Posted by Devin de Gruyl on Sep 14th, 2007
It seems there’s a lengthy blog post that’s been making the rounds of the Linux community at large today, in which the author appears to be calling for an end to the “DE wars” between GNOME and KDE. From the admittedly sensationalistic title of the post it’s no secret as to which one the author feels should go away, but there are some excellent points raised in the text that cause me to elevate this several notches above typical net.advocacy.
Of course, the claims about GNOME project founder Miguel de Icaza do come off as a conspiracy theory so laughably outrageous even Fox Mulder wouldn’t believe it. (I mean, come on… all but accusing the guy of being a Microsoft wolf in FOSS clothing? That’s hard to take seriously, especially when you’re advocating KDE over GNOME in the first place…)
Fannishness aside, however, the article does make some excellent observations about software design, and how one of the basic tenets of FOSS projects — freedom of choice — may in fact be contributing to its lack of acceptance on the desktop. Indeed, the author confesses that it really doesn’t matter which DE “wins” (despite a clear preference for KDE); it is merely the fact that there exists this plurality on the Linux desktop scene that is creating such confusion. The tone of the article seems to be “Either go with GNOME or go with KDE, but you can’t have it both ways this time,” and quite honestly, after reading the whole article myself… I can start seeing myself agreeing with that point.
As you might expect, this blog has been creating quite a stir in Linux circles, with about half of all message-board posts I’ve seen writing the author off as a KDE fanboy and the other half praising him for having the guts to say what few other FOSS advocates will say. Regardless, it’s gotten people talking, and (unlike thousands of other, similar articles out there) there does seem to be some real steak behind this sizzle.
Take it as you will, but I wanted the WotG community to be aware of what’s going on here as well.
If you liked that, try...
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