'll correct it," and just didn't have a fucking clue that it was actually perfectly correct spelling. I know what I'd put my money on.

      So, an editor made a correct editorial decision, and you are putting your money on the fact that he's just uninformed? I mean, fair enough, but that's quite a chip on your shoulder.

      --
      Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
    5. Re:Hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong. That is a British spelling. It is incorrect in US English.

      Wrong. It's an international spelling... it's only Americans and British people who describe it as British. American's because they are stupid and ignorant (and that's the ones who know enough to realize that it has alternate spellings), and the British because they are arrogant enough to think they own the language.

      On top of all that -- it's not *WRONG* in US English. Check a fucking dictionary why don't you.

      Slashdot isn't phenomenal when it comes to editing. I appreciate efforts like this to improve the state of things.

      By correcting spelling that wasn't wrong in the first place... good call.

      So, an editor made a correct editorial decision, and you are putting your money on the fact that he's just uninformed? I mean, fair enough, but that's quite a chip on your shoulder.

      Given the piss-poor state of slashdot's spelling and grammar (and remember, these are *paid* editors), you'd better fucking believe I'd put my money on the editor just 'not knowing any better' and correcting it because it looked wrong.

  120. Re:Seriously? We should care about this? by bcrowell · · Score: 1

    That's what's great about both Open Source and Free software, but it's also why a wide-open platform is not going to gain mainstream use anytime in the foreseeable future.
    Well, it's one of the reasons why Linux won't make it big on the desktop any time soon. There are tons of other reasons, too, such as the fact that people (a) don't care, (b) are locked into proprietary file formats, and (c) aren't competent to install an OS. I pretty much agree with what you said in your post, but I disagree with your emphasis. I use fluxbox. I'm happy that nobody forced me to use some other WM because that's what a majority supposedly wants. Linux is about freedom, not about market share.

  121. Re:Seriously? We should care about this? by typical · · Score: 1

    You know, I use Windows some of the time at work. And during that time, I've seen Lotus Notes' interface, along with Mozilla's interface, the XP widgets, the 2k widgets, WinAMP's bitmapped interface, and have not seen any users have any problem with it.

    I don't really think that a slightly different looking interface is a big problem, to be honest. If you stick users in front of Linux workstations and run the same apps that they have years of experience in (like MS Office), the users are going to be able to function about as well.

    The reason Windows users get cranky when moving to Linux is because they have expertise in Windows apps that gets thrown out.

    --
    Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
  122. explanation by bcrowell · · Score: 3, Funny
    For those not in the know, here's an explanation of what KDE and GNOME are:

    GNOME: A desktop system whose libraries will never be finished, and whose ABIs change several times a week.

    KDE: A desktop system whose applications have no documentation, print a lot of debugging information on stderr, and store their data in subdirectories 17 layers deep within ~/.kde.

    1. Re:explanation by Bohemoth2 · · Score: 1

      Well then i'll pick GNOME. No documentation wil allways be a deal breaker for me.

  123. No more KDE? by bmo · · Score: 1

    Well, after being a SuSE _customer_ since 6.1, I guess it's time for me to vote with my feet.

    I was afraid that Novell would trash SuSE after buying it, and it seems like they're going to. It was great while it lasted, though. Novell should have never bought SuSE. They should have left it alone. If they couldn't afford to support KDE (which is _why_ many of the SuSE customers liked them), then they shouldn't have gone forward with this plan. They should have created their own distro or bought a Gnome-centric distribution. I've used Gnome. I hate it. Maybe it's great from a developer's POV, but from this user's POV, it's utter crap.

    Gah.

    I feel ill.

    --
    BMO

    1. Re:No more KDE? by spyfrog · · Score: 1

      I feel the same. I have used Suse since 8.0 and if they do this, then I will drop them.
      The great KDE integration is the sole purpose of loving Suse, and without it I see no reason to use it.

      I think many people agree to - of the people I know and who runs Linux, only one runs Gnome. Rest of them hate it.

