On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:10:24 -0500 "Shawn Walker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 12:49 PM, Ken Gunderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:46:38 -0500 > > "Shawn Walker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 2:02 AM, Ken Gunderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > I've used both Gnome and KDE off and on since 0.x days but ditched > > both > > > > in favor of Xfce in more recent years. In my opinion Sun (along with > > > > other US corps) bet on the wrong horse with Gnome. I'm looking > > forward > > > > to the ongoing KDE4 work (although KDE has become a bit too "glitzy" > > for > > > > me) but that's going to be a while yet. > > > > > > > > What would be really appreciated is if Sun/OS would invest some > > > > energies in porting Xfce - lightweight, fast, and sports a nice window > > > > manager that actually does useful things like shade on mouse title bar > > > > scroll, right click anywhere for full menu, page desktops on mouse > > > > scroll, etc. It's gtk based and attracts a lot of "Gnome refugees" to > > > > it's ranks, so should not be too hard to port, eh? > > > > > > xfce has a long way to go before getting to Section 508 compliance, etc. > > > > Not sure about this one, but who cares? Why should majority suffer > > additional bloat and bugs for a small minority so long as _other_ > > options exist that _do_ accommodate that minority? > > Sun as a public company is *required* by law to seek Section 508 compliance. > > People who don't have friends or family members, or who themselves are > not physically disadvantaged in some way, often don't understand the > need for Section 508 compliance. > > These folks are disadvantaged, through no fault of their own usually, > and deserve the same opportunities we have to use software and live > life. Right. But enabling such features should be an option, not default requirement. > > > It also is relatively immature compared to KDE or GNOME for now. > > > > -1 > > -1 means nothing in this context. GNOME has a hig, has had numerous > accessibility and other studies performed, and especially on Solaris, > is far better supported. It's a no brainer that obviously would be better supported since Sun has made an investment in that direction. Regarding HIG, there are many who feel that Havoc is misguided, Linus Torvalds being one of the more prominent ones. I being one of the less. Xfce subscribes to HIG. One of it's downsides, imho. Not to be outdone, KDE is working on crippling some stuff as well as of late. > > > GNOME is far more mature as a platform than KDE or XFCE, right now, > > > when it comes to accessibility, etc. > > > > -1 > > -1 what? > > > > For many business purposes, GNOME still has friendlier licensing than > > > KDE or components KDE relies on as well. Well now you're citing licensing issue to support claim that Gnome is more mature and accessible. Moreover, seeing how KDE has been in existence longer than Gnome, how can you assert it's less mature. Same for Xfce if you take into account that it's based/ported from CDE. > > Care to back this up with specific references? > > It's quite simple. GNOME is primarily LGPL. KDE relies on many GPL > components, especially its core window toolkit. > > Sun came to the same conclusion when they chose GNOME, so I'm told. And I've had it whispered in my ear that a lot of the decision by various US corps to back Gnome was based more on nationalism concerns than technical merit. > > > Sun spent millions on GNOME in years past before xfce was really known > > > at all, so it makes sense for them to stick with their investment. > > > > No it doesn't. When you've made a mistake, smart leaders correct > > rather than pouring good money after bad. > > I haven't seen anything to prove it was a mistake yet. > > Quite the opposite. Then why, despite all this backing by various US corp entities, does Gnome still take back seat to KDE by something like 3:1 ratio in terms of user base? I'll venture a hypothesis: any *nix based DE is not going to be able to seriously compete w/MS for corp workstation in the foreseeable future. Hence the lack of uptake in this market despite the various periodic marketing pushes from Novell, IBM, etc. So who's left as user base? People smart enough to not want a crippled DE that's designed to be "usable" by lowest common demominator (e.g. does the print dialog still omit "duplex" option in name of "usability"?), and this sector seems to exhibit strong preference for KDE. Thankfully there are some within Sun who see this issue differently than you and are actively working on porting of KDE;) -- Best regards, Ken Gunderson Q: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation. A: Why is putting a reply at the top of the message frowned upon? _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
