GNOME & KDE Developers Go To Battle Over A Name

[RealNC]

Seriously ? If so, would you expect KDE system settings to appear in the Gnome desktop menus, or would you have to go run the KDE-specific binary anyways and would there be any problem if that binary were named "KDE System Settings" ?

All programs appear in the Gnome desktop menus, no matter what toolkit they use. If you're using KDE apps (many people use Amarok in Gnome, for example), you need a way to configure them. A desktop distro that requires people to open a terminal for this is just stupid.

But you sounded rather surprised (you said "Seriously ?"). So in your opinion, Gnome users should not be able to configure their non-Gnome apps from inside Gnome? I can only imagine that this would totally suck.

[Awesomeness]

I think he should be banned from making any public statements on behalf of the KDE project, regardless of whether he will make an apology or not. This is a very bad PR move for KDE.

He's the maintainer of System Settings and he makes statements of behalf of System Settings which is in his right.There is no one in KDE who can speak for the whole community.

And no, he does not need to issue an apology. KDE System Settings was first. End of story. GNOME should apologize and re-rename their ?System Settings?.
You OTOH should fix the mess that's Xorg instead of bitching against KDE.

[marek]

And no, he does not need to issue an apology. KDE System Settings was first.

There is no such thing as "KDE System Settings". It's called "System Settings", despite the fact it has nothing to do with the whole system. If there really were the KDE prefix (and kde- for the binary), we wouldn't have this discussion. Same for GNOME. Anyway, KDE folks named it wrong first and now they are pretending it's ok.

[monraaf]

KDE System Settings was first. End of story. GNOME should apologize and re-rename their “System Settings”.

"System Settings" has been in use long before KDE started using it. I don't know who was the first to actually use it, it probably originated in the Windows environment, but it has become a generic name in computing context. Like desktop, file manager, control panel, terminal, etc.

He'd have a point if they were trying to rebrand Rhythmbox as Amarok, but to think that you can claim ownership of a generic name because "you were first" is just ridiculous and laughable.

[Delgarde]

I believe they already decided to call them "Gnome System Settings" and "KDE System Settings", but with the prefix removed under native DE.

Yeah, that seemed to be what the adults on the list were agreeing on, complete with proposals on how to actually implement that solution.

Pity about the kindergarten crowd who felt the need to clutter up the discussion with their tantrums...

[roentgen]

is just ridiculous and laughable.

You know what's laughable? That they couldn't think of a synonym for it. Let's think (I'm not a native english speaker): "System configuration", "System setup", "System adjustment".

[ahlaht]

You know what's laughable? That they couldn't think of a synonym for it. Let's think (I'm not a native english speaker): "System configuration", "System setup", "System adjustment".

But that's just unnecessary. It's in fact better if they have the same name if they do the same basic task. This only applies to generic names of course.

If they were named differently and I had both installed how would I know which one to launch:
System Configuration
or
System Settings
?

Instead if they are both named "System Settings" but one of them is prefixed with kde/gnome/... then it should be clear which one to launch.

[Awesomeness]

There is no such thing as "KDE System Settings".

Oh come on. Don't be a dick. It's clear from context that I simply wanted to make it clear which System Settings I meant.
Dicks like you shouldn't be allowed to talk on behalf of X.org against KDE. You and X.org should apologize.

It's called "System Settings", despite the fact it has nothing to do with the whole system.

That is simply untrue. As I already wrote (and what you ignored): System Settings manages anything a KCM is installed for.
Kubuntu and AFAIK also Fedora-KDE have no problems actually using System Settings as sole system config tool featuring printer setup, user management, software/package management, GRUB configuration, etc.

Anyway, KDE folks named it wrong first and now they are pretending it's ok.

It doesn't matter if they names it right or wrong. They were first. And it's not in your power to decide if a name is right or wrong, especially if you (according to you own user tag here) work on software that has pretty much the stupidest name in history.
While we are on the subject of your software: Better use your time to fix your broken software instead of wasting time bashing KDE here.

[Delgarde]

You know what's laughable? That they couldn't think of a synonym for it. Let's think (I'm not a native english speaker): "System configuration", "System setup", "System adjustment".

Actually, since you're not a native English speaker, you should appreciate the problem a bit more than most. As someone on the mailing list noted, the same situation also applies to every other language Gnome and KDE are translated into, and not all of them have the same abundance of synonyms that English does. What do you call it in German or Swedish? In Mandarin, and Punjabi and Tamil?

[DeepDayze]

Well, "System Settings" suggests system wide administration. IMO, both KDE and Gnome chose a poor name. It should be "Desktop Environment Settings".

+1 to that as well.