In an effort to promote the adoption of GNU/Linux desktops, SpreadGNOME.org has launched with the goal of being a resource to help spread the word of GNOME to GNU/Linux desktop users and potential converts. It is meant as a place to share ideas to help promote GNOME in the community, and helping those who wish to get involved with GNOME. In the meantime, Builder.au has some shots of the upcoming GNOME 2.16.
I just hope that there focus is advocating the Linux Desktop, rather then GNOME as the one true desktop. Sometimes I think GNOME forgets that there is nothing wrong with people using other desktops.
I dunno, does SpreadFirefox give time to Opera and IE?
Besides, there’s
http://www.spreadkde.org/
Even more… GNOME is not linux specific.. it runs on Solaris, so, helping Linux is not a priority…
True, but I do wish that they spent more time on remembering that DBUS features for instance don’t work on Solaris or any of the *BSD’s, which is a shame. So in that sence, they are much more Linux specific… at least for the time being.
However, some guys over at the FreeBSD Gnome camp are currently working on porting DBUS & friends over.
Personally I find Gnome still just as useful without all the automounting features that dbus brings into play, though it would be nice.
More on topic:
Gnome is looking pretty nice. I am glad that they are finally doing some house cleaning, such as removing some of the older and unmaintained themes and engines.
Keep up the good work, there is still much more work to be done… (*more intergration between apps*)
DBUS works on FreeBSD and Solaris, you probably mean HAL.
Oops, thanks.
I did mean HAL.
Oops, thanks.
I did mean HAL.
Hal is on its way to Solaris (very soon), after which it will likely get ported to FreeBSD, etc.
Ok, so I just checked and it seems HAL is available for FreeBSD now, their development packages for GNOME 2.15.x include it.
I just hope that there focus is advocating the Linux Desktop, rather then GNOME as the one true desktop. Sometimes I think GNOME forgets that there is nothing wrong with people using other desktops.
Why would would a website called spreadgnome.org spread anything but GNOME? Why should they spend resources advocating anything but the official GNU desktop? You are aware that GNOME is part of the GNU project?
I think they should concern more about site design. current one is rather crappy
While I agree that the site could look better, I think that the having content on the site is more important than how it looks.
That’s why you don’t work in marketing
um. Actually I do work in Marketing.
Edited 2006-08-23 17:24
Darn! Calculated risk
In my opinion, they should ImproveGNOME.org first, then SpreadGNOME.org .
You mean that they need to wait for all bugs to be fixed? Then spreadgnome.org would never exist would it?
Besides, spreading GNOME, if it brings in more users, can pretty much only be beneficial (network effect? like having more people using telephones make the telephones useful)
Oh, then I suppose you are glad to hear about plans to revamp gnome.org, right? http://desdeamericaconamor.org/blog/en/taxonomy/term/99/0
Why does the screenshot showing the new gnome icon theme have an “about_kde” icon? :O
I like what GNOME 2.16 is going to be.
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Image:Next-gnome.png
Why would you want to spread this? How will I start my apps? Oh I forgot, starting apps would only confuse users
Funny.
BTW, I found a screenshot of KDE4:
http://www.sunyacc.edu/insideacc/its/handbook/images/Windows_deskto…
Edited 2006-08-23 15:57
Hehehe! Touche
Not that I like either of them, they both need a ton of work before I would recommend them to anyone!
BTW, I found a screenshot of KDE4:
I highly doubt this. It looks like a Window XP screenshot.
If this is indeed a KDE screenshot then this is a really customized version, probably violating Microsoft’s trademarks by including the Windows logo on the “start” button.
I wish I knew if you were serious or not. Then I would know whether to laugh or cry.
Whether you’re serious or not, there is in fact a KDE theme that does exactly what you’re talking about:
http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=29551
You hear that?
It’s the whoosing sound of a joke going over your head.
*sigh*
It was obviously meant to be a joke, but it failed.
A really crowded screenshot, something like panels on all borders, tons of icons would have been funny.
I don’t get how a screenshot of XP has anything to do with KDE4.
