Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Thu 13th Mar 2003 17:43 UTC
A KDE developer tipped me off to a recent thread discussed in the kde-core-devel mailing list regarding interoperability between KDE and Gnome. OSNews featured an interview with the usability experts from Gnome and KDE a few days ago and we expected that the spirit of co-operation would continue to get stronger every day. Luckily this is true regarding most of these developers, but not for all of them are sharing it. Here is a commentary on the issue followed by a summary of the long thread.
Permalink for comment
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
I simply disagree with the idea that Linux will die due to Unix-like splintering.
If we have a choice of compromising KDE or GNOME in order to achieve "unity", then I'd rather not have such inferior unity. To me, what makes Linux fun is not "taking over the world", but OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE - and the moment I see "unity" as lowering OPTIMAL performance, I say screw "unity".
That brings us to: what happens if KDE and GNOME continue as they are? Will they die like UNIX? NO. This I think is the main mistake of the editorial. I happen to think that IN FACT, Linux can have success with KDE and GNOME as completely separate. Like OSX and XP - those are separate, but together they are 98% of the desktop. Why can't one day KDE be (for example) 60% of the desktop, GNOME 30%, Win 5% and Mac 5%?
Who says Linux cannot "take over the world" with KDE-centric distros and GNOME-centric distros co-existing?
Finally, have you heard of Darwin? That may make this whole discussion pointless. By evolution either KDE or GNOME may pull ahead and the other simply die a natural death. By the looks of today, GNOME is the slower ship. Let them drift... and one day, KDE will be 90% of the Linux desktop, and THERE YOU HAVE YOUR ONE ENVIRONMENT, which is after all your goal with "unity", right? Not "unity" for its own sake! Maybe GNOME will be the dominant species, maybe KDE, but it can happen naturally. After all, didn't Windows take over quite on its own, without Apple having to "unify" with Windows? And Windows ended up with 95% of the market. Same can happen to either GNOME or KDE. No need to "unify".
You underestimate Linux if you think it'll die or NOT EXPAND TO CHALLENGE WINDOWS, just because KDE and GNOME remain ununified - Linux is much stronger than Unix because it has the enthusiasm of developers all over the world, so it won't die a splintered death like Unix. Linux can AFFORD to have both KDE and GNOME and thrive. Remember crucially, in the end it is the hackers who are key - if they work best by having two separate desktops, LET THEM DO IT, because they are the ones doing the work, and the reason they do it, is because they love OPTIMAL performance - take that away and put them into some kind of Stalinist "unity" and lower standards, and they walk away. So it will NOT happen, and I'm glad it won't.