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  Aaron Seigo Talks About Kontact's Bright Future
Interviews Posted by Sebastian Kuegler on Friday 28/Mar/2008, @05:50
from the free-your-enterprice dept.
Sirius' Tom Callway interviews KDE's chief-hugger Aaron Seigo. He talks about KDE 4, communication within the project and what effect the 'new platforms' (Windows and Mac OS) have on KDE development. Seigo also talks about the KDE 4.0 release and how that compares to the 2.0 and 3.0 releases of KDE. About Kontact, he explains, "We are going to see some very interesting developments happening when Kontact is available on all platforms. For instance, finally there will be a groupware solution that looks and behaves exactly the same on all platforms (a support win) that lets you choose your groupware server (a server side win). Kontact represents the client side of the first realistically competitive threat to the Exchange-plus-Outlook hegemony. And that's just one application."


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Over 40 comments listed. Printing out index only.
Oh baby
by Jakob Petsovits on Friday 28/Mar/2008, @06:15
I just love Aaron photos. Nothing like a good devilish grin in a serious-looking article. (Or was that a Sirius-looking article? Well, whatever.)
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Sonnet
by Sepp on Friday 28/Mar/2008, @07:40
Aaron again mentions Sonnet as an important part of KDE 4.
But what happened to it? Is it still developed? Which features were implemented until Jacob Rideout disappeared?
Different people asked this several times on the Dot, but nobody answered. ( http://dot.kde.org/1200050369/1200289711/ )

There was only one Message on the Sonnet mailinglist this year!
http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kde-sonnet/

So I assume it's indeed a dead project.
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Good and Bad
by Iuri Fiedoruk on Friday 28/Mar/2008, @10:37
Good for him to admit KDE team made a big mistake in the KDE "4.0" fiasco, looks like it's a consensus it should had been called preview edition or something like that. I applaud him for that!

But he is REALLY wrong when he says KDE4 apps start faster and use less resources. This is the same kind of propaganda I see every new Windows release. They place it against the older version on a modern machine and compare speeds. The real test is to install KDE4 on a machine that runs KDE3 well.
I have a Duron 1.6 Ghz with 512 RAM, it runs KDE3 nicely and KDE4 slow, not a disaster, but not even close to being as fast as KDE3.
Now on my new machine, a Core 2 Duo 2.2Ghz with 1GB RAM KDE4 runs nicely, and maybe I could tell KDE3 is slower, if I had it installed, but is thus a fair comparsion for people that does not live in a rich country/place and could barely aford a lower end PC? I don't think so!
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Bad promotion
by Div on Friday 28/Mar/2008, @13:09
Sadly, Kontact have so many flaws.

And dadly, this is the story of all KDE applications, they don't finish the basic issues and start promoting the other unfinished features.

Fix the basics first, Oh, and I know the song of "We can work on both at the same time", honestly, my experice say you can't, Kontact have lots of serious basic issues that haven't been fixed in years, and I think is idiotic to start promoting it as the "Next big thing", get real people. Kontact in its current state ain't not even close to be mediocre.
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My two cents ... again and again
by Artem S. Tashkinov on Friday 28/Mar/2008, @14:23
I couldn't help saying that. (Before you start parrying, please bear in mind, that I've been using Linux/KDE for the last five years exclusively).

Aaron utters very nice words but in general he's lying here and there.

First of all, enterprises do not care about cross platform possibilities of KDE/Qt. They care much more about money savings and viability of their software solutions. Do you know why Windows is still tenfold more popular amongst developers than Linux and even Java? Because once you wrote your application you can run it for decades (!) without recompilation and burdensome duty of keeping track of your [open source] API breakage which happens daily in Open Source libraries. Do you know why people are very much unwilling to move from KDE 3.5.x to KDE 4.0.x? Because while KDE/Qt devs think how wonderful new KDE and Qt are there are plenty old really necessary applications which are almost abandoned by their own developers and it's next to impossible to use them in your newer shiny KDE. Open Source is wonderful but general users are *not* programmers. And general users have strong habits. My wonderful KDE 3.x applications are now left in dust because ... no one cares.

My second point is that ... we already have Java. We have .Net managed code. We already have XML driven user interface. While KDE4 is a fantastic DE, the world has already moved further to a point where recompilation is not necessary at all. And you just cannot supply your shiny KDE4 binary to Windows users.

The third point is that ... well, Qt is not a native UI renderer in Windows. It doesn't feel native in Mac OS. Have you ever seen Qt applications in Windows - they all look oddly. They have many problems with elements positioning and they feel and act differently then native Windows applications.

The fourth point is that Qt is not under LGPL or any other less restrictive than GPL license. That's why most ISVs use LGPL'ed GTK+ libraries under Linux. I still hope that Nokia will relax Qt's license and I hope KDE E.v. will follow.

The last and and not the least point of weakness is applications start up time. KDE team alone have more than 50 active developers and the same application compiled for both Linux and Windows, will start in Windows at least two times faster than in Windows. Users *do* want instant applications launch.

Other random thoughts on the topic of Linux/KDE.

