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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: KDE Mindshare (or the lack thereof)
From:       Leon Widdershoven <l.widdershoven () fz-juelich ! de>
Date:       1999-03-05 14:02:00
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A very good text, but maybe at some points a little biased against
RedHat:)

I have added some spelling corrections, but further I approve. Would be
very
nice on www.kde.org.


mosfet@jorsm.com wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 05 Mar 1999, Robert Hagemann wrote:
> >
> >my shot for buzzword compliance:
> >KDE :
> >
> >Korba-based
> >Distributed
> >Environment
> 
> How about:
> 
> The K Desktop Environment Overview:
> 
> The K Desktop environment is designed by a large international group of
> Open-Source programmers in order to provide Unix-like systems with a
> object-oriented desktop focused on the end user. KDE is the preferred desktop
> evironment of the majority of home Unix based vendors and is included in
> popular distributions such as Caldera, SuSe, SlackWare, and Stampede. KDE users
> on the internet also account for gigabyte daily downloads on the KDE related
> internet archives.
> 
> Unlike most Unix desktop technologies, KDE started and continues to be the
> front-runner in applications designed with usability as the primary focus.
> Whereas most desktops for Unix and Unix-like systems are developed with people
> already familiar with advanced Unix operating system principles, KDE allows
> users completely new to the strengths of Unix to take advantage of them in a
> easy to use and coherent fashion.
> 
> KDE's current strengths derive from it's strong Unix based functionality, it's
> unparalleled stability, and a consistency in user interface design that is
> sorely lacking in other Unix based desktop environments.
> 
> KDE also gains it's strength from the fact that it is truly a independent Open
> Source project. KDE is sustained by a wide group of developers and companies
> worldwide and not primarily by a single commercial entity. This assures users
> of a system truly designed to match their needs and not the needs of one
> particular business. This avoids problems in software that is funded and
> developed primarily by a single company where sometimes issues such as
> marketing prompt unstable application releases, etc...
> 
> In addition to the basic desktop functionality provided by most desktops, KDE
> includes a large variety of everyday applications such as a file manager, web
> browser, mail and news clients, text editors, and essentially every other tool
> one would need to begin being productive in the Unix environment. Also of note
> is the KOffice productivity suite, which is currently under active development
> and takes full advantage of the technologies listed below.
> 
> Of course, being a X Windows based desktop users can take advantage of any
> Unix/X11 application inside KDE. This includes popular products such as Netscape
> Cop's. Communicator and Corel's WordPerfect.

Corp's
 
> Technologies being developed for the K Desktop Environment include:
> 
> Superior internet integration. Almost all KDE applications, from simple text
> editors and image viewers to large applications like productivity suites, are
> fully internet transparent. Being a Unix based technology, KDE has been able
> to attain a much higher and more complete level of internet transparency then
> other operating system's desktops. KDE is the most advanced implementation of
> this technology even on the Unix platform, where internet protocols such as FTP
> and HTTP (WWW pages) originated and are heavily used on a daily basis.

Hmmm. It _is_ true of course, but I still use Netscape and mc if I
really
need to do something (except for documentation browsing). And I have
been 
using kde for more than a year. There must be some reason for that. 
 
> Advanced Corba communication. Applications within the K Desktop Environment
> can take advantage of the OpenParts object model. Similar in theory to OLE II
> but based on a non-proprietary API, this allows users to embed applications
> within documents. OpenParts expands on this model, providing a general
> framework for applications to interact in a completely object oriented fashion.

Maybe a note that koffice is the testbed for this technology?
 
> Modernized libraries to access traditional Unix functionality. KDE is mostly
> being developed with a focus on C++ and other modern languages like Python.
> While C++ has been the most common GUI development language on the most common
> platforms for many years, it has taken some time to gain support with Unix/X11
> applications. KDE breaks this mold, providing easy to use interfaces that
> build on Unix and X Window's traditional strengths. This has benefited KDE in
> numerous ways including modular design, easy application development, and
> consistency in the user interface.

Maybe a note that classes are not only developed but also documented,
which
can not be said for every library:)
 
> Of course, since C++ is derived from the C language it is easy to add bindings
> to other popular languages. Python has already been mentioned, but there are
> also bindings in development for other languages such as Scheme.

Please mention Perl/Qt. I don't use it very much but Perl is a very
commonly used
language, especially with all that CGI stuff.
 
> More information on the K Desktop Enviroment is available at:
> 
> http://www.kde.org
> >Ciao,
> >Robert
> >.

Leon

-- 
==================================================================
Use the Force -                       l.widdershoven@fz-juelich.de
        Read the Source           Institute of Plasmaphysics (IPP)
                                    Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH
-Redhat Installation Manual

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