Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu [LWN.net]

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 7, 2012 12:23 UTC (Tue) by renox (guest, #23785)
In reply to: Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu by jonobacon
Parent article: Canonical pulls funding from Kubuntu

> I think that is unfair. The KDE project have a solid vision for their technology

Maybe you could elaborate?
In quite a few occasions the KDE project seemed to be about "developers want to have fun": nothing bad with this, this is Free software after all, but is-this the "solid vision" you're talking about?

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Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 9, 2012 22:35 UTC (Thu) by blujay (guest, #39961) [Link] (2 responses)

You're absolutely right: KDE is, sadly, a developer playground. This is exemplified by the frequent regressions, rewrites of core functionality instead of fixing bugs, and lack of attention given to basic stuff like the Network Manager Plasma applet (how can a DE claim to be serious when it lacks a polished, simple network UI?). I still use it, because KWin is great, and I can configure Plasma to be nearly like Kicker was, and Dolphin is pretty good.

But if there is anything the KDE project is short of, it's vision. There may be individuals, like Seigo, who have a vision for their personal ideas and code, but that is not the same as the project having a vision. There is no leadership of the project as a whole. Each developer does what he wants with his own code, including dumping it and leaving it unmaintained when he feels like it, or releasing a complete rewrite that lacks existing functionality. There is no vision for the desktop UI as a whole--it's just a hodgepodge of Plasma applets.

If this trend continues, KDE will fade into obscurity. I don't like the way GNOME has developed GNOME 3, cutting off their face in spite of their nose (think about it), but I will say this: they have a vision and they are executing it. KDE would improve tremendously if the devs would submit, to some extent, to a leadership with vision, and spend a bit more time on the less-fun aspects of coding.

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 10, 2012 0:07 UTC (Fri) by ringerc (guest, #3071) [Link]

Most of these folks are volunteers and hobbyists. IMO, be glad they're doing what they are and giving you the benefit of it. If you want an environment with solid support schedules and other things that matter more to people _not_ involved in developing for themselves, you're likely to have to live with what a team with funded development time can offer you.

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 11, 2012 13:43 UTC (Sat) by jospoortvliet (guest, #33164) [Link]

GNOME and most other projects are no different - they just happen to have one or more companies who do the polish users need/want (eg Red Hat and to a lesser extend SUSE for GNOME, the last few years). KDE once had that (SUSE before it was acquired by Novell) and it was far better in terms of user experience.

Volunteers don't do that, period. Not KDE specific at all. KDE IS a project with amazing technology, which is years ahead of any other Desktop thing (be it Windows, Mac or anything Free). It just has nobody doing the polish. Maybe Spark can make a difference there, or somebody else can find a business model - eg 'Balsam Linux', an openSUSE derivative, has afaik such ambitions. I hope they or someone else succeeds at this... Too bad it didn't work out for Kubuntu/canonical (although I personally doubt they ever really tried).