[TriLUG] Who runs Red Hat Linux and KDE

[Matt Wilson]

On Sat, May 24, 2003 at 11:15:00AM -0400, Chris Hedemark wrote:
> 
> No.  KDE has always gotten the shaft from Red Hat.  IIRC, this was a 
> major reason for the genesis of Mandrake originally.

No, KDE would be getting the shaft if we didn't ship it at all.
Instead we go to a considerable amount of trouble to integrate it as a
desktop for Red Hat Linux.  We spend a fair amount of time on the
packages, and we work on standards with the KDE people so that desktop
environments under Linux can inter-operate.

> > I also am annoyed there is no rpm for RH distributions at KDE.
> 
> I think the hidden message there is that if you value KDE, pick a 
> distro that doesn't mangle it.

ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/stable/3.1.2/RedHat

No hidden message here.  It's difficult to support any system with
major components that are included in the operating system replaced by
third party packages.  Still, we actually built these 3.1.2 packages
at Red Hat for users that want them.

> You've given me a good reason to do something I've been putting off.   
> My last RH box has been idle for months.  The bastardized desktop 
> they've been pushing has really put me off.  I think I'll put Mandrake 
> on there today.

It's always strange to us that Red Hat receives such hostility about
customizing the desktop to have a unique look and feel that many of
our users like.  We knew that it would not please everyone, so we made
sure that it's possible to customize your KDE or GNOME desktop to look
however you wish.

Even more puzzling, however, is that we continue to get flack on this
issue when other distributions have followed our lead.  When you
install Mandrake Linux 9.1 you'll see that both GNOME and KDE have a
new MandrakeGalaxy theme applied to theme.  No one calls that
"bastardized" though.  Likewise, SuSE Linux 8.2 has a default KDE
theme that includes its own window borders with the Geeko lizard
mascot in the corners.

Cheers,

Matt
msw at redhat.com
--
Matt Wilson
Manager, Base Operating Systems
Red Hat, Inc.