One of KDE developers has recently said: "nobody in their right mind would choose Windows over GNU/Linux based on the desktop experience alone." I became almost furious over this sentiment.

Do you know why people still prefer to *pay* for buggy, virus prone, registry breakage prone Windows? Because Windows offer extremely *polished* desktop experience. Once set up properly Windows doesn't tend to crash here and here. Windows offers *keyboard only* driven GUI (you can virtually do anything without using a mouse) - the thing which is still *not* possible in *any* Linux DE.

KDE developers still argue that smooth scrolling is not necessary, while Windows users have had it since ... 1997. And some people dare to say that smooth scrolling is very CPU expensive. Down right lies.

What people really care is the smoothness of their desktop experience. The absence of crashes and annoying bugs. And there are bugs and wishes kept abandoned for years whereas hundreds of users vote for them.

It's all so sad.

I'm very glad KDE has progressed that much in recent years, but I feel like nothing has changed since 1998 when I'd first encountered Debian Linux.

All hail KDE!
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KDE4
by andy on Friday 28/Mar/2008, @16:00
I think Aaron takes the right lesson. For the platform it would have been better to make a gradual transition. Eg. to first port KDE 3.5 to QT4 as a KDE 3.6 and then work on the next big things. Also the Suse kicker is available for a long time. You need a platform with users, then the rest will just emerge.
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twits
by tooth on Friday 28/Mar/2008, @21:27
sometimes i wish people would learn to lurk. just hang out and read, and then read some more, then read a bit more.. before they start posting their 'opinions'. that or i begin to wish sites would stop providing the 'user feedback' option. given, user feedback is a driving force that makes opensource software meet users needs better in ways 'corporate' goals don't always address. too many only understand how to complain without understanding the importance of constructive criticism. sometimes it seems people think developers of free software should knock on their door, ask how they can make FREE software that works for them, and ignore how others may want to use the same software.

in aaron's keynote speech (at google) he did an excellent job outlining the benifits and potential of the various kde4 frameworks. there is a huge amount to be excited about. but people are not patient. and software development requires patience. many of the replies to this post say people either failed to read, listen, or understand what kde4 is about. and the potential it holds. if a particular freely provided software doesn't make you happy... just go somewhere else.. unless you can add something useful. but it seems interpretation of what something useful actually is fails to gain understanding.

transition periods are difficult and i can only hope aaron and others can ignore comments such as those here during this transition period. from what i've understood of kde4 and its future, the kde developers are trying their best to provide the best solutions they can. i think they are doing a wonderful job, and i applaud them.
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Comments on tone
by T on Saturday 29/Mar/2008, @05:11
To those who complain:

What has happened so far is:
1. Make huge under-the-hood changes
2. Release a version to put out your API and get testing by early adopters
3. (in progress) Fix bugs, add missing features

So step 3 is going to be continuing throughout the rest of the year. Why complain about it? Who is forcing you to use it? You already have a great, free, product to use, why complain about another product that is also given freely and will someday be truly great? And while the developers get their work done, it's not like they're blocking your driveway, or spewing toxic fumes into your living room. In fact, their work should not be impacting you in any negative way whatsoever, since you're free to use whatever software works well for you.

Also, why complain about the enthusiasm & evangelism the developers show for their work? I think it's wonderful. Free software progresses by attracting developers who care for a product, and without promoting the advantages of the framework that has been developed, it is hard to imagine how others will learn enough about it to become intrigued and join the project.

Bottom line: if you don't like it, just wait until it is better. Nothing more is being required of you, and you'll save a lot of saliva by not foaming at the mouth all the time. If you are a patient and constructive person, then you can contribute by providing constructive feedback that acknowledges the value of what is being so freely given.
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Slightly off topic:Can't wait for Aaron 4.1keynote
by Max on Monday 31/Mar/2008, @14:00
Slightly off topic: Can't wait for Aaron Seigos KDE 4.1 keynote.

I think we can make KDE 4.1 seem even cooler than Steve Jobs' Reality distortion field. At least ours is real. :)

Please let us know if you need any donations for video equipment or a conference hall to shoot a KDE 4.1 keynote.
Your last keynote is why KDE 4 has been in the minds of so many college students and professors.
Please also make it cool like the last keynote.

Don't forget to include coverage of AMAROK 2.0. It will draw people to KDE, the same way iTunes and the iPod drew people to Mac OS-X. :)
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Sorry Aaron
by Jason Keirstead on Tuesday 01/Apr/2008, @12:03
Until some key long standing issues in KMail are addressed ( some of which are 4+ years old in bugzilla ), Kontact is not going to be any kind of competitive threat to Outlook.

I am talking about bugs like 86463, which is 4 years old now and has over 700 votes - I know developers want to work on what is fun, and I understand that, but things like preserving HTML formatting are so absolutely critical to any modern organization I don't see how people expect KMail to be taken seriously.

I mean, I work in a hybrid office environment. 1/2 the developers use Linux, 1/2 use Windows - so we are definitely not a windows-centric organization, even though we run Exchange. And yet, I don't know of a single person who uses KMail, because it is simply not up to the task. Even I am forced to run Thunderbird in my KDE desktop.
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