I’m running ubuntu edgy and I really like the way GNOME is heading, makes working really easy
Indeed, the Screen saver preview is something you don’t find in any other desktop I like they innovate and not copy thigs form others.
um. Damn. Can’t remove a comment. I misread yours thinking it was sarcastic at first.
Edited 2006-08-23 21:51
This site is an amateurish efford by lead by an individual with a great idea, but the site will never really take off as no one will ever donate money for a Firefox-like campaign.
Too bad, maybe next time.
Sort of a kool-aid stand. Looks very nice, hope it works for them.
Is such a project even necessary? GNOME is getting so much corporate backing, from companies like Sun and Novell, coupled with the fact that many Linux distros use it as the default DE, make me think that a SpreadGNOME website to be rather pointless.
GNOME is spreading fine as it is. If anything, it’s threatening to dwarf other DEs out there e.g. Novell switching SuSE, which was a die-hard KDE distro over to GNOME. A SpreadGNOME initiative is the last thing we need.
A SpreadGNOME initiative is the last thing we need.
It sounds like you think this will harm someone (e.g. KDE) and that you are sad about this…
I cannot understand people advocating Free Software in this way… You’d all better start your own spreadWHATEVER.org site to pay tribute to your gods instead of bitching about others doing exactly that.
One main strength that sometimes turns out a weakness is the vast surplus of different solutions capable of doing roughly the same, since it often turns into flamewars because Free Software people tend to feel the need to ‘educate’ oponents rather that do hail to free choice, which in turn is what Free Software is about…
I’ve never really used KDE and thus I do not know if it’s better than Gnome, howecer, I’ve seen too many ugly screenshots and too many little things that simply do not appeal to me, but I’ve never ever spent my time bad mouthing KDE or its users on account of this, since they’ve got their own free choice and apparently they’ve chosen differently — and so what??
There are so many websites advertising free software. Shouldn’t be more useful to spend time and other resources designing the code, maintaining the code and extracting defects? There is a spread of efforts and not enough depth, sometimes. The gnome website itself should suffice. It is one of the few atractive websites in the free software world.
The infrastructure is in bad shape (data structures, advanced algorithms, etc) and no matter how aggressively things are advertised, serious people notice the lack of depth and strength in the supporting code. Everyone is reinventing the wheel all the time. Why not use the PostScript standard (or another more “open” like fig) instead of creating yet another tool like Cairo? Oh well Cairo is nice.
Shouldn’t be more useful to spend time and other resources designing the code, maintaining the code and extracting defects?
Since not every person can do this, those who don’t might want to help in a way they can. If that is coordinating marketing, it is useful spent time, isn’t it?
. Why not use the PostScript standard (or another more “open” like fig) instead of creating yet another tool like Cairo?
Cairo is an API, something programmers work with. I guess there is already a PostScript backend implementation for it, since this is required for printing.
Yes, anda-skoa, of course (I checked) Cairo has a postscript backend, but, postscript (which is a programming language) itself can be used as the toolbox for the screen:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_PostScript
OS10 uses something analogous to PDF to do it. What is *new* in Cairo?
Vector Graphics have been around since the ’70s. Even 3D… I have some papers. Don’t you think there are more useful tasks than to re-invent the wheel for decades because the previous didn’t look round enough?
What is curious is that frequently software gets worse with time… the pixel-mania of the ’90s is just an example.
OpenGL, if you ask me, is a particular solution (adequate at the time) that doesn’t make sense anymore.
BSP – that is Cairo (or Postscript) in 3D.
postscript (which is a programming language) itself can be used as the toolbox for the screen
Yes, I know
My guess is that it is more complex to write a PostScript interpreter/compiler for each backend than to just write one PostScript generator as one of the backends for a highlevel API.
Sometimes new APIs are designed to be close to some older API, in the case of Cairo it might be similar to glib or GTK+ whose developers are the main target for Cairo
A new solution is not necessarily the best possible one, the best possible solution could introduce too many new concepts and be rejected by a majority of the developers.
If one of your goals is to get the developers from some old solution to the new one, for example to phase out support of the old one, it might be better to design closer to what developers want to use now.
Since the concepts developers like change over time, the better technology might then have more realistic changes.
There is no point in releasing something your market is not ready for yet.