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

[Adam Rotaru <arotaru cs sfu ca>]

On Tue, 22 Dec 1998, dep wrote:

> i'm not a subscriber to this list, so this post is a bit of a shot in
> the dark. 
   Never mind. Constructive ideas are welcomed from everywhere!

> that having been said, i think that there is a more practical
> -- and more achievable -- place where the setting of standards not only
> could be accomplished but ought to be.
> 
> i have on my machine here a half-dozen "word processors," all in about
> ...
> 
> what they all have in common is what they do, within a fairly small
> range (of course, in abi and kword this will change). their chief
> difference is that each uses a proprietary document format -- no one
> can read or write to documents from any of the others.
> 
> what we need, far more than we need a merger of gnome and kde, is the
> establishment of a common document format.

  Yes, a common *propritary* file format for documents would be desirable.
But I don't think it's very likely to emerge... Although history shows
that one widely accepted format is better that a dozen of different ones.
(eg. Gif and Jpg became standard due to Netscape).

  As a matter of fact, this is something that goes beyond the scope of
Gnome/KDE discussion. These are desktop environments, not office suits
(maybe they should try not to create such).

  regards,
    /Adam/