  124. Re:Seriously? We should care about this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > They don't have 23 different ways for it to look.

    brushed metal

  125. Why are 90% of Slashdot articles flamebait? by typical · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I have a friend who stopped reading Slashdot about a year ago. He really enjoyed it at one point, but the proportion of articles that are simply rabble-rousing has reached simply ridiculous levels. I've finally started using an RSS reader, and Slashdot just doesn't warrant fitting on the thing.

    I don't mean that article titles like "Emacs sucks Donkey Balls" show up -- mean that you see summary bodies that strongly imply that, for instance, emacs is going to stop being used by anyone, and deliberately lets users draw wrong conclusions.

    The problem with this approach is that it isn't sustainable. Yes, readers that are alarmed and upset make for attentive readers. For a while. After a bit, trying to read Slashdot, I start to feel numb from the sheer amount of useless content flooding by.

    On my current front page, I see:

    "Unisys: We No Longer Have A Way Out". This article implies that some company has completely switched directions and admitted that Linux is better than Windows. Even without reading the article, I am quite sure that the actual situation is a lot less black-and-white. It's nothing more than a summary intended to let people get a bit of Microsoft-smearing in.

    "Hardware: Unsecured Wi-Fi to Become Illegal?" Of course, unsecured Wi-Fi isn't going to become illegal on any kind of significant scale. There would be huge numbers of simply uninformed consumers facing penalties. This article is simply present to get people posting about how the big telcos are trying to suppress independent network access, and so on and so forth. It's trying to get people scared. It's absurd.

    "Linux: Linspire CEO Offers S. Korea To Replace Windows" Summary implies that Linux is about to replace Windows across a country. Of course, nothing like that is actually going to happen; this is a PR ploy that at best might generate some revenue for Linspire and a few more Linux users.

    There is a *huge* amount of interesting news for nerds out there, if you look across the entire world. There are countless people to interview, who would be more than happy to show up on Slashdot. Technocrat.net covers much of the same stuff as Slashdot, and *they* manage to avoid pointless flame-generating articles. Maybe a GIMP how-to with pretty pictures. A walkthrough of a new programming language. I haven't seen coverage of interesting anime stuff for a bit, and I refuse to believe that the anime world is simply dead. A review of a new Linux distribution.

    Instead, I see more and more articles that tend more towards propaganda than interesting news.

    --
    Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
  126. Same Old, Same Old by segedunum · · Score: 1

    There's an article around the time of the Suse aquisition exactly like this one that said Ximian Desktop would be 'tightly stitched' with Suse. Where is Ximian Desktop now? Notice this is Ximian's ex head of Marketing ;-).

  127. Anyone feel like forking SUSE 10? by thehunger · · Score: 1

    Well then,
    now is a good time to create a new, KDE centric, SUSE based distro.
    I hope someone will do it: create the equivalent of Kubuntu.

    BTW, I wonder if any of SUSE's KDE developers were among the 600 employees they let go recently? If so I hope they take the initiative for a new distro, or join the effort.

    Once KDE4 comes out with Plasma and new usability features, even more users are going to flock to the KDE desktop. Especially since they'll see it as most on par with Windows Vista.

    1. Re:Anyone feel like forking SUSE 10? by hendersj · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Let's all say this together: RTFA

      The GNOME interface is going to become the default interface on both the SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server) and Novell Linux Desktop line.

      In the eWeek article, the following statement is made:

      "The entire KDE graphical interface and product family will continue to be supported and delivered on OpenSuSE," said Mancusi-Ungaro.

      No need for a fork, just a bit more careful reading of all available information before jumping to the conclusion that the sky is falling.

      --
      Insanity is a gradual process; don't rush it.
    2. Re:Anyone feel like forking SUSE 10? by thehunger · · Score: 1

      You must be joking! You really think this is just about changing a default setting? Just because KDE will be included doesnt mean we'll see Novell add new hot KDE-centric apps. Instead it'll be new mono and GTK based apps. And they won't be as integrated with KDE as with Gnome. This is about in which direction they are steering the SUSE distro, where they'll focus development efforts. If some people dont like where this is headed, then they can fork or create a new derivative like Kubuntu is to Ubuntu. Next time dont just RTFA but use your head.

