If you think Mac vs. Windows battles get nasty, you should check in on the combatants in the KDE vs. Gnome war. What, you assumed that the fact that there are multiple window managers available for Linux was a Good Thing? Adherents of each of the platforms believe they represent the One True GUI, and constantly battle for supremacy. So, when Linux godfather Linus Torvalds
weighed in this week with a preference, it created something of a stir. Especially since Torvalds, in no uncertain terms, declared his allegiance to KDE. According to Torvalds, "I personally just encourage people to switch to KDE. This 'users are idiots, and are confused by functionality' mentality of Gnome is a disease. If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will use it. I don't use Gnome, because in striving to be simple, it has long since reached the point where it simply doesn't do what I need it to do. Please, just tell people to use KDE." Will Torvalds sway any of the hardcore fans of either environment? Probably not. But he's opened a good thread on usability, which centers around a key issue: when does simplifying things go too far, and actually take control away from users, rather than providing them with a more effective computing experience? Hmm. Sounds a lot like the Mac vs. Windows arguments. Guess those Linux fans aren't so different after all.
Tags: opensource, osupdates
