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KDE Goes Cross-Platform, Supports Windows and OS X
klblastone writes "The KDE desktop environment is going cross-platform with support for the Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. In addition to porting the core KDE libraries and applications, developers are also porting popular KDE-based software like the Amarok audio player and the KOffice productivity suite. New KDE binaries for Windows were released yesterday and are now available from KDE mirrors through an automated installer program. The Mac OS X port is made available via BitTorrent in universal binary format."
I do enjoy some of the KDE applications and want to install them deep down in my soul, but because of the buggy nature and pre-release nonsense with KDE4 I'd really never trust it on my MacOSX system. I got my mac so that I wouldn't have to deal with the eternally beta Linux software situation. I want things to work, KDE4 doesn't work. Maybe in a couple years when they get their act together I'll trust it on my system but right now, as a MacOSX user, there is nothing KDE has to offer that's worth trying out. They really screwed up releasing KDE4 early. I don't trust it, I wont trust it for a long time and they're giving me no reason to begin trust any time soon.
Maybe vsita will run faster using KDE instead!
The above comments are not guaranteed to make sense to anyone other than the author...
I thought the "best of both worlds" in OSX referred to having the OSS commandline tools and Cocoa GUI. What in the world would I want with KDE desktop on my Mac?? Ok, I admit that there is ONE GUI program from Linux that I really missed on OS X. And that was PAN (Pimp Ass Newsreader). Fortunately there is a Macport for it. Yeah, it uses X11, stands out like a sore thumb, doesn't integrate with the rest of my apps, but it is the best news reader I've found.
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
http://www.mhall119.com
I know this is considered by many as blasphemy but, it can't be seen as anything other than a REALLY good thing for the linux camp out there, provided it works well. One of the biggest barriers to people running linux is that they are uncomfortable with how it will work compared to their comfy Windows box. With this, people can see that KDE is really not that dissimilar, but is more functional.
/. policies.
Over time, people will see that they can run the same thing on a VASTLY less expensive computer. Get people comfortable with how it functions, show them how cheap it is by comparison, increase marketshare.
I guess I probably should have added inserted a step three in there before the increase maketshare as ??? to follow
http://www.tomandemily.com
Agreed, the MSVDM crashes the only program I really need on windows, so it's a complete nonstarter. I can't believe that in 2008 ANY OS ships without this fundamental usability tool. And people give linux shit about having a crappy GUI when windows is 20 years behind.
And while I'm at it, where's my window shading and sloppy focus too?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Yeah, as of the next snapshot I want to have ktorrent packaged as well. I've had a number of folks request it.
WWJD? JWRTFM!!!
I believe you just answered your own question. There are some really nice KDE apps available that would be great to have running native on OS X. Krita is a more capable image editor than just about anything available on Mac short of Photoshop. (Try finding any other free image editor that supports 16-bit/channel color and filter layers.) Digikam is also shaping up to be a powerful photo workflow app. I've adjusted to the Mac apps now but back in the day I would have loved to keep using kmail, which is still more functional than Mail.app. In short, more diversity == more choices == better.
Mac developers can design shinier interfaces than anyone else, but too often they gloss over core functionality and/or remain closed-source. It's valuable to have apps designed from the opposite perspective available as well.
Approaches like that pulled me over to Linux on the desktop. KDE will always be associated with Linux. If you get Windows users hooked, next time they need to reload their OS because it goes completely berserk and dies for no obvious reason for the 2nd time in two years they might reconsider which CD to stick in the drive. That's basically my story ( not with KDE obviously , same laptop still runs Linux btw ).
KDE = K Desktop Environment. When you say "KDE Desktop Environment", you are actually saying "I don't really know what I'm talking about". Rant Over.
;)
The "K Desktop Environment" abbreivated "KDE" is the full name of the project. Its not a project called "K". And KDE is a desktop environment, so the KDE desktop environment while somewhat 'redundant' if you expand the acronym, is perfectly acceptable: "The 'K Desktop Environment' desktop environment has been ported to..."
The same sort of thing applies to, say, DOS, OS/2, or BeOS. Where it is perfectly acceptable to say "The DOS operating system...", "The OS/2 operating system...", "The BeOS operating system...".
Do you ask if someone's PC has an AGP port? I've never ever heard anyone say, "Do you have an AGP?" Or maybe you say "AGP slot" which is still redudnant: As in "Do you have an accelerated graphics port slot"?
Do you take offense if someone refers to the the perl language? The POP, PPP, TCP/IP, or PPTP protocols? And I can only imagine how you must burn right up when told to enter your SIN number.
I've been using KDE on and off for around 10 years now, but in the past 3 years I've been using it fulltime. I must say, I'm very impressed with it, it's just getting better, and better, and better with each successive version. These new features in KDE 4 look really cool. My hat goes off to the developers; it looks really impressive. However, I think I'll stick with KDE 3.5 for now, at least until 4.1 or even 4.2 comes out ;) And now that KDE apps can be run on windows....well, I think this may be the beginning of something here, and I think Microsoft are in for some serious competition in the next few years. Microsoft ought to be very worried by this....I know I would ;)
-- Fuck Beta
Step two: have your dial-up ISP hang up on you before the download completes, or not have any way to boot the ISO to install it. High-speed Internet access (and Ethernet cards to enable it) and CD recorders were not universal on machines sold in the Windows 98 era. Workaround: Buy a copy of Kubuntu on CD.
