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Does the End of KOffice Mean the End of KDE?
jfruhlinger writes "Venerable Linux office suite KOffice has been reborn as "Calligra," a name meant to evoke calligraphy but perhaps a bit too close to the neme of a deranged Roman emperor. Perhaps more importantly, Calligra seems to be cooperating with the future MeeGo mobile Linux distro. Could this be the beginning of the end of the KDE desktop, at least under its current branding?"
not just the end of KDE - but the end of all life on earth!
What a stupid headline. Page views, clicks, etc. Yeah I know.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
There is clearly a typo in the summary, this is a KDE project so it would have to be Kalligra.
What happened to that annoying K in all names of the K Desktop Environment?
Why would anyone think that?
Just because one of the many apps built with KDE has been re-branded doesn't mean everything else will be. Re-branding an app can help them re-market and re-invet the image for KOffice and loosen the implied restriction of running only under KDE. Changing the name of KDE doesn't benefit them seeing as how Desktop environments aren't really marketed to end-users, and even in the Linux world, most either don't care or already have a preference.
I've always used KDE, but never KOffice. So what.
They're based on the same technology, but other than that, what do they have to do with each other? You can run one without the other.
So the short answer would be "No".
I enjoy KDE and use it daily. I would use KOffice more if there was a better project management tool than KPlato included but alas, there isn't.
Time to donate some more Paypal money their way so that I can close that account. Btw, what alternatives are there to paypal? You know, companies that atleast pretend to support democracy.
You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
Let's tag this story "troll" and move on quickly.
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
The day you born you started to die. You can point any event as "the beginning of the end" of anything that is not eternal. But that one classical KDE app is renamed to something that have no K have more or less the same weight that a gnome app having a name that don't starts with g (and didnt saw any comment about the beginning of the end of gnome when one of such apps got released or renamed).
It is official; Netcraft now confirms; KDE is dying
Precisely my feeling as well. While everyone else, Microsoft included, was pushing for a cleaner desktop, KDE seemed to be pushing the messy desktop paradigm from the Windows 95-XP days. I just found it very clunky.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Just because they dropped the K nomenclature on one of their software suites hardly means KDE as we know it is going away... I think it's a good move. To be honest, the K in front of every piece of software made it feel... amateurish.
The rats are fleeing the sinking ship. But seriously, with all that rebranding and repositioning going on, you just know that KDE^H^HSC is not a viable anything anymore. What used to be the best desktop seems now to be just the best Powerpoint presentation.
FCKGW 09F9 42
Anyone know what the fate of Clutter will be now that Intel has jumped to QT?
Yes. Totally. Because the only reason people use KDE is so they can get KOffice.
Probably it's a typo, and they meant to write "name" with reference to Calligula, but what the hell is a "neme". Is that some new-fangled internet term for a name-meme? And what the hell is that supposed to mean?
Yes, I googled it, and got no satisfaction. YMMV.
A portmanteau of meme and name?
Also, what's a "neme"?
Ok...say what you want, but Win95 through to Win7 have perfectly clean desktops...until you litter them with icons/apps, which is totally under your own control. Same can be said for just about any other desktop, including KDE 3.x.
That said, you really should take a look at the latest KDE...or at least one of the many 4.x releases over the past couple years. It's about as clean as it gets as far as I'm concerned.
KDE has been rebranding, and not just in removing the K from all their applications. KDE is a project, and a non-profit entity (KDE e.V.). The software compilation they release is now known as KDE SC.
I don't see any reason for alarm over rebranding. KDE is getting more contributers and developers every year. Even many of the die-hard haters who railed against the 4.0 release have come back into the fold loving the current KDE releases. And for all the hate about Plasma, the Plasma framework makes it quite easy to create new activities and shells, making KDE on netbooks, tablets and phones considerably more viable.
I find it interesting that Ubuntu is trying to find a way to create one interface/shell on every device, and yet they pay so little attention to KDE, Plasma and Qt. With KDE activities, I can switch instantly between a netbook activity (which I may prefer on the tiny resolution netbook screen) and a more standard desktop activity/shell when I use the video output to use a larger display.
I can keep many of the same apps, conventions, etc. across multiple devices while still focusing on a activity/shell that is best suited to that size/resolution/device.
I'm actually really excited about the future of KDE.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
I read that they were going to go through some re-branding pain some time ago although the reasons were not clear, at least to me. But I hardly think this qualifies as signs that KDE is going away.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
* KDE was rebranded a year ago. It's now the name of the community, not the desktop.
* KDE, the community, is stronger than ever with more contributors than ever and more commits than ever.
* Calligra does not switch focus to mobile, but it *extends* the focus to mobile... and tablets... and so on.
What do you mean by that?
KDE's default behavior is to have no icons on the desktop because they want to eliminate the behavior of storing files on the desktop. They wanted to eliminate clutter.
