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| KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League |
 Posted by Dre on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @06:33
from the it-ain't-what-you-think dept.
The KDE Team today announced its collaboration with industry leaders to
form the KDE League. The League will focus on facilitating the promotion,
distribution and development of KDE, with the goal of establishing KDE
as a desktop standard for PCs, workstations and mobile devices. The
League will not be involved in KDE development.
The League will be holding a press conference at 2:00 pm Las Vegas (PST)
time on Wednesday, November 15, 2000, in Room B in the media tent in the
silver lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). This is great news for KDE -- finally the marketing support that will help people learn about the technical excellence of KDE, without any changes in the KDE development model! The full press
release follows.
DATELINE NOVEMBER 15, 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Open Source Developers and Industry Leaders Unify
to Create the KDE League
League Will Promote KDE as a Desktop Standard
November 15, 2000 (Las Vegas, Nevada). Developers of the
K Desktop Environment (KDE), the easy
to use, Open Source desktop environment, today announced the formation
of the KDE League, a group of industry
leaders and KDE developers focused on facilitating the promotion,
distribution and development of KDE.
The founding members of the League include leaders from a cross-section
of the computer industries:
Borland,
Caldera,
Compaq,
Corel,
Fujitsu-Siemens,
Hewlett-Packard Company,
IBM,
KDE.com,
Klarälvdalens Datakonsult,
theKompany.com,
Mandrakesoft,
SuSE,
Trolltech and
TurboLinux. The League
is an open organization and other corporations
who support the goals of the League are encouraged to apply for
membership.
The League will focus on promoting the use of the advanced Open Source
desktop alternative on PCs, workstations and handheld devices by
enterprises and individuals and on promoting the development of KDE
software by third-party developers. The League will not be directly
involved in developing the core KDE libraries and applications,
although League members are encouraged to contribute to the KDE
codebase in the spirit of KDE's wildly successful 'Bazaar-style'
development.
Instead, the industry leaders have united to provide financial, moral
and promotional support to KDE with three principal goals in mind.
First, to ensure that KDE remains a desktop standard for Linux and other
UNIX workstations and PCs and that KDE becomes a desktop standard on
handheld devices. Second, to help KDE compete effectively, on its
merits, with proprietary and other desktops prevalent today. Third,
to encourage third-party developers to develop for the KDE platform,
thereby providing KDE users with a wide assortment of software that
makes use of KDE's cutting-edge technologies.
"The creation of the KDE League marks a vital step forward for KDE,"
said Matthias Ettrich, founder of KDE. "With the support of our
corporate partners, we can work together to ensure KDE gains wider
recognition, a greater number of applications and increased
functionality, while maintaining the open development model and
technical excellence that has made KDE the most popular Open Source
desktop."
Governance of the League will be controlled by a Board composed of
representatives of the core KDE developers and of each KDE League
member, with the developers and corporate sponsors sharing power
equally.
In conjunction with the announcement of the KDE League, IBM announced
that it is working with key Linux development partners such as
Trolltech, Mandrake and other League members to deliver components
of IBM's ViaVoice
on KDE. IBM's ViaVoice is
currently the only voice recognition software commercially
available for the Linux operating environment.
About KDE
KDE is an independent, collaborative project by thousands of developers
worldwide. The KDE team recently released KDE 2.0, which for the
first time offers a fully object-oriented, component-based desktop and
office suite. KDE 2 promises to make the Linux desktop as easy to use as
the popular commercial desktops while staying true to open standards and
empowering developers and users with quality Open Source software.
For more information about KDE, please visit KDE's
web site. For more information about the KDE League, please visit the KDE League's web site.
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Press Contacts:
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|---|
Andreas Pour
917-312-3122
pour@kde.org
Kurt Granroth
480-732-1752
granroth@kde.org
Chris Schlaeger
cs@kde.org
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The Fine Print: The following comments
are owned by whomever posted them.
( Reply )
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Over 40 comments listed.
Printing out index only. |
Re: KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League
by reihal on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @06:46
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This is very clever, a much better idea than that foundation.
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Re: KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League
by Anonymous on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @07:26
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I expect that this would cause lots of troubles at Slashdot.
I we will get lots of flames in a short time, just like when the Gnome Foundation was announced.
But what does this differ from the Gnome Foundation?
Both are non-profit organizations (altough some ignorant Slashdotters claim that they aren't).
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Re: KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League
by Anonymous on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @07:28
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You KDE guys sure know how to write good marketings articles ;-)
Maybe Gnome should write their articles the same way, then there will be less flames from Slashdot.
