On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 2:48 PM, Ken Gunderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 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.
The law makes it a requirement. > > > > 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 No, I am not. I never stated that. > 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. More mature because GNOME has had more structured, corporate involvement and more usability studies done than KDE. > > > 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. The difference is that a Sun person is the one that stated that. It wasn't "rumours" or "whispered in my ear." > > > > 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 Where are you getting those statistics from? It doesn't make much sense given that: * RedHat uses GNOME by default and is the most well GNU/Linux distribution * Novell used GNOME by default in their enterprise distribution * Novell purchased Ximian years ago, which is a GNOME company * Sun chose GNOME years ago ..etc. I suppose it depends on whether you are looking at the US or European markets. > 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 That I can agree with. > 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. Crippled is a matter of perspective. I consider almost all of the current *NIX desktops to be crippled in one way or another. As for the rest; that's just opinion -- so no facts or figures are going to make any difference there. > Thankfully there are some within Sun who see this issue differently than > you and are actively working on porting of KDE;) *shrug* I don't really care. I spend most of my time in a terminal window or a browser. Which desktop I'm using makes little difference in the end. -- Shawn Walker, Software and Systems Analyst http://binarycrusader.blogspot.com/ "To err is human -- and to blame it on a computer is even more so." - Robert Orben _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
