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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Kicker bar maiming
From:       Tom Chance <tomchance () gmx ! net>
Date:       2003-12-21 18:33:37
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On Sunday 21 December 2003 17:18, Michael Pye wrote:
> On Sunday 21 December 2003 16:13, Frans Englich wrote:
> > That the distros change the default kicker buttons is perhaps a ringing
> > bell for that our defaults isn't that good.
>
> But they all change them to different things. Which are we to adopt?

Precisely. Different distributors customise KDE for particular functionality 
and/or tastes; KDE cannot possibly cater for all of these with its defaults.

Yes, it is good if KDE can ship with good defaults so that many distributors 
needn't modify it (Gentoo, Debian, Slackware and others come to mind as 
(meta-)distributions that qualify for this in my mind), except perhaps to add 
some branding by changing a background or kmenu sidebar.

Yes, it is also good if KDE can ship with good tools that can perform basic 
system functions well, like generic handling of RPMs, SysV INIT files, X 
configuration, etc.

But there will always be functionality and aesthetics that distributors will 
add on top of or replacing what KDE offers by default; that is potentially a 
good thing and KDE shouldn't be so pompous as to expect it can dictate how 
distributors will use it.

What can be done, and what is generally being done, is setting necessary 
standards like theme locations and formats, menu entry locations and formats, 
etc. that mean that even if some distributor does ship a very odd version of 
KDE, the user needn't stick with it, and if the distributor adds in their own 
tools, KDE isn't responsible.

Tom
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