[SLUG] Desktops, proprietary and Free [Was: linux on ibook]

[Jeff Waugh <jdub@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<quote who="Stewart">

> but some people, myself included, don't enjoy 'tinkering'. so i use OSX.
> rock solid stable, nice and zippy on my G4/800 - until someone comes up
> with a decent GUI as opposed to the incoherant cobbled together mish mash
> that is KDE/GNOME, that's what i'm stickin with sugar, or i'll at least go
> bankrupt trying. :-)

I think both KDE and GNOME are far better than "incoherent cobbled together
mish mash[es]". With our recent releases, and taking into account the vendor
specific OS integration work (see RH9 for instance), they've improved an
enormous amount in the last year or so.

The most satisfying thing, however, is that you can be a part of the
"decobbling" process. I derive far more value from that cooperation,
ownership and responsibility than I do from the immediacy of proprietary
solutions (not that they don't have their place).

Indeed, many recent improvements in GNOME and KDE have been inspired by work
in OS X, and conversely, many improvements in OS X have been inspired by the
Free Software desktops (not only because a large chunk of the Eazel staff
were hired or rehired by Apple after Eazel went under, or due to Apple's use
of and contributions to the KHTML/KJS infrastructure from KDE).

- Jeff

-- 
linux.conf.au 2004: Adelaide, Australia         http://lca2004.linux.org.au/
 
     "Is your sense of identity inextricably bound to a large prime?" -
                               Michael Meeks