Lest anyone think we're alone...

[John Babich]

On 11/25/06, Dan Smith <draciron at gmail.com> wrote:

> What I would like to see is more cooperation between KDE, Gnome and other
> desktop managers. Linux is about freedom right? Yet distros like Ubuntu
> don't even bother including KDE in the base install. Gnome under SUSE can be
> a real pain.

Ubuntu does have Kubuntu, a separate distribution. Anyway, some good news
for Fedora KDE users:

There is a plan is to merge Fedora Core and Extras in FC7. This
eliminates one barrier. There will be no second-class citizens, but
there will still be default apps at installation time. I hope that a
complete KDE can be installed from the start with the merger of the
repositories. I use both KDE and GNOME. Getting a *complete* KDE
installation on
FC6 is a bit of a pain. What can be installed by default vs choice at
install time is being actively discussed. Now's a good time to push
for more KDE.

- Other Fedora Project members are pushing to integrate KDE more
cleanly into Fedora.   See http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/UnleashKDE.

> What major distro doesn't include not just both but other commonly used
> desktop managers?

Fedora Core and Extras include GNOME, KDE and XFCE (Yes, I even use
XFCE on low-end machines). You can add others. It so happens that GNOME
is the default windows manager. This, of course, makes GNOME an easier
install.

> I'm seeing clique like behavior. Elitism and snobbery that will turn people
> away from Linux in droves.  The C/C++ snobbery has already hurt Linux
> badly. I'm sorry but not everybody like C based languages. We should be
> bending over backwards to accomadate people not drive them away from Linux.
>

Clique behavior is always bad for FOSS. One of the goals of the Fedora Docs
project is to lower the barrier of entry. We should have a "big tent".

One obstacle is lousy or non-existent documentation. We can change that.
We can also work more closely with other FOSS projects on a complete
FOSS toolchain for FOSS documents.

A new point:

What are the implications of a choice of either GNOME or KDE at install time,
or shortly thereafter?

We will need an equivalent Desktop User Guide for KDE like what now exists
for GNOME. See http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Drafts/DesktopUserGuide.
This should probably be a separate document for now.

I'm willing to get a KDE version started on the Wiki. I can't do it
alone. Just be
sure to leave the GNOME version intact. Depending on how the default window
manager discussions go, this may eventually need to be merged with GNOME
into one document.  Of  course, some default apps are really KDE apps. The
user doesn't know it. There is already a degree of integration between GNOME
and KDE. Initiatives exist to make the integration tighter.

We have to remember the target audience in any case. The current DUG is
aimed at users without root access. We don't even discuss updates at this
level. We don't mention GNOME or KDE.

In any case, in light to recent events, I suspect interest in KDE on Fedora
will grow.

John Babich