Would you run KDE in Windows and OS X?

Story: KDE Sets its Sights on Windows, Mac OS XTotal Replies: 23
Author Content
Steven_Rosenber

Jan 25, 2008
12:46 PM EDT
I'd probably give it a try. I have the GTK libraries on my Windows PC now to run the GIMP and Geany. Again, the devil is in the details of explaining just what the hell KDE is to non-fanboys.
herzeleid

Jan 25, 2008
12:47 PM EDT
I don't use windoze, so... no - I might give it a try on my mac though.

Edit: on second thought, I don't use the mac for that much - basically to run tax cut, kjamz (a karaoke program) and some light duty email checking/web browsing in bed, so I don't really have much motivation to change it. If anything I'd set up dual boot with linux if I ever get around to it.
Abe

Jan 25, 2008
1:18 PM EDT
I don't use windows and I wouldn't try it either. But I think it is very good move by the KDE group.

I wasn't in favor of it initially, but I believe it is going to help FOSS eventually. The Windows' die hards will get a taste of a good thing that will be hard for them to ignore.

tuxchick

Jan 25, 2008
1:34 PM EDT
Even more importantly, it showcases the ability of Qt to write cross-platform applications, and the value of not getting locked into the horrid Microsoft programming toolkits, which in my ideal world leads to more native Linux apps. Even if they're closed-source proprietary apps, it's a step in the right direction.
Steven_Rosenber

Jan 25, 2008
1:55 PM EDT
Being able to run OpenOffice, the GIMP and who knows what else right now in Windows is huge for me ... If I wasn't required to use XP, I wouldn't; but I am, so I do.
Bob_Robertson

Jan 25, 2008
2:00 PM EDT
It might be interesting from a "You mean, the interface isn't the kernel??" education standpoint.

I don't see much more use for it. If I'm going to want KDE, why burden it with Windows?
techiem2

Jan 25, 2008
2:13 PM EDT
My question is, is this FULL KDE for windows? I.e. can I replace the shell with it? Or is it just KDE Apps like Koffice?

If it's a full shell, I may give it a try on my windows install on my work laptop.
Scott_Ruecker

Jan 25, 2008
3:49 PM EDT
I absolutely would run it in Windows, I would just to see what its like. If it worked, I would stick with it. I use KDE for my Linux partitions so why wouldn't I at least try it?

jezuch

Jan 25, 2008
3:51 PM EDT
Yeah, I'm expecting to use as a sane working environment when/if [rather "when"] my employer traps me in Windows :)
rijelkentaurus

Jan 25, 2008
7:10 PM EDT
I like the idea of another free office suite on Windows.....
Scott_Ruecker

Jan 25, 2008
7:18 PM EDT
I still need to upgrade to KDE4, but when I do I am going to give KOffice another try. It is good but I am always writing in a environment where I need it to work with Windows and it has always had many issues in formatting making it hard, if not impossible to use in comparison to OOo.
tuxchick

Jan 25, 2008
9:40 PM EDT
Yuck. Having to maintain windows compatibility is gross. It's like owning a Mercedes and having to maintain Yugo compatibility. Ick ick ick.
Scott_Ruecker

Jan 25, 2008
9:43 PM EDT
Quoting:It's like owning a Mercedes and having to maintain Yugo compatibility.


Are you sure you don't have it the other way around? LOL!! Just kidding..
hkwint

Jan 26, 2008
2:24 AM EDT
Well, if a lot of people are going to run KDE on Windows, someone just _might_ complain tying Windows Interface to Windows is against anti-trust laws - and Windows should be available without Windows Interface too. Microsoft will call it Windows N2 or so, or maybe just 'MinWin'. Such an argument will be fun to watch!

That would be interesting as Microsoft would have to make the Windows Interface available without the kernel too, and someone might try to run the Windows Interface with a Linux kernel. Though that won't be possible since the Win Interface is probably utterly crappy, it would be nice to run Linux without the boss of a 'Win-only shop' seeing it! Maybe we will even be allowed to call it Linux/Win(s) instead of GNU/Linux...
Shagbag

Jan 26, 2008
6:28 AM EDT
I might load a VMware image of XP on my Kubuntu install just to try it out.
techiem2

Jan 26, 2008
8:21 AM EDT
Quoting:and Windows should be available without Windows Interface too.


