The Xfce development team is pleased to announce that the second and hopefully last release candidate of the upcoming Xfce 4.4 desktop is available for download now. The release focuses primarily on bug fixes and optimizations; see the release notes for a complete list of changes. The source tarballs and the graphical installer are available from the download page.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2006-01-10
Maybe I just want slightly more than a WM, and way less than a DE. And to me xfce used to provide that, and I'm hoping 4.4 still does.
My definition of bloat is probably not the same for you; what I consider a useless feature may be a godsend for others. I don't need an integrated file manager and graphical archiving tool. I'd rather keep the apps as separate as possible (ie: move the bare minimum into the core xfce components). All I really want is their panel, taskbar, settings panel, and that's about it. Adding apps on top of that starts to move towards a heavier DE approach where everything is included.
I haven't even tried 4.4 yet, but I might when I get home, or maybe just wait until the final version.
Member since:2006-03-12
The release candidates at least the first one unless there has been a regression feels better than earlier versions.
You talk about cross-purposes. XFCE *is* a lightweight Desktop environment. As far as features, are concerned you are talking about *feature bloat*, everything you need and nothing you don't.
KDE and I suspect GNOME. Can be stripped down quite heavily, because they are modular. search for kde-lite. I tried it for a time but I missed XFCE terminal application.
XFCE I would say is becoming a minimal collection of applications that fit in with XFCE i.e lightweight and fast alternatives to *common applications*.
Your feature bloat as you describe affecting it being lightweight and fast is false. The only problem I envisage is that a relatively small team, cannot evolve XFCE fast enough due to the amount of applications they need to maintain, and ends up like enlightenment.
Member since:2006-10-08
"XFCE aspires to be a fully functional desktop. It has added separate applications, and new dependencies, but define the bloat."
XFCE is developing to a useful replacement for KDE or Gnome on systems that offer less ressources than "modern" PCs.
"Clearly they have tried to put together a suite of *lightweight* alternatives to necessary applications, and most are optional."
And if you want it "more lightweighter", you can simply use version 3 of XFCE. Runs still good on a 150 MHz workstation.
"Functionality is not bloat! Unneeded functionality is."
Furthermore, inefficient implemented functionality - even if needed - may be bloat.
I like the modular conception of XFCE because it's the best representation of "needed functionality". If you don't need a certain functionaliy, just remove the corresponding module. The rest of XFCE runs without any change.
Member since:2005-07-06
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it."I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)"."The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight.""And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.
Member since:
2006-03-12
I am always wary when someone calls bloat!
Start with saying what kind of bloat!
XFCE aspires to be a fully functional desktop. It has added separate applications, and new dependencies, but define the bloat.
Clearly they have tried to put together a suite of *lightweight* alternatives to necessary applications, and most are optional.
Functionality is not bloat! Unneeded functionality is.