    3. Re:Anyone feel like forking SUSE 10? by hendersj · · Score: 1

      The OpenSUSE project is a community project sponsored by Novell - but if the community continues to include KDE apps in OpenSUSE, they'll be included there. There is a differentiation between NLD and SUSE Linux; maybe you should go see what the OpenSUSE project is before making assumptions.

      Of course anyone who wants to can fork, that's the beauty of OSS; but starting cries of "the sky is falling" before actually checking to see what the impact of a decision really is is just silly.

      I use my brain every day; coming to a conclusion because of a single article (from eWeek no less, not exactly the most reliable of sources) within 24 hours of that article rather than doing some research to find out what's really going on is ridiculous.

      --
      Insanity is a gradual process; don't rush it.
  128. Re:Management: are you suprised? by amcdiarmid · · Score: 1

    List of things that Novell has ruined

    1) Novell (with a bullet) - they used to have like 90% of the SMB server market
    2) Word Perfect
    3) SuSE
    4) Ximian
    5) Anything else they have touched, since I'm sure I left a lot out.

  129. Re:Good move - Stop abusing mod points by aristotle-dude · · Score: 1
    If I had mod points, I would mod you up just to counteract the KDE fanboys. Read the guidelines. You are supposed to concentrate on modding up rather than down.

    I am glad that more and more distros are choosing one or the other. KDE reminds me too much of windows or OS/2. It is time for the Linux community to pick a winner so that they can attract some desktop app developers to their platform.

    As a mac user, I look forward to some real competition on the desktop.

    It's not flamebait. I agree that there needs to be some UI consistency on linux and I believe this is what you were referring to right?

    --
    Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
  130. Good for me by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

    As someone who uses neither, I can only say that I'm glad they did it. Why? I really don't care which way it goes, GNOME or KDE (though, to be honest, I do favour GNOME slightly because its Python and Ruby bindings are better). What I do want as a developer, however, is for there to be a single, standard platform for me to target. GNOME is already ahead in this department, by virtue of being the default in RedHat/Fedora (which are still the most popular distros out there, no matter what), and then all the hype around GNOME-centric Ubuntu... With SuSE joining the club, we can pretty much officially declare that the desktop wars are over.

  131. Re:Seriously? We should care about this? by jht · · Score: 1

    That's kind of what part of my point was - I use and support all the platforms as part of my work, and I've used Linux literally for over a decade (I remember when Bob Young was showing up at computer flea markets with copied Yggdrasil CD's, to really date myself badly). I've used Linux personally, as a desktop and as a server, and I still do. I like the freedom to tinker and the ability to tweak it to my needs, regardless of distro.

    The problem is that I'm not the market that has to be happy in order for Linux to be a truly viable desktop OS. Joe User is the market, and Joe User has a lot less expertise than virtually anyone who ever has posted on Slashdot. People lose track of the fact that we're not representative of the marketplace. And even .5% of marketshare is fine as far as I'm concerned - I'm not going to stop using a Linux desktop (though I'm posting this from my iMac G5) just because it's not a "mainstream desktop". But so many of these articles and posts are coming from a "Linux world domination" perspective that there's just no real thought towards the reality.

    For the right people, Linux is an awesome desktop OS. Problem is, we're the right people, and there's just not enough of us. When Linux becomes something that can just be installed and used, easily, with all the Little Things done right, then it'll get serious traction. Heck, as another poster on this thread commented, the reason Apple gets to work on eye candy is because they already figured out the Little Things. When a Linux distro gets that right, instant traction. And GNOME versus KDE is not the way to get there.

    --
    -- Josh Turiel
    "2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
  132. Re:Seriously? We should care about this? by dr.badass · · Score: 1

    Do you seriously think that Mac isn't BUILT on eye-candy?

    Mac OS X is built on quality design. That, in turn, happens to look pretty cool to most people.

