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Unix lead to the development of the GNU Project which needed a kernel
that was supplied by Linux to produce the GNU/Linux Operating System.
GNU/Linux and Unix are generally criticised for being hard to use for
the common user--all those command line tools and all that fiddling
with configurations placed them back in the MSDOS days. The demand is
for modern intuitive interfaces similar to those pioneered by the
Macintosh back in 1984.
Unix has had graphical user interfaces for a long time. The problem
was that Unix was provided by multiple vendors and those vendors had
difficulty agreeing on a common way of doing things in the graphical
user interface. There were systems like NeWS, OpenWindows, Display
PostScript, and the X Window System. There was also a multitude of
windowing systems available for the X Window System, including CDE,
Motif, OpenLook, etc. They offered tremendous flexibility which lead
to great diversity! And great confusion. Developers could chose
different toolkits and get very different behaviours. Different ways
of interacting with applications lead to much confusion and certainly
no consistency: different ways of moving to the next text field;
different defaults for keyboard shortcuts; different mechanisms for
cut and paste between applications; etc. Apple, with the Macintosh,
had a lot of control on how things should be done and developed
guidelines for developers to do things the right way. Later, Microsoft
with MS/Windows/95 and beyond also dictated standards for others to
follow. This meant that once the user had learnt the nuances of the
interface they were ``set for life.''
The Gnome Project pioneered by Miguel de Icaza in 1997 and
progressed by the free software company he founded with Nat Friedman
in early 2000, originally called HelixCode and then Ximian, has set
the standards. The traditional Unix players, including Sun
Microsystems, IBM, Hewlett-Package, and Compaq joined the Gnome
Foundation in August 2000 to help that standard become, well,
standard.
Gnome is not the only standard. KDE, begun by Matthias Ettrich in
1996, is a very respectable and popular alternative. KDE suffered in
the early days of its development by being dependent on a toolkit, Qt,
that did not meet the licensing criteria for Free Software, instead
limiting the use of the package. This one unfortunate blemish lead to
the development of the Gnome project. The fact that there are two
standard desktops is not a particular concern, despite the above
discussion. The friendly (but at times heated) competition drives the
enthusiasts in both camp. What we have to be careful about is that we
learn from the past and not allow this competition to destroy the
common goals. Perhaps one will live on, or perhaps both will live on.
Either way, both are excellent products developing easier to use
GNU/Linux systems, and leaving the choice to the user.
Copyright © 1995-2006 [email protected]
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