[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: QT for Windows released under GPL
From:       Richard Smith <kde () metafoo ! co ! uk>
Date:       2005-02-07 23:36:01
Message-ID: 200502072336.01264.kde () metafoo ! co ! uk
[Download RAW message or body]

On Monday 07 February 2005 23:11, Jason Keirstead wrote:
> On Monday 07 February 2005 6:56 pm, Richard Smith wrote:
> > Myself and all my work colleagues run Windows on our workstations not
> > because we want to, but because we have to (for MS Outlook and MS Office,
> > basically). If KDE apps were available natively, I'd expect quite a few
> > of us would run it (I already do, via X-forwarding, which is painfully
> > slow at times).
> >
> > But I think that Aaron's right, in a sense: I would be less likely to
> > switch from Win32 to Linux on my workstation if KDE ran over the top of
> > Windows.
>
> See, this is what I mean. These paragraphs are contradictory. If the reason
> you can't switch to Linux is because certain apps are only available for
> Windows, then having other UNIX-like apps available on Windows does not
> hinder Linux in any way. You would *not* in fact be any less likely to
> switch to Linux, since you are stuck on Windows regardless - therefore your
> risk was always 0.

You've totally missed the point. If KDE were to provide a feature complete 
Exchange client (we're well on the way) and the ability to read and write MS 
Word documents (we're much further from this, but OpenOffice.org helps), I 
could switch.

At that point in time (which I hope will be soon), if KDE were still 
unavailable for Windows, I probably would switch away from Windows. If KDE 
were available for Windows, I probably wouldn't. I don't think I can make it 
any clearer than that.

Is that harmful for KDE? I have no idea. Is that harmful for Linux? I think 
so, and I'm sure some will argue that it's harmful to "the open-source 
community" too.
-- 
Thanks,
Richard
 
>> Visit http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-devel#unsub to unsubscribe <<
[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]