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List:       kde-licensing
Subject:    Re: [freeqt] Re: FreeQt concerns
From:       "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Ga=EBl?= Duval" <duval () criuc ! unicaen ! fr>
Date:       1998-04-16 7:46:47
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Hello everybody,

there has been a lot of messages about [freeqt] those days.
I'm sure it's interesting, but too much is too much. Do you really
think that the problems will be solved by arguing about ????

What's the problem with Qt... ??? It's really silly...
You've got a great GUI, free for non-commercial use, provided
with all its sources, the best GUI API for Unix and some people
keep on complaining about...

I think those people should go away and work hard on Gnome/Gtk...
There's a big need of work for this project...

Some people say : ``KDE is going to be _the_ Destkop for Unix and Linux''
Others say : ``It would be stupid because the base, Qt, is not GPL. So let's
copy KDE and make Gnome.''

Those are extremist opinions. I can't believe there will only be
_one_ Desktop manager for unix in the future !!!
IMHO, it's a stupid idea...

I love diversity.

So, I think there's a place for KDE, and perhaps one place for the
Gnome and maybe for some other Desktops... Don't you think that ?

The KDE team is working hard to build, very quickly, a good and
powerful alternative for Windows systems. IT'S URGENT.
For this, they're using some nice librairies, "given" by Troll Tech...
WHERE is the problem ?
Anybody has been killed ??????

Richard Stallman wrote:

> KDE may have all sorts of nice technical qualities, but as long as it
> depends on Qt and Qt remains non-free, its technical qualities make no
> difference.  If we cannot use a program because of its distribution
> terms, its technical characteristics don't make a difference.

Yes, they *do*.A good and powerful product, that you don't have to pay for it.
I would prefer to pay $100 to use Qt instead of being forced
to use Gtk or LessTiff...  (even if you gave me some money for
this...)

> It's clear from what you wrote that you don't share my concern about
> freedom.

No. But has it ever been said that the KDE project would be a newmodel for the
GNU activities ???


>  Given that, it is not surprising that you see no problem
> with using Qt.  Your view is nothing unusual; most computer users
> don't care about freedom, and as a result most of them are content to
> use Microsoft software.

IMHO, the problem isn't that you have to payfor an operating system like Windows
95 or NT. The problem is that
Windows 95 is a crazy system. NT too.

If the sources are open, it's better. But you can't ask the
entire world to follow the GPL.

You've got a religious/political attitude.

> Those of us who care about freedom are in a minority, but we will
> continue to advance the state of free operating systems; without your
> help, this will go slower, but we will still get there.

You've got the Gnome and Gimp to promote the GNU ideas, no ???

>      But you overlook that KDE is also existing
>     thanks to Qt.
>
> I don't believe that: I am sure you could have developed KDE in some
> other way if you had made the effort.  You could have developed a free
> toolkit that did what you needed.  It might have been somewhat more
> work, but the result would have been infinitely more useful to the
> free software community.

I appreciate the word "somewhat". It's a joke, no ???

> I mean "infinitely" literally.  If you had developed KDE using a free
> toolkit, its usefulness would have been greater than zero.  Right now,
> the usefulness of KDE to free operating systems is zero, and
> statements that Qt is free, or just as good as free, do harm.

The goal, IMHO, is to fight against Microsoft, not to build a new, nonrealistic,
utopia. I believe in KDE for this task. And it would be the
same if KDE was based upon the non-free Motif libraries.

And when KDE/Linux will have fighted down Microsoft, the
next step (he he...) will be to imagine a new revolutionary user interface,
surely with 3D windows flying on the screen. I don't really know. But
some people are already working on it, and they aren't working under
Linux/KDE yet...

Cheers,

        Gaël.

--
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Gael DUVAL - Reseaux & Applications documentaires   //
/ LINUX, LINUX, LINUX                                ///
 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////

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