    I don't know about anybody else, but when I say "eye-candy" as a derrogatory term, I mean visual elements added in ignorance of any overall design. There is a reason that Mac OS X looks cool, where tacky rip-offs of the visual elements do not. When you simply "paste-on" a bunch of stuff that "looks cool", you end up with an incoherent mess. This is the dominant practice in open source UI design.

    In other words, the problem isn't "glitz". It's improper use of it. Apple can afford the glitz because they have skilled designers that know how to use it properly. Open source projects do not, and they suffer by spending too much time adding "eye-candy" in without any coherent vision.

    --
    Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
  133. Novell's rationalization by Anonymous+Bullard · · Score: 1
    Perhaps Novell's corporate and institutional customers - you know the ones who help Novell pay for all their Linux development and promotion - prefer the LGPL'd tools for their internal development? Likewise for 3rd parties whose business is building specialized commercial applications for such corporate and institutional customers?

    Let's also not forget that the move towards standardizing on the GNOME desktop doesn't mean that they're dumping interoperability with applications written for the K Destop Environment. KDE apps will still run great, and the user can still pick Plastik as their theme. Novell may officially only support the (ever-improving) GNOME configuration tools (and importantly their localization), but those who will never ever use anything else but the K Desktop Environment until the day they die can still continue using and helping maintain the KDE-based OpenSUSE. Novell GPL'd the previously semi-OpenSourced SuSE so they aren't actually picking up their toys and taking anything away from the KDE userbase.

    I've been using GNOME for a couple of years now and like every release more than the previous one, but I'm also fine working under KDE every now and then. I did actually "standardize" on GNOME (currently under Ubuntu) after being a customer of both SuSE and Mandrake who let their GNOME support wither in the past. However I never felt any venomous anger towards these distro vendors over their choice.

    If KDE/Qt is to someone the one and only acceptable desktop environment and giving the current v2.12 release of GNOME a fair test run is too far outside their parameters for tolerance, by all means switch to Mandrake-Conectiva or adopt one of the numerous remaining KDE-only distros (and make its developers to swear on the blood of their first-borns that they will never ever stop being KDE-centrik!). But hating Novell over this and seeing evil konspiracies where only kost-kutting rationalization exists is quite silly and unproductive IMO

    --

    Should invading one's peaceful neighbours be opposed, or rewarded with trade deals?

  134. Gnome vs KDE vs Whatever Desktop Environment by lloy0076 · · Score: 1

    Personally, I prefer to use a Desktop Environment that "Just Works" [tm]. I actually don't "like" the default look and feel of either Gnome or KDE on Debian Unstable, however I find that the default Gnome install is more understandable to ME than the default KDE install.

    Why? Up until a few years ago I never had a computer that was quite up to running KDE efficiently. When it came time for me to settle for a desktop environment Gnome won, not because I "liked" it but because its competitor on my machines just wouldn't run fast enough.

    I think the punters will purchase and use a distribution whose user interface works for them. If that's a Gnome dressed as KDE or a KDE dressed as a Gnome, I'm not sure that they actually even *care*. Let's face it, unless you happen to be a desktop environment developer, you're not using your computer to use the desktop environment - the desktop environment is simply a means to an end.

    Will it be bad if KDE just goes away? Quite possibly yes.

    Is it bad that Novell has switched camps? Quite possibly yes if you're in the KDE camp.

    In the long term if a Novell/SuSE customer says: "I bought SuSE version 15 and even my computer illiterate sister could use it straight away, my blind cousin can use it out of the box and I, power user, find that it doesn't get in my way"...then Novell/SuSE have won the game.

    DSL

  135. It's okay by patiodragon · · Score: 1

    Their's nothing wrong with asking!

  136. Yes. It's the network file access... by patiodragon · · Score: 1

    I really do prefer the Gnome interface to KDE. I have to "take out" a lot of eye candy from the default KDE behavior to enjoy it. I have also found default setups of gnome distros to run faster than KDE ones on the same hardware (yes, could be the distro).

