GNOME & KDE Developers Go To Battle Over A Name

[deanjo]

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.

The xorg mailing list isn't much better at times.

[marek]

If this was the first public reaction, in my view that Ben Cooksley may better be removed from being the maintainer as soon as possible, unless he makes a public apology. This is really sad.

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.

[sabriah]

I am an ardent KDE-fan and see little use for Gnome. But, the sentence

As KDE occupied this name first, it is ours as a result, and I will NOT be relinquishing it to satisfy your personal (selfish) desires, which will cause numerous problems for users on both sides.

signed by a maintainer named Ben Cooksley is just too much. THAT is not how to contact the Gnome camp and without being a developer for either side I apologize on anyone's behalf for vitriolic statements like that. I don't care if this has a "history" preceded by informal contacts. Any first public reaction should be polite.

If this was the first public reaction, in my view that Ben Cooksley may better be removed from being the maintainer as soon as possible, unless he makes a public apology. This is really sad.

[pingufunkybeat]

I think that a major problem would be if the binaries are called the same thing. I don't know how it is handled at the moment, but KDE's app is called "systemsettings".

Imagine if Ubuntu released an editor called "gcc".

[crazycheese]

1.Both "Settings" fall FAR beyond of simple "Desktop Environment Settings". System Settings is CORRECT.
2. However, one desktop environment carries name GNOME, and its "System Settings" is not usable without it; and another is KDE, and again its "System Settings" is not usable without KDE installed.

They should name:
KDE System Settings
and
GNOME System Settings

and if some DE implements similar:
"$DE_Name_Here" System Settings

-Resolved?

[Vadi]

Both should use "Desktop Settings" as the name.

If the technology doesn't support that, then fix it.

[dacresbu]

Desktop Environment Settings

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

YES! i was going to say that they should BOTH choose a different name because both names are STUPID. it should be KDE System Settings and GNOME System Settings.

[plonoma]

My proposal as posted on the list:

ust a small suggestion on how i think this should be "fixed" (since 2
desktop files for one app seems just ugly to me).
Perhaps it's better to extend the desktop file specification:

http://standards.freedesktop.org/des...t/ar01s05.html

And i would propose adding 2 entries:
NativeDE - This one holds the desktop environment name where the app
would be "native". So GNOME, KDE or whatever.
NameNonNative - This one holds the app name when it's shown in a
desktop environment that is not native. When not set fallback to
"Name"

So for example the "System Settings" app in KDE looks somewhat like
this in a .desktop file:

Name=System Settings
NativeDE=KDE
NameNonNative=KDE System Settings

The same applies for gnome system settings and also for the system
monitor (that also has the naming issue)
Isn't this a good solution?

Regards,
Mark

I second this.

And seriously.
KDE should call their system settings
KDE System Settings
and Gnome should call their system settings
GNOME System Settings

This is what namespaces are for.

[deanjo]

LOL! Hilarious! The childishness of the KDE developers never ceases to amaze me. 'Activities' revisited (another word they claimed a stake on).

Gnome devs have been just as childish over the years.

[pingufunkybeat]

LOL! Hilarious! The childishness of the KDE developers never ceases to amaze me. 'Activities' revisited (another word they claimed a stake on).

Well, I guess they would be less childish if the GNOME guys hadn't spent the last 10 years reimplementing all their ideas poorly and trying to kill them with FUD in the process.

But this particular battle is quite childish, yes.