Yesterday, in a press inquiry which ended up in my mailbox (as most KDE press inquiries do), I got asked whether
\n KDE4 will be a revolution, or if it’s just a hype. While there certainly is quite a hype around KDE4, the answer
\n is not quite so simple. Let me try to explain.
\n The Free Desktop and KDE have come a long way during the last years. There have been various huge changes in KDE’s
\n social structure, in it’s infrastructure and of course in the sourcecode itself. I’ve split this into three different
\n areas where I think a shift in paradigm has taken place.<\/p>\n
This is probably the one that has the most to do with the question. KDE is
\n about to enter the mainstream market. KDE4 will not be for geeks and
\n enthusiasts only, but for a very wide range of users. Those new users (casual
\n computer users, no IT experts) have different perception of software, and
\n they’re generally not willing or able to fix small problems, while our
\n current userbase (early adopters from a marketing POV) can fix minor glitches
\n themselves. Now let’s have a look what KDE 4.0 will be: First stable version
\n of our frameworks and libraries, a first set of applications we think meet
\n our standards. As every dot-oh release, there will be glitches (we are
\n perfectionists, but we also need to release early, release often). So 4.0
\n might not be perfect in every single aspects, it *will* need some polishing.
\n We hope, however, to reach the quality of what currently is KDE 3.5 early in
\n the release cycle.<\/p>\n
Sound handling and hardware management are two examples that are now being done
\n in a central place. Software and users need to get used to this. This means
\n that not every application will take full advantage of all those new
\n frameworks since they’re just too, well new. Also, being able to make use of
\n search, semantic desktop features, complete new visual possibilities, easy
\n access to multimedia and all the goodness the pillars of KDE 4 provide will
\n set some developers to think what is possible now, it enables creativity
\n because it makes it easier to integrate all those things in one application.
\n I’m pretty sure we’ll see some very innovative new applications of those
\n technologies popping up in the course of the next release cycle, a lot
\n probably post 4.0. More than once, last weekend someone who was not working
\n on KDE yet would ask me if his idea of a new application or way to organise work
\n would be possible to implement. In all cases, with the new technologies it would
\n even be relatively trivial. This, on the one hand says a lot about the applicability
\n of our technologies, but also that we’re able to attract new people and that those
\n people will bring a lot of new and exciting ideas into KDE.<\/p>\n
The community has grown a lot during the last 2 to 3 years. We’ve not only
\n lots of new developers, but also completely new parts of the community. See
\n the usability people, usability is a process embedded in our development
\n process now. The Marketing Team is also rather new, and working with the
\n developers. The KDE community is really growing from a Free Software project
\n into a Free Culture project and thereby becoming a broader set of qualities.
\n At the same time, our developer community is
\n growing, we get lots of new developers and developers shift also into the class of
\n critical core developers. KDE is a *very* healthy community as it stands.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, in a press inquiry which ended up in my mailbox (as most KDE press inquiries do), I got asked whether KDE4 will be a revolution, or if it’s just a hype. While there certainly is quite a hype around KDE4, the answer is not quite so simple. Let me try to explain. The Free… Continue reading Revolution or Hype?<\/span>