    What makes Gnome frustrating is the lack of that "network" link whenever I use an application on a LAN. I'm not a programmer and I don't want to have to be a sys-admin, either. I have found a way to manually mount remote fileservers so that applications see them. To many people, though, browsing to each document each time they want to use it instead of just being able to open them from a dialog box is not going to happen.

  137. Fork Urgently Required. by chris_sawtell · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I look forward to the KSuSe ( or SuSE-Europe ) fork of SuSE. GNOME is just a politically motivated Simplified Unix Interface with ugly graphics for the occasional user with no appreciation of the aesthetic. On the other hand KDE is a rich and rewarding computing environment which provides a visually tasteful and effective workplace.

    This is yet another classic example of an American Corporate being totally out of touch with the customer base out here in the Rest-of-the-World. Message to Novell:- "Enjoy the continuing death experience". Message to shareholders:- "Cash up quick before they stuff up completely and blow all your dough".

    1. Re:Fork Urgently Required. by CRCulver · · Score: 1

      GNOME is just a politically motivated Simplified Unix Interface with ugly graphics for the occasional user with no appreciation of the aesthetic. On the other hand KDE is a rich and rewarding computing environment which provides a visually tasteful and effective workplace.

      Both GTK+ and QT are completely themable, so calling one "ugly" in comparison to the other makes no sense.

      And calling KDE effective in this particular context is ridiculous. Sure, it may be great for home users who want dozens of configuration options in plain sight, but in the corporate environment that Novell is looking to target, the effectiveness of a desktop for office work is based on how streamlined it is.

    2. Re:Fork Urgently Required. by angrykeyboarder · · Score: 1

      "Both GTK+ and QT are completely themable, so calling one "ugly" in comparison to the other makes no sense."

      It makes perfect sense. The default GNOME theme which is what users (are to) see first is just plain ugly. The GNOME 2.12 switch to Clearlooks was a definte step forward and I like Clearlooks, but the plain vanilla default Clearlooks desktop still isn't nearly as attractive as that of KDE (Plastik).

      Now you can have some GOREGOUS desktops in GNOME, but not without tweaking (an hunting down the themes) and then watching the theme installer in GNOME crash when you try to install them.

      GNOME needs to work on a little polish in it's default desktop. I don't mean eye-candy like gDesklets, but just a little more polish. Vanilla GTK2 just doesn't match up to vanilla QT3.

      --
      Scott

      ©20014 angrykeyboarder & Elmer Fudd. All Wights Wesewved
    3. Re:Fork Urgently Required. by CRCulver · · Score: 1

      It makes perfect sense. The default GNOME theme which is what users (are to) see first is just plain ugly. The GNOME 2.12 switch to Clearlooks was a definte step forward and I like Clearlooks, but the plain vanilla default Clearlooks desktop still isn't nearly as attractive as that of KDE (Plastik).

      Since few distros ship GNOME with its default theme, the desktop doesn't necessarily look one way or another, and so my point still stands.

    4. Re:Fork Urgently Required. by angrykeyboarder · · Score: 1

      OK, let me put it another way.

      The Default Kubuntu desktop is attractive.

      The Default Ubuntu desktop is not

      --
      Scott

      ©20014 angrykeyboarder & Elmer Fudd. All Wights Wesewved
    5. Re:Fork Urgently Required. by Pecisk · · Score: 1

      It is very *interesting* HOW typical troll can be modded interesting?

      But I will bite.

      It isn't strange, that just some percentage of Linux desktop users prefer more simplistic, elegant GUI which is GNOME? Heck, other various WM are even more "lesser evils". Get over it - all people are not the same, heck, even our characters are such mix of emotions. There can be trends but we choose what we choose for so miriad reasons.

      What happened to "everyone can choose?" I don't care that lot of people uses KDE, I use some few KDE apps even my self (where GNOME is lacking) - and look for their GNOME counterparts to arrive, even help in that cause.

      But there you are, saying something which could come from typical Windows/Mac/whatever zealot.

      Oh, you are. Sorry for point that out.

