Re: Discussion vs. consideration (of KDE/KIllustrator)

[Kevin Forge <forgeltd@usa.net>]

Erik Walthinsen wrote:
> <snipd a lot of stuff>
> > > The KDE project is working on KIllustrator.  Just saw the announcement
> > Anything with KDE and the QT Libs is as good as swearing.
> > flame war in SEUL history and partially for the Independence split.
> 
> No, it has been decided that we will not ship any non-free software.  That
> does not eliminate anything from discussion, it only limits what we can
> consider for inclusion in SEUL.  Since KDE is GPL's, I'm assuming
> KIllustrator is, as well.  That means it is most certainly up for
> consideration, if it can be written on top of GTK.  Not knowing how to
> code for any widget sets yet, I don't know how much of a task that is,
> but I think it would be worth it if the KDE group does a good job on
> KIllustrator.
>
Just a hunch ... but I believe changing the underlying widget set is
about
as simple as starting almost from scratch. 
>
> Consider everything as fodder for discussion, but only free (GPL, etc.)
> projects should be considered.  Disallowing talk of non-free projects will
> do nothing but stifle our progress, as we lose information about what 'the
> competition' is doing and is capable of.  Donovan's editors page is a
> perfect example of that.
>
Ahh Omega.  Always the voice of reason.  Yes all KDE stuff is GPL,
including KIlustrator.  I have seen screanshots of it and it looks 
an awful lot like Corel Draw in it's first public Alpha release
( this is a good thing :).   
There is a project started now that aims to create a free QT Widgetset.
Not the whole thing but just the subsection used by KDE.  They already
have a few thousand lines of code in place and are working at a swift
pace.  
I would encourage all developers on SEUL and on DEBIAN and wherever else 
developers who give a damn hang out to help with this sub-project. 
After all the KDE People will make modifications to put KDE on 
FreeQT/Harmony.  This project would make KDE totally free ( GPL and LGPL
).

Why is this important ?  Well right now KDE is a world class desktop.
The remaining bugs are minor and all but 2 core applications work
( The calculator gives gibberish and the spell check is not been 2 weeks
from inclusion according to the developer ).
Windows users are thoroughly impressed by KDE and people have declared
it much nicer than CDE ( I have never seen CDE ).  
It would be a shame to have the best Linux desktop not included in 
major distributions for almost a year ( that's how long it will take
GNOME to get where KDE is now ... and who knows where KDE will be 
then ? )
-- 
"Through the firewall, out the router, down the T1, across the
backbone, bounced from satellite, Nothing but net."