EFYTimes Interviews Matthias Ettrich: The KDE-Man

EFYTimes has an interview with Matthias Ettrich, one of KDE's founders. He talks about the history of the project, what he thinks of KDE 4.0 and what he's currently working on in Qt. "The desktop problem has been solved many years ago. Try to compare Windows XP with KDE 3: nobody in their right mind would choose Windows over GNU/Linux based on the desktop experience alone."

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Comments

by Leo S (not verified)

Xp was released Oct 25, 2001. KDE 3.0 was released April 3, 2002. Both have received updates since then. So that's only just over a 5 month difference. It's perfectly fair to compare them.

by Sebastian (not verified)

But was KDE 3.0 better than XP? 3.5 is better, indeed...
And it would be unfair to compare the release cycles of XP SP 1,2,... with KDE 3.1, 3.2, 3.5 etc. KDE intended to offer a large set of new features within these dot releases while XP service packs intended to update the underlying technology while offering mainly fixes in the desktop area... Even if we know that KDE4 will catch and pass by Vista within the next 12 month easily we still do not know what MS develops under the hood...

by Leo S (not verified)

>> But was KDE 3.0 better than XP?

Absolutely. XP before service pack 1 was a pretty poor operating system if you recall. Many apps were not compatible, driver support was attrocious, performance on machines of the day was poor, security was absolutely terrible (until SP2 actually).

>> KDE intended to offer a large set of new features within these dot releases while XP service packs intended to update the underlying technology while offering mainly fixes in the desktop area

Not entirely true. Yes, the KDE Desktop got many new features, but most of those new features were in the applications, which happen to be bundled instead of distributed separately like on windows. Similarly, Windows applications got many new features in this timeline. The base kdelibs didn't change so drastically between 3.0 and 3.5, just like the Windows base didn't change drastically either.

by winter (not verified)

"...I have two other friends that hate when I have linux installed."

What? Do you uninstall it when your done?

I annoys me when people use MS software. ;)

by Adrian Baugh (not verified)

Naturally he got frustrated - it's different from what he's used to. People got frustrated when using Windows 95 after getting used to Windows 3.x because it was different. Perhaps eventually he'll get fed up with Windows' limitations and change, perhaps not. But for someone new to computers (maybe a child getting their first computer) it's hard to make a case that they would choose Windows over Gnome, KDE or OSX on the basis of the desktop experience.

by andy (not verified)

I made the experiment with my parents.

It was impossible for them, e.g. when suddenly applications are in English or downloading mails does not work with Kmail.

I found out how overloaded the interface still is and how misleading.

think about the little problems you run into and fix on the fly and what someone else would do who cannot even deal with a remote control.

by Lays Shoon (not verified)

This was the first time I saw his photo.
He is a hunk.

:-p

by NabLa (not verified)

LOL

by Leo S (not verified)

I think that is just about a requirement for working at Trolltech.

by MarcG (not verified)

Yea, well, he's a german guy, and as an other german guy, let me say - without any bias of course - that those are generally total hunks. Always and every friggin one of them ;)

by Sebastian (not verified)

You should have left your email address...

by JC (not verified)

Did he participe to the show Beauty and the Geek ?

by Concerned Citizen (not verified)

That's just being sexist. If you keep objectifying men like that then soon you will chase all the men from the internet.

(P.S. before anyone goes up in arms, that was said in the gentlest of humour)

by andy (not verified)

The problem is not a fresh installation, the problem is always a corrupted one you have in actual use, misconfiguration etc.

Windows loses strong performance and user experience when you install third party tools. It becomes a virus mess.

With KDE the main problem was sound configuration, quality issues, context menues and strange popup screens.

by Max (not verified)

Creates more buzz around the project.

Thanks for posting this.