LXer: Can We Avoid the Great Schism?

LXer · 12-19-2007, 06:20 AM

Published at LXer:

Choice is an important element of free software, so it's perhaps no surprise that even at the level of the desktop environment there is more than one offering. But the main alternatives – KDE and GNOME – represent more than just a way of placing icons on a screen. Nowhere is that more evident than in their respective views on Microsoft's OOXML document standard, which are very far apart – perhaps dangerously so.

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XavierP · 12-19-2007, 11:47 AM

Is it? I would have thought that the choice is good - if you want OOXML you will probably go Gnome, otherwise you'll go KDE. Also, IIRC, corporate desktops tend to be Gnome based and they will be the ones who want this.

Cogar · 12-19-2007, 02:12 PM

Microsoft's proposed "open document standard" is following the same path as other "embrace, extend, and extinguish" offerings it has made in the past. Although I do not know the whole story (of course), it is becoming increasingly clear that Microsoft is "buying" its way into Linux for its own purposes and GNOME, unfortunately, is the latest organization to succumb to their agenda.

XavierP · 12-19-2007, 02:15 PM

I believe that Novell are pretty much a guiding force for Gnome, having de Icaza on the payroll certainly doesn't hurt. Microsoft have been threatening Linux for years and this may be the start of the push for some control.