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Remember this
by Confused on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @08:15
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Now we have been asked "Will KDE ever create a KDE Foundation in the same sense as the GNOME Foundation?" The answer to this is no, absolutely not. KDE has always been and always will be controlled by the developers that work on it and are willing to do the code. We will resist any and all attempts to change this
It is quite a semantical difference here. I see very little difference between the above statement and what is really going on, despite the claims otherwise.
Face it, you guys got caught in a pissing match with the GNOME people, and now it is too late to get out of the "stream",
I love KDE, but fail to see the need for this given its position as the leading desktop envrionment. I think both groups should go sit in the corner for a while and think about what they have done.
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Re: KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League
by fura on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @08:22
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IBM ?
Does it mean, that we'll be able to get AIX binaries of KDE2? GNU tools sucks on AIX, and KDE is a pain to compile on AIX :-/
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Re: KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League
by SelectSpec on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @08:50
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Will Red Hat be a member of the league?
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www.kdeleague.org
by Haakon Nilsen on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @09:36
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Fine, the KDE League is for promoting KDE. That being the case, I frankly think it's a shame that they don't even have a presence on the web:
http://www.kdeleague.org says:
"www.kdeleague.org
has not set up their website yet"
Perhaps it has something to do with the DNS records not having propagated all the way to Norway yet, but in any case it's kind of a bad start, promotion-wise ;)
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Re: KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League
by Shane Simmons on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @10:36
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from foundation.gnome.org
/*
The GNOME project has built a complete free and easy-to-use desktop environment for the user, as well as a powerful
application framework for the software developer. GNOME is part of the GNU project, and is free software (some times
referred to as open source software.)
The GNOME Foundation will work to further the goals of the GNOME project.
To achieve these goals, the Foundation will coordinate releases of GNOME and determine which projects are part of
GNOME. The Foundation will act as an official voice for the GNOME project, providing a means of communication with
the press and with commercial and noncommercial organizations interested in GNOME software. The foundation may
produce educational materials and documentation to help the public learn about GNOME software. In addition, it may
sponsor GNOME-related technical conferences, represent GNOME at relevant conferences sponsored by others, help
create technical standards for the project and promote the use and development of GNOME software.
*/
The only real difference I see is that, yes, the GNOME Foundation will determine which projects are "part of" GNOME, but frankly you can still build apps on the core libraries without being recognized by the GNOME foundation.
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Re: KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League
by Shane Simmons on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @10:36
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from foundation.gnome.org
/*
The GNOME project has built a complete free and easy-to-use desktop environment for the user, as well as a powerful
application framework for the software developer. GNOME is part of the GNU project, and is free software (some times
referred to as open source software.)
The GNOME Foundation will work to further the goals of the GNOME project.
To achieve these goals, the Foundation will coordinate releases of GNOME and determine which projects are part of
GNOME. The Foundation will act as an official voice for the GNOME project, providing a means of communication with
the press and with commercial and noncommercial organizations interested in GNOME software. The foundation may
produce educational materials and documentation to help the public learn about GNOME software. In addition, it may
sponsor GNOME-related technical conferences, represent GNOME at relevant conferences sponsored by others, help
create technical standards for the project and promote the use and development of GNOME software.
*/
The only real difference I see is that, yes, the GNOME Foundation will determine which projects are "part of" GNOME, but frankly you can still build apps on the core libraries without being recognized by the GNOME foundation.
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Is Kde League Hiring?
by John Califf on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @10:59
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Does the Kde League need anyone to answer the telephone, stuff envelopes or maintain its web site? If so, please sent one of your employment forms to the above email address. You are an equal opportunity employer, I hope.
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POSTER BOY!!!
by Torbjorn Skjolde on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @12:23
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So where is the glam boy?!
Make sure the glam boy, the buoy, the Iguana, the Torvalds of KDE is there!
All the Glitzerati available must be there!!!
Torbjörn Skolde
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Great Work as usual...
by Rizwaan on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @13:24
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This is indeed a good sign for the user community as a whole, since, many of the user interface issues haven't been given much priority, like you couldn't use KDE (and all its applications) with using the mouse as in Windows. And some people thought that KDE won't live longer due to GNOME Foundation. This is a very intelligent step... Thanks a lot.
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Membership
by Yakk on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @16:37
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Why isn't membership of the KDE League open to hackers? Is it wise to give all the power over PR and marketing to a bunch of companies who probably have vested interests in pushing their own proprietary alternatives too Free Software?
