'[kde-promo] LinuxToday's LinuxMagic story'

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List:       kde-promo
Subject:    [kde-promo] LinuxToday's LinuxMagic story
From:       "Kurt Pfeifle" <kpfeifle () danka ! de>
Date:       2003-12-21 17:04:22
[Download RAW message or body]

<crossposting FYI...>

Not sure if and when it will appear (LinuxToday does moderate
postings).... But here is my take on one GNOME fanatic's FUD (*)
which I posted this morning:

===================================================================

Hi, Gnome-Evangelist,

thanks for your lordliness and generosity, allowing for KDE to get "some of
the market share". It is highly appreciated.

However, let me tell you, that in your 5 paragraphs I found 1 truth and 4
outright.....(hmmm, how should I call it?)...un-truths, plus many doubts:

   1/ -- your *first "un-truth"* is the untenable assertion that "FitnessWorld
         uses GNOME". In fact, FitnessWorld uses KDE indeed, even if it is not
         mentioned in the story. See here:
         http://enterprise.kde.org/bizdir/showbizinfo.php?id=64

   2/ -- your *second "un-truth"* is the barefaced lie to say that "LinuxMagic
         is a strong GNOME shop". This is far from the real facts. LinuxMagic
         in fact is a strong KDE shop, and they have even signed the recent
         White Paper "Conquering the Enterprise Desktop". This White Paper
         outlines the plans of a strong group of KDE and Debian developers to
         add Enterprise-level features to KDE and deliver them on the Debian
         platform first. Moreover, you can read about LinuxMagic's usage of
         KDE here: http://enterprise.kde.org/bizdir/showbizinfo.php?id=64

   3/ -- the *third "un-truth"* is that KDE's marketshare has been "dramatically
         diminishing lately". You name Bruce Perens' UserLinux project, which
         has practically expelled KDE and Qt from its "community" platform
         (and doesn't want to have it mentioned any more on its mailing list).
         Currently UserLinux is not yet a distribution. It is still discussing
         which name it should take, and which packages it should include. Since
         Bruce Perens didn't distribute a single CD yet, he can't have taken
         away "market share" from anyone, no?

   4/ -- the *fourth "un-truth"* is to say that the upcoming KDE version 3.2
         is lacking "innovation". KDE will include a *lot* of new stuff -- but
         I will not name it here. Just read the announcements
         (http://www.kde.org/announcements/announce-3.2beta1.php) for the public
         beta, or go download and install to see it yourself
         (http://download.kde.org/download.php?url=unstable/3.1.93/.

   6/ -- the *fifth "un-truth"* is to continue spreading the FUD about
         "unresolved licensing issues". I assume you are alluding to Qt's
         license (Qt is the underlying toolkit used by KDE, developed by
         Trolltech). I assure you, Qt is 100% GPL, which by any definition
         means it is "Free Software". And I can assure you more: it is
         guaranteed to remain so -- even in case Trolltech is bought out by
         some hostile force: because a written contract guarantees
         (http://www.trolltech.com/newsroom/announcements/00000004.html) the
         latest version of Qt to be released under the BSD license in any such
         case that the owner of Qt would stop distributing it as the Qt Free
         Edition). This is a more than 5 year old fact (established in 1988),
         and it is time that self-proclaimed GNOME advocates like yourself
         stop spreading this incredible un-truth.

   6/ -- the *sixth "un-truth"* of yours is to tell the world that KDE is
         "not playing nicely" with external major applications such as
         OpenOffice, GIMP and Mozilla. Be assured, that the KDE Team is working
         hard to not only "play nice" (which it does already) but to even
         *fully integrate* "foreign" applications into its desktop framework.
         This includes (but is not limited to) using the same icons, themes and
         color schemes; it also will make it possible for these applications to
         use KDE fileopen (including all related "kio_slaves") and KDE print
         dialogs. If you want, you can look at these screenshots, to get a
         first impression of what is in the pipeline:

         Preliminary screenshots are here:

         Ximian Evolution integration:
             http://www.kde-look.org/content/preview.php?file=8950-1.png
             http://www.kde-look.org/content/preview.php?file=8950-2.png

         OpenOffice integration:
             http://www.kde-look.org/content/preview.php?file=8529-1.png
             http://www.kde-look.org/content/preview.php?file=8529-2.png
             http://www.kde-look.org/content/preview.php?file=7131-1.png&PHPSESSID=56b5f90cbeb9217654c91409187939ea

             http://www.kde-look.org/content/preview.php?file=7131-2.png&PHPSESSID=56b5f90cbeb9217654c91409187939ea

             http://www.kde-look.org/content/preview.php?file=7131-3.png&PHPSESSID=56b5f90cbeb9217654c91409187939ea

          About the OpenOffice/KDE "Incubator" project:
             http://lists.userlinux.com/pipermail/discuss/2003-December/000886.html
             http://dot.kde.org/1071245692/</a>

          Sodipodi integration, with working KDE print and fileopen dialogs:
             http://static.kdenews.org/mirrors/www.xs4all.nl/%257Eleintje/stuff/sodipodi-screenshots/sodipodi_print_preview.png

             http://static.kdenews.org/mirrors/www.xs4all.nl/%257Eleintje/stuff/sodipodi-screenshots/sodipodi_savefiledialog2.png

   7/ -- the *one and only "truth"* is, that the story doesn't directly name
         KDE, correct.

Finally, let me say that I am plagued by a lot of doubts about your
asservations to "not being a KDE basher", given the record of un-truths
you seem to be repeating.

But regardless of any such FUD being spread by individual mis-lead fanatics
and zealots, the KDE Team is continuing to work to build the best Desktop
Environment Framework and Platform, which will integrate non-KDE
applications to a degree that their non-KDE origins will only be noticed
by "experts" such as you.

Moreover, GNOME and KDE core developers will continue to cooperate in the
common FreeDesktop project (http://www.freedesktop.org/), unhindered by
such barrage as yours.

Thanks to all, who base their pronouncements and actions onto the needs of
the users and our commonly projected market (the current MS Windows share),
and not the blind needs of any by-gone "Linux Desktop War".

Cheers,
Kurt

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