      --
      user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
  138. Looks != Acts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Crosstheming can make them *look* the same. They still don't act the same. KDE understand unix keybindings, for instance, while that ability was deliberately removed from GTK some time back. You can't even get it back by editing config files, and bug reports on it have been marked not a bug. So even if you crosstheme it and it looks right (the attempts I've seen are always flawed) you're still going to have one app that understands your keybindings, and another that insists on pretending it's windows instead. Not acceptable.

  139. solution by jjohn_h · · Score: 1

    Here is the solution:

    - Qt is released under the LGPL.

    - Mono (i.e. C# only without the dotnet environment) gets a native compiler

    - GNOME is re-written in Mono+Qt

    - Most of KDE migrates to the new GNOME
    (the Qt library already there, C++ to C#
    would be feasible)

    - KDE goes the way of the dodo

    Do unnderstand that KDE's strength in Europe
    is nothing but SuSE's strength. The day SuSE
    turns GNOME only (and the day will come),
    SuSe users will forget about KDE.

  140. Ximian people, stop pretending to run Novell! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    segedunum wrote on osnews.com:

    The statements in that article are made by a former Ximian Director of Marketing who really has nothing to do with Suse, the server people or are privy to what any of them are doing or the direction they're going. I don't give them much weight. Let's see what Suse continues to do, because most Novell and Suse employees and customers use KDE.

    Also notice that he was never actually quoted as saying they were moving to Gnome - there's certainly no quote marks around the statement. It's something the author has put in. This is a well worked PR tactic from the past. You imply something and let the author run away with it. If you're questioned about it then you can say you were quoted totally out of context.

    This happened a lot around the time of the Suse acquisition. There was one such article about Suse moving ('tightly stitched' in their words) all their distros to Ximian Desktop 2 before the ink was even dry on the deal. Remind me to ask the Ximian Desktop team how things are going.

    Since they've laid off an awful lot of Gnome people this just doesn't add up at all, and seems like the usual PR spin a manager puts on things when his department (or clique) has been taken to the cleaners. It's also not possible. Novell and Suse's products use YaST, and currently use KDE in SLES and OES and things will need to be seriously rearchitected if that were to change. They still need to be supported as well.

    These people are continually full of the brown stuff, and consistently so. You lot really do have minds like goldfish. We'll have to wait a few months to see what really happens.


    I have nothing to add to that.
  141. Woah, what emotions we have... by Pecisk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    First, I wrote very large comment, how GNOME is better, etc. etc.

    (Disclaimer: I am GNOME user for four years, and love progress and iniciatives of Ximian and Novell)

    But, then I thought all about this and went to try to understand - why such outrage? One point is clear - SuSE was very big sponsor of KDE and now there is going to be less money for that. That I understand - If they have been fired all Ximian team (and I don't agree that Ximian was just empty dose, Evolution, Mono, lot of integration stuff - it makes sence, they are NOT stupid, and they can create income for Novell - in many ways), I would certainly feel the same.

    But do I judge Novell? No, because they should do that. It was clearly painful choice - and they weren't ignorant about that. I even think that it wasn't easy choice in the eyes of Ximian team too - because in my opinion, they don't just be in war with KDE community. Actually, what I have seen that GNOME guys seems to want work more on common ground - desktop standards, D-BUS, HAL, etc. such things. However, KDE team looks for doing things their *own* way - and it is ok for that, but is is somehow childish. For example, KDE officially won't support gstreamer - there are some excelent KDE apps who does and will, but KDE just went to doing it in their own turf again. Why? Reading Gstreamer, everything is done to assure desktop envorement independence - gstreamer is NOT depend on ANY GNOME/GTK+ lib.

    As from my point of view, I see that KDE guys was in the first place. They were best, they had most brainshare, they were "Unix desktop #1" - because most Linux desktop users where power users and hackers. However, times has changed and now Linux user base are consists more of common users, which, _in my opinion_, more preffer simplicity of GNOME. So, problem is there - is KDE are ready to change and finally accept GNOME (and drop the stupid and childish trolls, modded insightful or interesting, claiming that GNOME is error, stupid, Novell will die, etc.) as viable brother _or_ they will continue claim that they are wholy one?

