Past

Huang JianZhong: Red Flag Linux was launched in 1999 by the Institute of Software, China Academy of Science (CAS). We hoped to promote Linux in China.

Why did you choose KDE and which version of KDE did you first implement?

HJ: At that time, KDE was more stable than GNOME. The KDE version was 1.1.1.

How did you find initial support for a new distro?

HJ: We got some support from DEC China and Founder China. Of course, the biggest support was from Institute of Software, CAS.

What could KDE have done better to help new distros use KDE?

HJ: More flexible modular packages and performance improvements. Also, a reduction of memory footprint.

What were your first impressions about KDE's documentation and community?

HJ: Great and complete, but no Chinese version.

Present

How closely do your releases depend on KDE releases?

HJ: Historically, we wanted to keep the API of our release as stable as possible, So typically we kept the version of KDE unchanged for long periods of time. We would then backport some APIs and features from the newest KDE release. Now, we have decided to follow the official release because we find that the newest version of KDE is stable enough and fixes more bugs than our work. Also, it always provides many new features desired by our customers.

Do you have a clear target audience for your distro?

HJ: All Chinese users who want to use Linux and KDE.

Do you have any user feedback mechanism? If so, what feedback do they have about KDE?

HJ: Yes, a powerful service network, bugzilla and forums.

In general, the feedback from customers is good: they have a comfortable desktop environment. More feedback focuses on hardware drivers and compatibility. But, if we can make KDE faster, that is great.

In what ways do you customise the version of KDE that ships with your distro?

HJ: We never change the APIs and Core Libraries for compatibility reasons. Most work focuses on "ease of use" and bugfixes. Also, we make an effort to work on GUI improvements and application enhancements.

What are the biggest strengths of KDE for your distro?

HJ: The interface is similar to (forgive me) Windows, so the commercial users have no need to change their situation. As for computer fans, they can customize the desktop as what they want; KDE provides a great configuration system.

What are the biggest weaknesses?

HJ: Applications such as a Firefox KDE version (see below).

What KDE applications are the most popular among your users?

HJ: Kontact, Kopete, Amarok, K3b, Kaffeine and Konqueror as a file manager (everybody use it).

Do you feel that you have a good relationship with the KDE community?

HJ: I am not sure, but we are trying to contribute more to the KDE community.

Future

What feature would you as a distro maintainer like to see in KDE?

HJ: Integration between Konqueror and Gecko engine. Better KOffice ODF support and interoperability with OO.o. However, we hope for a pure KDE environment.

Is the extended 4.0 release cycle an issue for your distro?

HJ: Umm...well, we have plans to adopt KDE 4 in our next release; so we are waiting for it.

What are you most looking forward to about the 4.0 release?

HJ: A completely new and exciting user experience.

Do you plan any involvement in the beta/RC releases of the 4.0 release?

HJ: We hope so. We will do more bugfixes for KDE 4.

Any other plans for your distro in the future?

HJ: We have plans to implement some new features for the KDE 4.0 series, so we have some new ideas.

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