I'm not sure why someone would assume they're pushing a messy desktop, unless you mean they support widgets or plasmoids. So does Mac OS X and Windows 7, both praised for their "clean" design. I don't use plasmoids on the desktop and don't care for them, but they're entirely optional. (I do have plasmoids docked in the panel, but that is another story).
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
I know I never have, and I use KDE quite a lot. I don't know anyone that has. It's usually OpenOffice.org that's being use.
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
I realize to the KDE purists out there (all three of you?) this is a horrible thing, but seriously - so what? Libreoffice is the big dog in this space and there are other packages like Abiword which have more mindshare then KOffice.
I call it 'The Aristocrats'
KOffice was just stupid name.
Hmm. And just recently I got a request to purchase kaligraphy.com from me.
:)
:) Email is in the whois data ...
Thinking that it might have been Microsoft or Apple or similar about to release a new product, I replied with an outrageously high price. I wonder if it was the KDE team
If it is indeed the KDE team, get in touch
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
I couldn't get past the windowing themes. Everything had super-rounded corners and had a shiny chrome look, and the icon sets were ugly and sin. My window manager should get out of the way, not be distracting.
I know I could theoretically customize it, but when I go under Google images for "KDE" every screenshot has the ugly as sin, distracting desktop icons and window borders. When I look at Google images for "Gnome desktop" ("gnome" brings up the garden variety), most of the screenshots use Clearlooks themes, while not the most attractive, it's not distracting.
One can hope.
KOffice has been reborn as "Calligra," a name meant to evoke calligraphy but perhaps a bit too close to the neme of a deranged Roman emperor.
yes, the first thing everybody is going to think is, "holy crap! is that named after that insane roman ruler 2000 years ago?!"
my first thought was, "what the hell does Calligra mean?"
not everyone is a historian.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
This is a horrible junk news editorial. This speculation is not just wild, it is more annoying than those toads in Australia... too much of this around and we just can't kill them all.
I welcome the name change from KOffice to just about anything else including Caligula. KOffice is not the same as K-Office. KOffice sounds too much like a bronchial condition. And the propensity to name things with a K in front is just ridiculous. I know, Gnome is somewhat guilty of that but not to the same extent. Worse, K is associated n my mind with K-Mart which was the brand of K-rap. (Their shoes were cheap and only lasted for 5 minutes on my feet when I was a kid.) I know... my association with K is my problem, but still. Too much K already. At least "G" is more often silent.
All the cool sheeps moved on to a desktop with 91% market share.
FTFY
I feel your pain; I can't stand rounded borders on windows or buttons, and so far haven't found a single theme that uses plain-jane boxes to draw, er... boxes. Guess we're two of those weird people who apparently can't see the point in round things when they're not needed. And to my eyes, they're ugly.
And yes, the default look of 80% of the themes looking like they've just emerged from a Turtle Wax avalanche doesn't help either. It took me forever to figure out how to get rid of the damned image overlay on the taskbar, which distracted me no end when I was reading it. To my eye these themes don't look polished, to me they're so self-consciously crying out for attention that they begins to take on the look of a teenager trying to be cool by growing a wispy bumfluff moustache and smoking a woodbine he purloined from his grandmother whilst bragging to the girls about how he's totally going to get some bitchin' rims for the Ford Fiesta his mum will donate to him once he hits 17.
At the end of the day, I still use KDE because it sucks less than GNOME and XFCE. But at least in windows I can use square window borders that eat up next to no screen real estate (although it's taken me no end of reg hacking to get win7 explorer to behave how I want it to). Seems to me like most developments in the UI world over the last five years have been directed towards making the desktop more blingy and less application oriented, whilst gobbling up more screen real estate, especially vertical... despite the fact that dot pitch and vertical resolution has been dropping over the last couple of years (thanks to the almost total exclusion of TFT panels that aren't 720p or 1080p - god knows how anyone can find a 15" screen with 1368x768 acceptable), to the extent we now have to have special "netbook" editions of UI's so that we can still fit in the huge blingin' icons. That's progress! /screaming old fuddy-duddy, apparently
Moderation Total: -1 Troll, +3 Goat
Could be worse. could have been named for the son of Marcus Aurelius: Comodeus
- Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
Perhaps Calligra is intended to evoke "Calligraphy on Viagra."
I Kant help but Kwonder if Ksomething is Kbetter on the Korizon? I mean, Kwhere else Kould we get our Kfix on Kbranded Knames? I Wish I Gknew what I could do to run my Gprograms Gnow?
Procrastination; I'll think of a sig tomorrow.
Caligula Text editor? I am so there!
How about other cool names? I want the Loki Operating system!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Never ask a question inspired by itworld that can be answered by simply going straight to the source.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Oh, but they're everywhere!
>Btw, what alternatives are there to paypal?
http://gunpal.com/ (I kid you not.)
http://alertpay.com/
wire transfers
http://moneybookers.com/
https://www.neteller.com/
https://www.epassporte.com/
http://www.e-gold.com/
http://www.libertyreserve.com/
>You know, companies that atleast pretend to support democracy.