    In resume, I would like to say - I would like to see both desktops to stay and improve AND provide choice for many of new Linux users which will sure come. Let's not claim death of Novell, let's say - there should new coorporate desktop of KDE arise. Kubuntu could be good start for some company to create Kumbuntu Enterprise Desktop.

    Let's go with peace, brothers - and improve things in our backyards.

    --
    user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
    1. Re:Woah, what emotions we have... by kellererik · · Score: 1

      Amen, brother. No one is forcing any user to use a certain desktop-GUI. I still use WindowMaker on slower desktops since both, Gnome and KDE, are sometimes a little too much for older machines.

  142. READ THIS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Novell funds Mono ($$millions) -> Miguel De Icaza
    GNOME started by -> Migule De Icaza
    Novell got $500M from MS.
    GNOME divided linux's only hope to have a standard desktop (but QT lisence sucks ass indeed).
    GNOME was left behind but Novell will resurrect it.

    This is just economics and pardon me but Novell seems very much like MS's puppy that does everything it can to contribute to the division, confusion and contradiction of the OSS community.

    (now block my IP for another month)

  143. Not a wise move... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...that may make customers to run away from them and Novell can't afford that right now. The best solution would be a slow change, where both desktops would have full support.

  144. Yeah, right! by Macka · · Score: 1


    Just to check, I started up a Gnome app while running KDE. No problem. The other way works fine too.

    So you started a Gnome app while running KDE, big deal. Does your Gnome app integrate seamlessly with KDE's changes in look 'n feel, or drag 'n drop, or cut 'n paste as well as another KDE app would? Or does it work with the desktop as well as it would on Gnome? Nah, I didn't think so.

    The parent poster hit the nail on the head. A customer gets a much better user experience from a unified desktop than one which is fragmented. Whether you like it or not the commercial *ix industry is standardizing on Gnome. It doesn't matter whether Gnome is better than KDE or not right now. It only matters that they do standardize for those people who want Linux to be a serious competitor on the commercial and consumer desktop. KDE won't die. It'll still chug along in the background supported by talented enthusiasts, but it won't be the outward face of Linux to the buying public.

  145. KDE may go belly up now without financial support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So far, donations from "KDE enthusiasts" have been drop in the bucket.

    http://kde.org/support/donations.php

    Now, if Novell reduces or nixes its financial support, KDE may be in BIG trouble.

  146. Finally a decision by invisik · · Score: 1

    Finally, someone has taken a stance and picked one! I don't care what it is, they are both fully functional and get the job done, from any viewpoint. Yes, I'm a Novell guy and business partner so I'm biased, but this fragmentation of desktops has to stop. Or at least one needs to pull ahead so some standardization can happen.

    They state KDE will still be on the machine, libraries and apps. So what's the big deal? You will probably still be able to pick KDE on OS installation but the default will be GNOME. You can load the GNOME libraries and run the management apps on KDE....

    RedHat is GNOME. How could they not pick GNOME? It's not a huge technological jump on SUSE's part to support GNOME so stay with the flow to make desktops more standardized across all corporate distributions.

    -m

    --
    http://www.invisik.com
  147. What's the fuss? by Mr+Silly · · Score: 0

    You want KDE? http://www.kde.org/ Install it if you want. Isn't that the beauty of OSS... options are there for those who dare!

  148. Clarification on the name: 'MyLinux' Distro by Halvy · · Score: 0

    The name 'MyLinux' is used many times in different areas of technology and countries.

    I just want to state here that this was just a temporary 'nick' name while the product is being created.

    It is not associated with any other 'MyLinux' products out there at the time being.

    The name will probably change somewhat when it is ready for distriubution, either on its own, or with another maintainer of a similar product and or names. :)

    --
    I will gladly loose all of life's battles.. in order to win the war..
  149. Gnome has some definite benefits by msobkow · · Score: 1

    While both QT and GTK+ applications cross-compile to various *nix distributions and Windows, GTK+ does not require licensing fees to produce a closed-source application like Acrobat. While there is a "free" version of QT for Windows, it's only free for GPL applications IIRC. You can't even use it for development of a non-GPL application and defer the licensing fees until you have been paid by a client.

