Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Does the End of KOffice Mean the End of KDE?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the yeah-that'll-happen dept.

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?"

19 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Oh no by stoolpigeon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?
    1. Re:Oh no by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

      Now hold on just one minute Capt. Hyperbole. When taking into account the release delays, the infighting and the whole Mayan calender/2012 thing this just might be the first domino in the end of all life on earth!

  2. Typo in summary by h4rr4r · · Score: 5, Funny

    There is clearly a typo in the summary, this is a KDE project so it would have to be Kalligra.

    1. Re:Typo in summary by drolli · · Score: 4, Funny

      no, its going to be intgrated into CDE

    2. Re:Typo in summary by oldspewey · · Score: 5, Funny

      The Caligula Debauchery Environment?

      --
      If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
    3. Re:Typo in summary by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 4, Funny

      Where can I download that?

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    4. Re:Typo in summary by SteveFoerster · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here!

      --
      Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
  3. Re:Kalligra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    What happened to that annoying K in all names of the K Desktop Environment?

    They went to the same place all the intuitive configuration options went in GNOME.

    That's right. I went there.

  4. Tag: Troll by bcmm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's tag this story "troll" and move on quickly.

    --
    # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
    Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
    1. Re:Tag: Troll by think_nix · · Score: 5, Funny

      How about "Krap" ?

  5. Re:Kalligra by Kjella · · Score: 5, Informative

    The real hint is this:

    Currently all applications except Calligra Words will be maintained by their respective KOffice developers.

    It's more than a renaming, they split. However, when the dust cleared only the KWord developers went with the other group, the rest of the KOffice projects joined what's now Calligra. As far as I can tell the KWord guys wanted to focus on competing with MS Office and OpenOffice for the desktop, while the Calligra Words guys wanted to focus more on mobile. With enough different agendas going on in the same project they had conflict and eventually split. That's at least as far as I've caught the story.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  6. Rebranding by Enderandrew · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.
  7. Indeed and it misses the point in so many ways by ingwa · · Score: 4, Informative

    * 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.

  8. Did anyone actually use KOffice? by ndogg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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"
    1. Re:Did anyone actually use KOffice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      I've tried to use KOffice. Lord, how I've tried. I hate OpenOffice with a passion, but I just keep coming back to it.

      There's really only one thing holding KOffice back from general recognition as an Office contender: the font rendering/kerning is abysmal.

      The history behind this is tragic: someone in both the KDE and KOffice projects made it a principle that these projects should always use Qt libraries whenever possible instead of re-inventing the wheel. On paper, this sounds good. The problem is that there are still areas where the current Qt libraries....well, suck. Font rendering is one, printing is another. Thus, KOffice sucks and fonts and KDE sucks at printing (KDE3 was great at this because they used their own libraries).

      This is not usually a big deal because bugs can be fixed, right? Not in this case. The KDE and KOffice people point at the guiding principle (use Qt libraries) and say it's a Qt problem--ask Qt for a fix. The Qt people say that these features are not important to include in their libraries (because neither KDE nor KOffice are their bread and butter). And nobody fixes the problem.

      Actually that's not entirely true. The Scribus team created their own font rendering library for their Qt-based app. Because they don't want to produce crap, even if they have to re-invent the wheel to avoid producing crap.

  9. kaligraphy.com by Space+cowboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hmm. And just recently I got a request to purchase kaligraphy.com from me.

    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 :) Email is in the whois data ...

    Simon

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
  10. Re:Kalligra by Hatta · · Score: 4, Funny

    iThink iHave an iDea.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  11. Re:Kalligra by JackieBrown · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is some more background on the split

    http://lists.kde.org/?l=koffice-devel&m=128782551919625&w=2

  12. Re:Kalligra by jbolden · · Score: 5, Informative

    As I'm reading this thread I'd suggest this link instead:
    http://lists.kde.org/?l=koffice-devel&m=128812911619277&w=2