Step three: You downloaded or bought the wrong CD. Many PCs from the Windows 98 era had 128 MB of RAM, but the Kubuntu live CD needs about twice that. Instead, you will need the alternate installer CD. But by this time, you might as well use Xubuntu instead.
Step four: Have the CD fail to recognize at least one of sound, networking, and printing. Many older video cards have decent Free 2D drivers in X.Org, but winmodems and winprinters were unfortunately common in that era.
20 years behind? What platform are you referring to from 1988 that is equal to or better than Windows today?
At this time 20 years ago we finally got OS/2 1.0. No GUI at all in that version.
Windows has supported '/' as a path separator since about NT 3.1... The only app that doesn't work with it is cmd.exe, because it uses that as a command line switch.
And where is it, I wonder, that you are routinely typing path information?
Between the goofy directory structure and the absence of meaningful $PATH (hello Program \Files and shortcuts!), pointing out a feature that's not a feature merits a "LOL" moderation.
Actually, it was added in winXP. But it wasn't particularly good, and some of us can't use XP for various reasons.
As long as most linux distros have had it, so has M$.
No, various X windows systems have supported multiple desktops for a lot longer than that. CDE has supported multiple desktops (at least in Solaris) for many years - and done it with the best multi-desktop controls I've seen so far. KDE and GNOME have both done it for quite some time as well. Considering XP came out October 2001, and the powertoys sometime after, I don't think one could reasonably claim that microsoft has had it as long as linux.
That said, it's as useless in windows as it is in linux
If you find it useless, then don't use it. But don't try to tell the rest of us that it isn't useful. Many of us find it to be very beneficial. I suspect it comes down to how one tends to organize things in your own mind.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
We can bicker all day about what's "native" and what's not, but it really doesn't make one bit of difference. If an app does a job I need it to with an interface that doesn't get in the way then it's an asset. Sure, it would be great if everybody ported every app on the planet to Cocoa with loving devotion, but that's not going to happen. KDE has innovative and powerful apps to offer, and being able to run them as first-class apps on OS X is a Very Good Thing(TM). Furthermore, having OS X as a supported platform means those apps are likely to integrate *better* with the system over time instead of staying in the X11 ghetto.
I would love to see context menus in Windoze. Sometimes it copies the file. Sometimes it moves the file. Sometimes it creates a link (shortcut) to the file. Depends on whether it is a Network share, different device, if it is between 0615 and 1320 on Mondays, Thursdays, or the 14th of each month.
I never use drag and drop in Windozes for that very reason.
"Be grateful for what you have. You may never know when you may lose it."
20 years ago we had X windows with (in twm):
1. focus follows mouse
2. Clicking in a window DID NOT RAISE IT!!!! You clicked in the title bar to raise it.
#2 is the real killer and why overlapping windows worked 20 years ago and don't work now. And it is not just Windows, all the X desktops and OS/X have this foul behavior. A few people seem to remember how good focus follows mouse is, but the ability to click and do something in a window behind the current one appears to be forgotten by everybody...
Until I can write a program that can assumme that the user can click without raising the window, I do consider the current systems to be behind what we had 20 years ago. So yes the GP is correct.
And before you say "oh but that is not user friendly", get your head out of the sand and realize: the program can *raise itself* after it decides whether or not the mouse click is one that can raise it! If you can't figure that out, you have no business trying to argue about anything here.
Yeah, MacOS System 6.0 in 1988 wasn't very buzzword compliant. But it was still incredibly productive-- depending on your task, probably moreso than Windows today for many folks.
E pluribus unum
I don't know what people are smoking who praise iTunes for being "great". I can only imagine they have lower expectations than I have and/or have never used something better. Personally I find iTunes a complete annoyance and a really shitty media player. It lacks real library management (such as automagically detecting new files, file movement, duplicates with different file names), it doesn't display ID3 tags properly and truncates long titles, it doesn't have advanced search apart from intelligent folders, it cannot sort results by filename and sorting by album also doesn't work properly, it lacks cover management if you're unwilling to make business with CC companies or FraudPal, it has no lyrics support, no wikipedia support for artist info, and generally performs like a pig.
I have several hundred CD's and ripped them all to MP3s over the years, resulting in a 60 GB library which loads instantly in Amarok on a PIII-800, but takes almost 30 seconds to load in iTunes at 100% CPU usage on my G4 1,25 GHz. Handling those in iTunes is virtually impossible, handling them in Amarok is a breeze.
The public opinion on this is a different one, I know, but I for one can't wait to get Amarok on my Mac. iTunes is a cunt, and a smelly one at that. Amarok, OTOH, is one of the best OSS applications I've seen in the last years.
Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?