Oh how I wish!

I've seen how horridly everything is tied together at work. We setup a box for viewing an access database and connecting to various learning resources. We are using ietab in firefox as kind of a kiosk (stupid sites requiring activex....). The biggest problem we've run into is that, since we replaced the shell with a custom one, IE doesn't work properly. Specifically, media plugins refuse to load and run. Apparently, if explorer isn't running (or something else tied into using it as the shell), IE reverts to some sort of restricted security settings.

Yeah...

I still say MS should turn windows into a specialized X server/kernel modules that could be run on any *nix... Want to use your windows apps and games? Fire up MS/X and have at it! Yeah, It'll never happen I know, but it's fun to think of the possibilities...
gus3

Jan 26, 2008
8:38 AM EDT
> I still say MS should turn windows into a specialized X server/kernel modules that could be run on any *nix...

"Write once, run on any *nix"?

Only if it's .NET.
Steven_Rosenber

Jan 28, 2008
10:30 AM EDT
I went over to the KDE Web site http://kde.org and it's not easy to find out about running KDE iin Windows or on Mac.
dinotrac

Jan 28, 2008
11:35 AM EDT
Two words:

Digikam and k3b.

Also, with the way krita is coming along, it might crash the party as well.
Steven_Rosenber

Jan 28, 2008
12:29 PM EDT
My one experience with digiKam was less than ideal, but tuxchick says to try again, and I will. I really like Krita much better, but it doesn't deal with the embedded IPTC text in JPGs ... and that's a requirement for me.

Many of the K apps are very alluring -- K3b, Konqueror, but if Krita and KOffice would just get that much better, I'd be sold on KDE. I don't know if the new version of KOffice is out, but I'd sure like to try it.
dinotrac

Jan 28, 2008
12:43 PM EDT
It's an interesting thing.

When our old XP laptop died, I had to buy a new (Vista) laptop, then "downgrade" it to XP. At this point, I have no idea where the old install disks for Office are, buy my wife said : No problem. Just give me OpenOffice.

Good apps that run in both worlds make it that much less painful to switch over to Linux. Imagine somebody doing an organizational swap that begins with apps, moves over to desktop environment, and finishes up with the whole shebang.

Awesome potential.
Steven_Rosenber

Jan 28, 2008
3:19 PM EDT
dinotrac, it could totally happen.

In my organization, we run OpenOffice, though we really don't have much use for it since the work on our many hundreds of clients is done mostly in a specialized publishing system that's Windows only. If that vendor chose to port the app to Linux ... the prospect of saving on thousands of Windows licenses, as well as the security software that goes with them, and the manpower to take care of viruses and the like, well, that kind of savings talks pretty big.

The backbone of the whole thing is Sun, probably running Solaris, so to have the clients run Linux wouldn't be that much of a stretch.
ColonelPanik

Jan 29, 2008
6:19 AM EDT
The idea of converting people one application at a time is cool. It works.
Abe

Jan 29, 2008
7:45 AM EDT
Quoting:The idea of converting people one application at a time is cool. It works
Quoting:The Windows' die hards will get a taste of a good thing that will be hard for them to ignore.
The company I work for is 100% Windows and mentioning Linux is used to be taboo. I have been using FOSS apps on my XP at work and have been passing FOSS related articles to top IT management for a while now. Some brushed them off and other kept it in mind.

Recently, and to my surprise, I hear them saying Abe was right. It is changing. Now they started to take it seriously. Couple things changed their mind. One is Office, which is widely used in our business. They see how good OpenOffice has become and how much money could be saved. Also, ODF being an ISO standard and Office Open XML is not is also a big factor.

Another is Web Services (Web 2.0- I made couple presentations how good and easy AJAX could be implemented) especially when Apache is recommended for web applications we use from IBM.

Databases are also a factor and so are security and maintenance of servers and desktops.

I never thought this day will come so soon, but things are definitely changing in the enterprise.

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