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Shuttleworth Sees Possibility For a QT-based GNOME

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the left-some-neurons-in-space dept.

An anonymous reader writes "derStandard.at has an extensive interview with Ubuntu-founder Mark Shuttleworth, in which he seems to be pushing for a switch to QT in the GNOME-project: 'I think it would be perfectly possible to deliver the values of GNOME on top of QT.' He goes on to talk about Apple as an 'innovation leader' and problems with Hardy Heron."

9 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. In other news by Daimanta · · Score: 5, Funny

    Shuttleworth sees possibility in cats and dogs living together.

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
    1. Re:In other news by MonsterTrimble · · Score: 5, Funny

      QT and Gnome living together

      Mass Hysteria!

      --
      I call it 'The Aristocrats'
  2. No, GNOME-like values on QT by paroneayea · · Score: 5, Informative
    That's a pretty misleading summary. Actual quote:

    derStandard.at: So you would favor GNOME to switch over to QT?

    Shuttleworth: Well, I think it would be perfectly possible to deliver the values of GNOME on top of QT. There are licensing issues, GNOME is very much built on the LGPL, allowing companies to build their own products on a free software system, giving them some freedom and flexibility in their choice of licensing. That's very frankly been a huge drive for the adoption of GNOME by corporate ISVs.

    He says in this article that GNOME was chosen for how easy to use it is. He's saying that the widget set doesn't dictate that, so the same thing could be done with QT, not that GNOME should be rewritten with QT.

    --
    http://mediagoblin.org/
  3. Already done. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought it was called KDE 4.0.

  4. RFTA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously. This is going to be one of the biggest misquoted articles of the year because some Slashdot nobody editor decided to take Shuttleworth's words out of question's context.

    He quite clearly says that it is possible to deliver GNOME's qualities on Qt. He didn't say that he wants to do it. He didn't say he was going to do it. He even pointed out a problem in doing it (GPL vs LGPL).

    Of course, it would also be possible to deliver GNOME's qualities on Enlightenment or Tcl/Tk if you could find enough hackers to do it. There's nothing unique about GNOME's qualities that only GNOME could do it. They simply picked a different path, and it happens to be one that works incredibly well for Ubuntu. So well that they can share schedules with GNOME, that they can build a base for ISVs on GNOME, and on and on.

    So please, PLEASE read the fine article before jumping to conclusions from the terrible Slashdot header.

    1. Re:RFTA by mhall119 · · Score: 5, Informative

      It read more of a "Gnome does not have to be GTK only", more than "Lets move Gnome over to QT". He also specifically mentioned things like HAL and D-Bus as examples of "common infrastructure", so he's not just talking about the UI toolkit.

      --
      http://www.mhall119.com
    2. Re:RFTA by Evanisincontrol · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Assuming he didn't edit it Isn't that supposed to be, y'know, his job?

      Yes and no. His job as an editor of a user-submitted news site is to make sure that stories come out presentable and factually accurate. It is not necessarily the editor's job to edit submissions in a way that changes the information they convey.

      In fact, I'm rather glad that he left it alone. Not because I agree with the submission -- I think it was taken out of context as well. However, I'm glad to know that Taco doesn't just spin every submission he gets in a way that makes the news comes out the way he wants it to. It would be so easy to just re-word a couple things here and there, and suddenly the story is in his favorite shade of blue.

      Again, Slashdot is a user-submitted news site. Not satisfied with the quality of the news? Submit a better story yourself.

  5. Re:Wow! by norminator · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I thought it was interesting how he says that for some of the technical things, like Pulse Audio, Firefox, etc., it would be better to use the newest stuff, even if it wasn't *quite* ready, and fix it all in a service pack, so that the latest software would be there for the long haul.

    But when it came to artwork, they considered changing it, but he though an LTS was the wrong time to mess with it, because then they'd be stuck with new artwork for a long time.

    Does that seem backwards to anyone? I mean, the people who are using an LTS want stability and software that's proven and that will get the job done, even if it is a little older. They know they're not on the bleeding-edge. Whereas with the artwork, I would think that an LTS is a great time to start off in a new direction so that a new theme can really come to be associated with the distro. Especially given how many people complain about the brown and orange they use now (although I actually prefer the brown and orange).

  6. Re:eh? by kimvette · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Trolltech dual-licenses the libraries. Even if they discontinue the dual licensing, Qt4 and earlier will always be available due to the gpl and can be forked, so that's a red herring.

    The truth is that Qt is cleaner, provides better, less limited dialogs, EASIER to use than that damned Gtk file open/save dialog, and just like Gtk is freely available.

    I for one cannot stand gnome because the gnome developers' idea of making a system easier to use is to cripple the interface and treat the user like an idiot. The KDE team strives to provide all the functionality but make it intuitive enough that novices can understand it.

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50