Star KDE Goes Cross-Platform, Supports Windows and OS X
Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Wed 23rd Jan 2008 22:08 UTC
KDE 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.
E-mail Print r 10   70 Comment(s) http://osne.ws/eti
Permalink for comment 297457
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE[2]: Cross Platform
by lemur2 on Wed 23rd Jan 2008 23:47 UTC in reply to "RE: Cross Platform"
lemur2
Member since:
2007-02-17

I would like to challenge your opinion that porting KDE to other platforms hinders Linux adoption. It shows people the sort of software they can expect on a full-blown Linux system. If it wasn't for software such as The GIMP and Firefox on Windows, there would be little chance I would be using Linux full-time as I do now.


Likewise, I too would not have tried GNU/Linux if it were not for other FOSS programs having been ported to Windows.

Running the FOSS programs on Windows and watching the rapid improvement from version to version for programs like Mozilla/Firefox and OpenOffice, and also being exposed at the same time to "freeware" which was actually just "adware" (mostly download managers) ... I became curious as to what exactly was the essential difference between "free software" and "freeware", and how to tell them apart (so as not to waste my time with any more adware/spyware/nagware). That was exactly how I became aware of Linux, the GPL and FOSS in the first place.

From that point it was just a small step forward to switch the entire software stack on my computers over to FOSS software.

That experience almost defined the word "liberation" to me.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 8