"The next-generation of the KDE open source project, version 4.0, has been touted as the beginning of a new era in desktop computing, but only two months from the first release some users are wondering if it's just all hype. KDE 4.0 will bring a collection of new technologies to the Linux and Unix desktop, but there are uncertainties around how much of it will be included in the initial release. KDE user Andreas Pakulat expressed doubt about how the release will take shape in a blog post titled 'Where's the KDE4 desktop?'." KDE's Aaron Seigo also shares his thoughts on this.
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Member since:2007-06-06
Sorry but to me tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of years (if not millions) IS gradual.
Adaptive radiation hasn't applied to humans for millions upon millions of years and even then there has only been one "recorded" case of it - This also has no effect on the speed of our evolution. It has always been a gradual processs.
You seem to forget we share over 90% of our genetic code with mice - sure we've changed a lot. But this gives the real big picture when it comes to evolution - extremely gradual, always has been. Millions of years is certainly not "quick" to me.
You can call hands (as an example) revolutionary but really the difference (physically) from what they evolved from is very minor and yet it still took millions of years, absurdly gradual. The only change I can thnk of in the last hm? 2000 years is a height increase, other than that we're pretty much exactly the same we were 2000 years ago.
Edited 2007-08-30 13:31
Member since:2005-07-07
The point is that over the course of millions of years, species barely change. And then, probably due to external pressure, they change rapidly. This explains partly why so many 'missing links' can't be found. And those are the jumps I'm talking about. Again, if you read up on it, you'll see this is a pretty accepted fact in biology.
And yes, jump is relative - we're still talking a long time. But you know, Computers do everything faster than biology does ;-)
And of course, this analogy doesn't have any real value, it's just a way to explain stuff, I guess ;-)
Member since:2005-07-07
The point is that over the course of millions of years, species barely change. And then, probably due to external pressure, they change rapidly. This explains partly why so many 'missing links' can't be found. And those are the jumps I'm talking about. Again, if you read up on it, you'll see this is a pretty accepted fact in biology.
And yes, jump is relative - we're still talking a long time. But you know, Computers do everything faster than biology does ;-)
And of course, this analogy doesn't have any real value, it's just a way to explain stuff, I guess ;-)
Member since:
2005-07-07
Have a good look at your biology. There are several words for the concept ('adaptive radiation', jump-wise evolution etc) but scientists haven't thought evolution to go all gradually for a long time.
And sure, it's a mix of evolution and revolution. As I said somewhere else in this page, you need both. It's about exploring new possibilities while exploiting current capabilities.