Food for thought: Why (and how) should KDE and Gnome unite?

[Adam Rotaru <arotaru cs sfu ca>]

    Hi,

  KDE and Gnome already contributed a lot to the acceptance of Linux in
the desktop market. And this is just the beginning! But as someone said 
'having two GUI's for an OS is too much'.  Well, I would say, more
precisely 'having two proposed GUI application standards for an OS is too
much'.

  Open-source movement contributes to having more choice.
  At first sight, the availability of Gnome and KDE seems like a great choice,
which is good for the users. But it's not exactly like that. They should
merge, or eventually one will win. Read more.

  One of the positive contributions of Open-source models is the enhanced
choice users have. Choice is when your processor does not determine/limit
your operating system you use, when your OS of choice does not
determine/limit the GUI you use, and your GUI does not determine/limit
the applications you use.  The more separate levels are things broken down
into (basic OS, basic apps, GUI, windowmanager, desktop environment, GUI
applications), and the more viable combinations exists between levels, the
more choice is for the user, which is a _good_ thing.

  KDE vs. Gnome.
  First, we have to note that both of this animals will work with _any_ X
application, so it's not like Win vs. Mac. But apps take advantage of the
desktopping functions only if they are written for that environment.
  Having _both_ Gnome and KDE and using the same (X) apps with both is
possible, but it's not what we'd like in the long run.

  For choice, there must be a common standard.
  Different products/entities to be interchangable, there must be some
common standard somewhere. The fact that pretty much every web
browser/server combination works, is possible because there is a well
defined (relatively simple) standard. HTTP.  The fact that X applications
run on different X platforms is possible because of the X protocol
standard. 
  But Gnome and KDE lacks any such common ground. As a matter of fact,
they differ greatly exectly in what should be the common ground:

  The widgets.
  KDE and Gnome are not interchangable, because they disagree on the
widget set they use.  It's perfectly OK to have a choice regarding window
managers, for ex., if they adhere to the same standards. But because KDE
and Gnome are different built on different widgets, there is no 
common grounds for applications! So afterall, Gnome and KDE are not
interchangable options -- although the functions they provide are very
similar.

  WHY they should merge.
  I don't want to go in predictions, that it seems pretty logical, that
in the long run
  - the community will choose one, and the other will slowly fade out
     due to lack of applications
  - step-by-step they converge, and reduce differences
  - they merge

  HOW they could merge.
  That's a tough question. Technically, I see a number of possibilities:
 1) since both are GPLed, an gorup can take both, and merge them. But it's
     very likely that such a group would consist of individuals who are
     already involved with one of the projects.
>2) gradually, more and more components become common (like font handling, 
     screen savers, themes, internalization, etc.), and both projects
     focus on their strenghts.
 3) prominant leaders from the two communities agree to converge and
     merge (not very likely).
 4) on of the projects gives up and acknowledges the other (extremly
     unlikely, having in mind their considerable effort devoted)

  Qt vs GTK+
  The main problem, which can't be overcome by 'gradual convergence', is
the widget set. Which is better? Qt is supposedly better supported, now
also free (but not GPLed, which is still perceived as a problem), while
GTK+ is GPLed.  In nay case, changing the underlying widget set
means a lof of recoding.

  Balance.
  KDE and Gnome seems to be quite balanced in terms of their
goals and functionality.  They aim at the same goals. The set of common
features in much larger than the differences. They have about roughly
support. That renders 'natural software selection' more difficult.

  Recently, many users expressed their view that KDE and Gnome should
merge. But users expressing views, without action, will not change things.
So we need actions?
  
  What next?


  If you have any meaningful ideas on this, I'd like to hear them!


  ...and now I'm running away from the flames
                                             Adam
   



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