The GNOME Foundation model where membership is only open to actual contributors to the project would probably have been more constructive.
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Re: KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League
by Dallas Hockley on Wednesday 15/Nov/2000, @19:58
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| And thus a prestige and pissing match spurred on by industry interest begins another deep schism in the Unix desktop market.
As I recall, a few months ago, the DEVELOPERS involved were talking about getting the two component systems (Bonobo and KParts) to interoperate, and get a unified basis for software out there. Whoops, sorry, we've got to look the cleverest and best, so whatever guys, nice thoughts, we're doing our own thing.
Both "Foundations" are at fault on this. CORBA, the long forgotten standard, now has a Component Model that is an open standard, and with just a bit of support, could get the Unix desktops onto a more equal footing with the Windows platform for development capabilities, but apparently the two great environments we've got aren't particulary interested in the *most effective* solution. Just a perceived *best* solution. Based I believe largely on complexity and academic merit.
It's odd isn't it? Commercial software works to make the product that will make the most money with the minimum effort, and that will lock you in over long term. Free software looks to make the best possible software with today's technology, and make it free and open to seize the high ground morally, which subserving other ideas and opinions of what is "good" to their own egos. I think we need a middle ground, where the "best of breed" comes back. Take the best, most effective parts from all of them and find a way to roll them together. Adopt, embrace, champion.
Don't get me wrong, there are people and projects in the Free and Open Source camps who believe in this type of creedo. I'm just not seeing it from the two most critical and successful products out there, being KDE and Gnome. That's too bad because so much rides on the fortunes of those projects.
I've used, and still use, both. I still believe that KDE has a great interface, and some excellent apps facilitated by a much clearer, easier to learn library and object set. But I still believe the Gnome infrastructure would allow absolutely fantastic things and integration with exisiting legacy and new systems on unparalleled scales. It suffers from a kitchen sink syndrome from what I can see, and it's harder for most developers to learn because of it.
Disclaimer: I haven't coded solutions in either, so I'm speaking based on the good and bad things I have experienced and had related to me from other developers and on more than a few news groups and chat systems. I raise the point invectively to see if anyone gives a crap about making an effective replacement on the desktop or not!
Tell me I'm wrong, tell me I'm right, add to or detract, but at least use your mind and think about it first.
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Re: KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League
by Bojan on Thursday 16/Nov/2000, @07:06
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In principle I can see nothing wrong with the KDE league... if they will be (besides promotion), for example, updating KDE websites, writing documentation and similar stuff that developers can't find time to do it. Wouldn't it be nice to have the best desktop, with great bunch of applications and a complete documentation??
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Re: KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League
by Adrian Kubala on Thursday 16/Nov/2000, @08:15
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| Facts: Both the GNOME Advisory Board (not the Foundation), and the KDE League are composed of companies with an interest in guiding development. These companies will influence development to some extent, despite statements otherwise (else what's the point of joining?).
This is a necessary evil. We need the support of companies to achieve broader acceptance. Even within the existing Linux community. People who say "we're just in this to develop cool software, we don't care about acceptance" fail to "get it." Part of cool software is having standards and seamless interoperability that only come from having a solid user and developer base. If every major distro is released with GNOME as the default, and every major corporation with an interest in open source is developing GNOME software, and GNOME manages to stay within even 6 months of KDE (in terms of maturity), then the simple fact is everyone will be using GNOME. And KDE won't be cool anymore because it won't be able to attract the number of developers and applications which make it cool now.
Personally, I'm glad KDE got a group to fight for it on the corporate field. I like both it and GNOME, believe it or not, and don't want to see KDE go under prematurely just because it lacked industry support. May the best desktop win!
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Re: KDE Announces Launch of the KDE League
by Smári P. McCarthy on Sunday 19/Nov/2000, @10:17
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Well, count me in.
Promotional work doesn't come easy to full-time nerds, and I'm allways ready for a challange.
The thing is, that in places like these (Iceland), there are about 20 people that realy do the work on the KDE translations, and maybe two of them help out with development (someone submitted a fix to a memory leak in KFM a while back).
The people in the translation team have been working together to promote KDE, by sending letters to the government and dancing around in the media. I for one think that the whole idea of promoting KDE should be done in the following manner (because I belive there are others like us):
Each translation team chooses a promotioal manager. Then a special group of people sit around a large table and decide on promotional strategys, and they then e-mail the strategies to some maling list. Then it is up to the Promotional managers of each team to get everybody to do something...
Might work better than making a smaller group do a worldwide plot ;)
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