I don't vouch for any of the above.
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
QtCurve fits in for all GTk, Qt, and KDE apps, and is highly configurable and can have square boxes and square window boarders.
G is so silent, many people are not even it exists.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
What happened here seems to be, from my skimming of the mailing lists, just a personality conflict. A bog-standard one, at that. The name change is more symbolic than anything else. Here's what to take away from this fiasco: One KWord developer is going to do his own thing, where some lists and code repos are hosted may change. Everything else is business as usual.
I want my Cowboyneal
At first glance, you might think "Flamebait"
Fair enough, however:
After the past 2 years of endless unstable and uselessly incomplete releases,
who the heck uses KDE any more?
The lack of coherency make it such a nightmare to support, that vendors who pre-load Linux,
like Hard Data or even Dell, will no longer provide a KDE environment as a supported platform.
It is telling that both Red Hat and Ubuntu install Gnome as their default.
Maurice W. Hilarius Voice: (778) 347-9907
Except GNOME/GNU (pronounced gunome and gunu) deliberate use an anti-silenced 'g'.
This makes no sense to me....maybe should lable this as nonsense?!?
At this time I use nothing but KDE....and I hope to never change. But what is koffice? I have never seen nor used this. So far just have Open Office....though not sure of the future of that suite of applications since Oracle has taken over Sun. How can the change of a name for one app. or suite of apps kill the parent environment? I do not see the relationship here. KDE is a desktop environment and I should think any one app./suite should not be central. Certainly koffice does exist but even if it were to disappear I think (to me) I would not even notice and have no effect on my installing and using KDE. /fennix
He's trolling, right?
DENTAL PLAN
(lisa needs braces)
How am I supposed to know Plasma and Dolphin are KDE apps now?
Here's a better question. Why should I need to know whether Dolphin (I'll leave out Plasma, since it's functionality is so KDE-specific) is a KDE app? If I like it, I should be able to use it seamlessly regardless of which DE I prefer. To the extent that I can't, the 'open desktop' has failed. To the extent that it's becoming easier and easier, the OD is inching (not fast enough, IMHO) toward (the potential for) success.
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
I just use ion3 under KDE. No floating windows at all, and certainly no rounded corners. It's as easy as setting KDEWM=/usr/bin/ion3 (I add it in $HOME/.kde/env).
I am moving to a new laptop, and I'm setting it up with i3, which is a nice replacement for ex-ion3 folk who like static tiling window managers with tabs in the frames. Both work fine with KDE, nice and easy, plasmoids run in tiles (if you like them; I personally don't), and everything is fine.
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
No wonder why everyone sees the linux community as a bunch of evil nerds up to no good.
"To prevent this day from getting any worse, I'll just read ERROR as GOOD THING" 1GJU8xLuDKDxEs4KLf8fAGyptoDsqvEsBT
Had tried QtCurve and liked it (being one of the few saner themes by default out there), but had managed to miss that option. Thanks!
Moderation Total: -1 Troll, +3 Goat
I can never ignore you! Why must you say such hurtful things, Dhalka226? Don't you remember the times we shared, the moments we kept sacred in our hearts and swore to never let go? No, I cannot bear it! What happened to us, Dhalka226, that you would think that of me? Perhaps it was my fault. Perhaps I never gave you the attention you deserved. But no longer! From now on, I will listen---follow you---hang on your every word! I have failed you, but now I see with clear eyes. We will be together again. We must.
is this guy retarded?
what is in a name? is a rose by any other name no longer a rose?
so what if they change the name from KDE, does it really matter? is it still not the same product? really, is this an issue? i think not
What about KDE's start menu, which has so many submenus and options that it needs both scrollbars *and* it's own search engine just to navigate it? It is more complex to operate than the average web browser.
What about the average KDE application that has so many tabs and toolbars that you can barely see the thing you are supposed to be working on?
What about the inconsistent use of fonts and colours that make everything look like it was thrown together at random?
What about the lack of any type of theme without rounded corners and gradients?
What about plasmoids being a bad idea when they were called "active desktop"?
What about the "cashew" which serves no purpose?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Noooo.
no
This sig. intentionally left blank.
we now have i-phone & droid type devices & Kde went over to them? gnome is going to do 4-6 core cpus, multi 32" lcd screens (think dual ati 5870s)? It seems that netbooks and 13.3" notebooks will get stuck with either too much or too little. Do you think any one will market a 32" 6 core laptop with a GTX480 video chipset, soon? I dont understand what direction any development is going after reading any of this.
Will people stop using KDE because Koffice changed its name from a pretty lame name that probably shouldn't have been used in the first place? Is that what your asking here? really? Or, will KDE change its name? Maybe? But does a project changing its name, probably to draw in more Gnome users, really point in that direction?
I suggest we call all that iGunK. by cp.tar (871488)
on Tuesday December 07, @05:54PM (#34480810)
Who cares what you suggest, and learn to put capital letters where they belong you moron.