From owner-freebsd-chat Mon Feb 1 21:23:05 1999 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id VAA12463 for freebsd-chat-outgoing; Mon, 1 Feb 1999 21:23:05 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from cactus.verinet.com (cactus.verinet.com [204.144.246.7]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id VAA12456 for ; Mon, 1 Feb 1999 21:23:02 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from allenc@verinet.com) Received: from verinet.com ([206.168.245.18]) by cactus.verinet.com (8.8.7/8.7.3) with ESMTP id WAA04340; Mon, 1 Feb 1999 22:22:54 -0700 Message-ID: <36B68BA5.86D5DFDD@verinet.com> Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 22:22:45 -0700 From: Allen Campbell X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (X11; I; FreeBSD 2.2.7-STABLE i386) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Dag-Erling Smorgrav CC: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Lets Endorse KDE References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Dag-Erling Smorgrav wrote: > > "Jason C. Wells" writes: > > Again, making KDE a default will help new users. Thos of us who know how > > to swing our X configs to and fro don't need or necessarily like KDE. > > Don't judge this issue on the fact that KDE is not a 20 year development. > > Judge this issue on the help KDE will provide newbies. Put yourself in a > > non-cs degreed non-programmer non-unix users shoes and then look at the > > issue. > > I mostly agree with Jason on this point. Making KDE an easily- > installable option, if not the default (remember, even XFree(& isn't > installed by default), and having somebody look after KDE to make sure > it works out of the box, may (will?) do wonders for FreeBSD's > popularity with the "masses". > > I am considering switching to KDE myself (I've used twm / tvtwm so > far, but it has a few annoying bugs which I haven't been able to fix; > its greatest strength is simplicity). It's either that or Windowmaker; > if I end up using KDE, I'll certainly be willing to help maintaining a > "newbie's KDE package". I am really encouraged by the ratio of positive remarks about KDE to those of its detractors in this thread. I have become rather accustomed to the anti-KDE dogma. I personally find KDE to be an excellent general purpose desktop for my day-to-day personal and professional use. When shown to neophytes they make an immediate connection. KDE 1.1 is shaping up to be a nice refinement release; it is good to see that KDE development has had the discipline to focus on the details and I am really looking forward to it. Along with the clueless masses attracted by shiny things like GUI desktops, come a certain number of developers who find mpegs more interesting than mbufs. This is exactly what is needed for multimedia progress. When you think about it, an engaging desktop environment is a necessity to foster this sort of work. A well integrated and polished desktop has done an inestimable amount of 'good' for the RedHat and Caldera crowd. If you want a successful FreeBSD Desktop Contest, I would suggest that the incentive of rewarding the winner by adopting the result would be a good start at a second attempt. KDE is highly theme-able and is easily tailored to be very functional and provide a unique result. I envision the kdm login screen with Chuck decorating the scene in a muted red background appearing right off the RELEASE distribution CD. Is there a genuine possibility that KDE could be adopted as default[1] desktop? I dare say that KDE is worthy of it. We have the opportunity to bless KDE with an entire operating system, as opposed to just YALD[2]. You bring these people into the fold and you _will_ get a multimedia desktop. [1] Avoid the word 'standard' here. [2] Yet Another Linux Distribution -- Allen Campbell | Lurking at the bottom of the allenc@verinet.com | gravity well, getting old. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message