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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    K this and K that
From:       Torgeir Strand Henriksen <torgshen () stud ! iet ! hist ! no>
Date:       2003-05-23 0:09:49
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I'm wondering, do most KDE application names really need to start with
the letter K? To me, this is the most annoying aspect of an otherwise
well-working desktop environment. While including the letter K can make
it easy to spot a KDE application, is this feature all that useful? And
doesn't it lead to confusion among newbies when non-KDE applications
have names starting with K anyway?

In my humble opinion, names like Konqueror and Kontour look like an
exercise in bad spelling. Don't misunderstand me, the names themselves
are completely okay, but why not spell them with the C they are supposed
to be spelt with? Currently, this K naming convention isn't even
maintained consistently, for example KControl and KCalc instead of
Kontrol and Kalc (or Kalk?).

Most names don't start with a K-sound at all, but get a K thrown in
anyway. Why KNode instead of Node? For some applications, removing this
K would be a problem though, since the non-K name is in use by other
applications on other platforms (for example KMail and KWord). Based on
my own experience, non-technical people tend to think KWord is somehow
related to Microsoft Word, and get confused and annoyed when it doesn't
look and behave the same way (especially with relation to file formats).
Considering how much time is being spent writing these good and useful
applications, wouldn't it be worth giving it a unique name? If I
remember correctly, Kontour was called KIllustrator until Adobe took
legal action. Comparing the two names, it is nearly tempting to hope
other companies will do the same.

I hope all this doesn't sound like flaming or shit throwing, it is
really meant to be constructive criticism. I like the KDE desktop a lot,
but it could be even better without most of the Ks. Also, my apologies
if this issue has been discussed earlier.
-- 
Torgeir Strand Henriksen <torgshen@stud.iet.hist.no>

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