Well, true. I suppose the only reservation is that such solutions like the Google Gadget/iPhone software stores require the development of a supported software delivery system, that I think should not be outsourced to a third party website. And that takes a lot of planning and resources - KDE can't spin up such a framework overnight, and it's unrealistic of me to hope that you can do such a thing in any short amount of time. :) Free software tends to be that way. Code first, and then the plan follows it.
(It actually happens the same in the proprietary world, I figure. Everything is just kept behind close doors for an extended period until the design is on par with the code. :) Free software gives users an earlier-looking glance at the same development timeline -- good for freedom and all, not so great when you see the growing pains of a new platform.) (extended note: that assumes the free software development is maintained at a healthy pace. The derailing of free projects off the path of productivity is almost cliche. :) ) But, Plasma's definitely on the up-and-up. Due to difficulties with my latest Linux install (Amarok2 not working with music players, Banshee not working with music players, Skype not working, pulse not working :), etc. ) I've retreated to Windows. But I really will jump back to the next Suse or Fedora just to try KDE 4.2. I really do wish that all these upstream projects (Pulse, GNOME, Xorg, KDE) didn't all decide to do their revolutionary new releases at once. (Pulse's...well, birth, GNOME's GVFS and nautilus refactoring, Xorg's...whatever the heck they did, and to a lesser extent KDE4.) It seemed like everything was working so well back in 2006, when I got back into linux. :) I was so impressed when I saw OpenSUSE 10.3 -- I thought maybe it really was time to give Linux a shot. But then came Fedora 9 and OpenSUSE 11, and then KDE 3.5 bit the dust. Dark times. :) But KDE seems to be the earliest project to emerge from the often-regression-filled "evolution" that has occupied the last two years, and it's even better for it. In fact, considering the problems the rest of the free software stack is having due to growing pains these last two years, KDE4 really does deserve a pat on the back for actually _emerging_ from this mess better than it was, whereas projects like Pulse and Xorg seem to be fighting to regain the functionality they previously had. Sorry. Another rant. Great work! _______________________________________________ Plasma-devel mailing list Plasma-devel@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/plasma-devel