    Another useful feature of Gnome is it's underlying reliance on CORBA technology. There are CORBA gateways for J2EE (and presumably .NET) that should allow you to build a native client against a TP-based J2EE server with Gnome. I don't believe you can do that with KDE/QT, at least not as tightly integrated/standardized as with Gnome. I don't know of any companies that have actually implemented such an application, but it would theoretically allow you to address the GUI performance issues while still maintaining a J2EE infrastructure that can also support web interfaces for external users.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
  150. Great! by crusher-1 · · Score: 1

    If this hold true, after years as a SuSE beta tester, I can safely say I'll be looking for another distro.

    Time to post this on the SuSE-e mailing list and see what shakes out. If I offended any GNOME users I apologize. But after years of shaking out bugs in SuSE versions, IMHO GNOME has been behind the curve for some time (at least in SuSE Linux) and frankly I find the GNOME interface to be obtuse and rife with political overtones I personally would like to avoid.

    I understand why one interface would be preferable and the fact that Novell has chosen to focus on GNOME over KDE is no real surprise considering they bought Ximian (the best of the GNOME offerings IMO). But my dislike of GNOME is such that if SUSE defaults to GNOME (as did RH) then I will be shopping elsewhere...

    OH Well - to each their own.

  151. Single click is evil by bluGill · · Score: 1

    That single click thing stands as a massive red flag that KDE doesn't pay enough attention usability or it would have been changed a long time ago.

    No, it is a massive red flag that nobody else pays enough attention to usability. Have you ever watched a new computer user try to double click? Preferably someone over 80? I have, they do not get double click. Even when they understand the concept (which is not intuitive at all), they are physically unable to do it fast enough while holding the mouse in one place.

    Double click was forced on the world because Apple marketing insisted that their ads would be better if they could sell that you cannot push the wrong button. Apple didn't case, and doesn't care that this makes the computer harder to use, because it makes it look easier.

    KDE is doing it right. KDE cares about doing things right, which is why KDE insists on keeping single click the default. (Sadly people like you arguing the wrong side are winning, too many people have learned the wrong way and are now untrainable)

    If you look close at Windows you will find Microsoft is trying to go the same way. One of the more easily accessible settings in Windows 2000+ is single click activation because it is right. Unfortunately Microsoft has is stuck with the wrong convention current users are used to.

  152. sad by Siva · · Score: 1

    You know, what amazes me most about this--which none of the above replies seem to mention--is that a Slashdot editor actually made a spelling correction at all. It's fascinating and ironic that this correction, which is obviously debatable, was made, while other fundamental spelling errors (there/their/they're, etc) are regularly allowed to stand.

    --

    Keyboard not found.
    Press F1 to continue.
  153. Mantel leaving! by crusher-1 · · Score: 1

    Hurber Mantel, lead kernel dev and co-founder of SuSE Linux has announced that he is leaving Novell/SuSE. The talk on the Beta tester list is overwhelmingly negative in regards to Novell's decision to "standardize" to GNOME.

    Seems Novell is likely to do with SuSE what they've done to everything else they've touched (can you say NetWare?). That's right, take a perfectly successful Linux distro and alienate your base. But this is the standard motis operandii at Novell, so they appear to be in fine character.

    Pity really!!!

  154. Re:Seriously? We should care about this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Exactly, reference to OS X as a path for commercial linux distro is important. Things have to be more concentrated on the services they offer: it is one OS, provided by one supplier, with one window manager, one this and one that for the needs of user. Natural. User has to be offered attractive OS choice, but once chosen OS, what's the sense for him to be demanded of further choices? What the sense for supplier to provide with them? KDE was made to look very good on SuSE, and make quite consistent OS environment, too. If there are technical and all the other reasons for company to change course - they had their part of responsibility facing them. As well as, they are supposed to benefit from that choice. User is supposed, too.