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On 6/23/08, David C. Rankin <drankinatty@suddenlinkmail.com> wrote: <snip good stuff>
If Novell's plan is anything close to what I've opined, then Novell needs to be candid and honest with its user base. If Novell had said, "Hey, kde4 isn't ready yet, but we would like you guys (and girls) to load it and help get it functional so we can be the first distro to integrate it an provide kde4 functionality so it will give us a leg up on the competition when we're done", I would have been more than happy to say -- "sure, I don't mind helping, helps you generate income, helps me get a better distro."
But instead, for whatever the actual reason, Novell has, intentionally or unintentionally, completely angered and alienated a significant minority, if not majority, of its core user base and supporters. It has given duplicitous reasons, and outright Bush/Cheney explanation for why kde4 is stuffed on top of 11.0 and why kde3 is on the way out. The Mandrake legacy all over again.
If somewhere within the Linux side of Novell someone thinks they are being "smart" with this course of conduct, let the user base remind you -- "honesty is always the best policy." It's demanded as a right, not asked as a favor.
that was one of the few posts in this whole series of posts that actually provided a bit of cogent analysis and speculation. I don't think Novell has sly plans to force users to GNOME, nor do I think that Binner really meant what his words seemed to convey (I think it is a language thing ...). I don't think Novell are evil manipulators out to screw KDE and it's loyal following. However, I do think that is is quite likely that Novell want to get as much feedback about KDE4 as they can now, so that they can stake a clear leadership position come 11.1 I think they want to do right by KDE, by making it better and more modern, so that they look good, and KDE looks good. And I think they have (per usual) a ham-handed method that reveals their own distrust of public dialogue. This is classic Novell. Hold things close, don't let too much out too early for fear of ... what?? ... basically losing control of the process. And, what's more, I think that this kind of holding close instinct was also present in the SUSE team, before Novell. So in this case it is the 2 re-inforcing what I think is a weakness. Novell needs to be pushed to be more open, to be more inclusive, to listen better. Having said that the tone of much of this dialogue has been pathetic and sky is falling and screechy stupid shit that I am tired of. Peter -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org