KDE goes cross-platform with Windows, Mac OS X support

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...s-platform-with-windows-mac-os-x-support.html

"The KDE desktop environment is going cross-platform with support for the Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. In addition to porting the core KDE libraries and applications, developers are also porting popular KDE-based software like the Amarok audio player and the KOffice productivity suite. New KDE binaries for Windows were released yesterday and are now available from KDE mirrors through an automated installer program. The Mac OS X port is made available via BitTorrent in universal binary format."

 

Amarok 2 will own.

 

Finally Windows and Mac get a decent UI.

 

Very cool. Amorak is such an awesome program.

 

Yeah,

Cool until Bill decides to own KDE, and the GNU, and everything else that comes into his realm.










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Note to self.....Start tweaking Fluxbox.

 

So what good will it do? Bring more bugs to the Windows side or what? It will not replace Explorer...it will be more like a theme with tons of useless programs. What I'm trying to say is that they should stick to developing Linux and BSD stuff. I don't need to find out that I can't install programs because of KDE and have to open a cmd prompt every time I want to do something. My mistake, it will be something like Stardock's programs. I believe it will be lame, but that's just me. Anyway, Vista is currently not supported.
Nothing can beat WinAmp 5 by the way!

 

Do you actually know what you're talking about?

 

Yeah. I like KDE on Linux/BSD best, as it keeps the problems there. I like it in general, as it looks great and feels great, but who would want to install it on Windows? KDE isn't known for how stable it is or how great the programs are. Best Linux programs I know are cross-platform (OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, Opera and many more).

 

Amarok? K3B? Kalzium? KTorrent?

I don't have any stability problems with KDE. I don't know of anyone who does. Firefox crashes very often (once every two or three days) and I know plenty of folks for whom that is true.

Furthermore, trying to state that the "best Linux programs I know are cross-platform" and then complain that KDE apps aren't cross platform when the whole point of this discussion is that they are becoming so, is really convoluted and makes absolutely no sense.

I want to install it on Windows ASAP. In fact, I already have on another machine. It's still very unstable and sluggish, but that will improve over time (the Windows version of KDE4 has yet to be officially released, so complaining about the stability on Windows at this point is dishonest).

- Trip

 

KTorrent? Windows already has µTorrent, Azureus, BitComet and tons of other problems...
Amarok? WinAmp?
Whatever, these are just alternatives to Windows programs and porting wouldn't help them get some mainstream use.
Best Linux programs = best programs that work on Linux.

 

Now the best Linux programs just happen to work on Windows too (well, some of them).

I can't wait for a stable release. Finally windows explorer can be given the flick.

 

No, but it's not a Linux application either. And yes, why the **** do you want to drag open source to Linux? Firefox, OpenOffice, Opera, Azureus they are cross-platform. They don't belong to Linux or Windows. I know the difference between free software and a kernel. Don't want to point out that there is Media Player Classic out there... but hey, that's not the point. What's the purpose in porting KDE to Windows? Bringing a new interface? The 4th release of KDE is so buggy that even the developers admit it. Maybe they should fix all the bugs (at least what's already known) before even thinking about porting it to Windows. In my opinion it will take a lot of RAM, put the CPU into stress and basically be an alternative for geeks. But hey, I still want to see it working. I'd settle even for a theme .

 

i just hope they hire more people, the last thing we need is linux stuff turning windows..

 

No, the programs are exactly what its known for. The first few posts in this thread say it all dude! There are a couple of reasons to port KDE:

1) as mentioned before, the awesome programs. Just by porting a few libraries, look how many bad-ass applications are unlocked for users to use. To me this looks like a strategic move for open-source developers as well.

http://www.kde-apps.org/

Now thats choice

2) Speaking of choice, KDE can look any way you want it to. It can look as classy Charlize Theron, or fake like Pamela Anderson. (Give me a break, I need a metaphor). I've had it imitate OSX and Vista at the same time.

3) KDE developers may be getting sick of losing users b/c of Linux. It may be time to bring KDE to the masses, not the masses to KDE.

 

I tried WinAmp and hated it. Azureus is a resource hog. I've switched away from it to KTorrent because of how much lighter the latter is. uTorrent isn't open-source.

They designed it to be cross-platform. I heard it took the developer who did it only a few days to get it set up to build on Windows. I can tell you it was someone completely different from those coding KDE4 itself, and so there's no point in him not doing it if that's what he's capable of doing.

They're aware that it's buggy, which is why KDE 4.0 is not being pushed on people, and there's a 3.5.9 release coming. It's been put out so developers can begin porting their programs over and have a stable API on which to do it. (If they hadn't released something, developers would have held off as the API wouldn't be guaranteed to remain frozen) I'm actually in agreement that it shouldn't have been made a full release as-is, but I do understand why they did so.

Porting apps to Windows won't help them get mainstream use? So, making them usable on 95% of the world's computers doesn't make good programs more popular?

- Trip

 

Ummm... That's why it's listed as alpha software. Because it isn't yet ready for primetime. They're working on it, just be patient.

Why? Why would it necessarily have to do that? Remember, the interface it would replace also uses RAM and CPU resources, could be perhaps that KDE might use less than explorer? Or are MS devs just the best at everything?

 

Best applications aren't in Linux. Even if they are open source most people don't even know how to compile it, that's why they use what's easier to install. Double click and it's there. For instance, best Linux IM I've used was Gaim (Pidgin), which sucks big time compared to Trillian or even Yahoo! Messenger (file transfer was a big problem, hit some speed limitations as it didn't initiate direct connections). Best file manager is Total Commander, Windows exclusive. Best office suite is Microsoft Office. My point is that they really have to bring some awesome programs to the Windows side to get something and quite frankly they don't have any breakthroughs right now. No one cares if it's open source or not. I wouldn't try Linux just because it's cool or whatever (though BSD is the proper UNIX OS), I would try it because it's better than what Windows has to offer me and right now it doesn't. This is how people will think. It woun't get widespread adoption, but hey, if he can do it, why not? I don't expect it to replace Explorer, as it's impossible, but I would like it to at least not slow down the system.

 

foobar2000.

 

You do realize that "best" is subjective, right? Just because you say it, does not make it so.

Trillian is a resource hog next to Pidgin, or was the last time I used it on Windows. I have more luck with AIM transfers with Pidgin than I ever did with the AIM client. (You're correct in asserting that Direct Connection doesn't work, but I don't miss it)

Not familiar with Total Commander, so I won't bother responding. If I don't know what I'm talking about, I don't talk about it.

Office may be the best Office suite (though I have yet to find a non-tech person who likes the ribbon thing in '07, despite the fact that I do like it), but it also costs $150 (retail). I'd like to see you get people to pay that; if I offer people Office for $150 (or even $60) or the free alternative that maybe "isn't as good," they generally take the latter. I use OpenOffice just about every day and have yet to find a feature from MS Office that I miss.

So if every Linux-only (as you put it) program is worse than a Windows alternative, please tell me programs from these categories--available without asking people to shell out hundreds of dollars--that you would say are the best. I'm not being rude, I really want to know; I support lots of Windows users and would like to direct them to these applications.

CD Burning (K3B in Linux is the best I've found)
Image editing (I find Krita to be superior to Gimp)

Honestly, those are the only categories where I can think of "Linux-only" programs that aren't superior that would be in common use, and Krita at least will be ported soon, dunno what K3B will do. I make use of some Linux-specific programs that most other people would not use, which just shows that my needs are different than yours.

Pidgin and Gimp have "widespread adoption" from what I've found (I support a dorm full of people in a college environment), so long as people aren't pirating Photoshop (if they couldn't, they'd be using Gimp).

I'm really not sure what point you're trying to make here. They shouldn't port KDE because nobody will want it (I disagree, a decent replacement for Gimp would be nice)? How about because they want to?

- Trip

 

1. Baserk, MPC is a great application. Why wouldn't I compare it to VLC?
2. Trillian is currently using 14MB of RAM (out of 2GB), so it's not a resource hog at all. Pidgin is a stupid program. It needs tons of work to get easy to use. Not counting the fact that when the connection doesn't work at it's best it disconnects. Lots of my friends have used Gaim/Pidgin and hated it.
3. Yeah, the price should be a criteria, so Office loses big time to OpenOffice in terms of value/money.
I'm not saying that Linux-only applications are worse you can get, I'm just saying that Windows ones are the best (ignoring money). Sure most Windows applications suck, but if you want the best you don't try Pidgin or K3B.
Gimp is nice, indeed. It's one of the only open-source programs that I really like. Even though it's not as easy to use, it has most of the Photoshop's features and costs nothing. That's a great program right there. Yes, without pirated Photoshop all the people would use Gimp.
I do a lot of things because I can. Why wouldn't they port KDE? But I don't think that it's appropriate to say that it will become a replacement for something.

 

I just want CoreAVC on Linux.

But then again, Linux has MPlayer - an amazing media player =]

Edit:

That, sir, is a matter of opinion. I like Pidgin; there's nothing wrong with it. What exactly do you mean by "tons of work to get easy to use" - you install, put in your credentials, and maybe customize outgoing message style, and that's it. I've to do it on all IM programs, including Trillian.

 

I would preferably like to see the KDE simply sticking to a Linux OS and dump this whole porting fiasco.... but seeing as how Linux will always be better than Windows anyhow, let's see where this goes

 

I think you guys should wait till at least a beta before coming to conclusions .

But then again, KDE has this obnoxious fetish with bold fonts...

 

I like the way it looks. The fact that there is constant developing on it makes it great. Windows and Mac developers work until the release for the OS is done. Considering that Linux is just a kernel the release is continuous. They really have to amaze people here.
I'm thinking of opening up my VMware, starting BSD and installing this .

 

It is what? KDE? Trillian? Gimp? Pidgin?

Lol .

 

Obviously KDE.
I'm not sure if I want to install it on BSD though. I don't want to spend all night compiling and I'm not sure if the ports are updated with this latest release, but what the heck..why not?

 

I don't do it and never heard of anyone wanting to (with MPC).

 

Then they've pared it down some. It used to eat a lot more RAM on my machine way back when.

I can agree with you on the shaky connection bit, but unless you're on dialup or a really weak wireless connection, do you have that problem?

K3B? Best burning software I've ever used. I've found no alternative to it. What do you recommend?

Have you used Krita? I'm saying it not to be rude, but asking seriously. I haven't used either program extensively (not a graphic designer) but I think Krita implements some features that Gimp is missing (CMYK) and is missing some others, but the interface is a lot nicer at the very least. When it gets ported (it's part of KOffice, it's coming in the future) that might be one for you to try out.

- Trip

 

Note to self: check out Krita if and when possible.

Thanks trip!

 

I mostly use commercial applications, just because I can use them. But if I'll ever want to go free...
Regarding K3B, sorry, nothing free for you!
Never used Krita. Usually only UNIX stuff I do is on my VMware, because I don't have a spare HDD, nor the space to install and use it as my main OS and I game...