Underexposed

KDE programmers released a significantly revamped version of its Linux graphical interfaces software on Friday, incorporating several features that also appear in Windows Vista and Mac OS X.

KDE features a new start menu reminiscent of Windows Vista and a new System Settings interface similar to Apple Mac OS X. Click the above image for more screenshots of KDE 4.0.

(Credit: KDE)

Among new features in KDE 4.0 are a start menu on steroids called Kickoff, new ways of viewing widgets and applications, a revamped file browser, and a new look to some entertainment applications that I hope will help pioneer a new user interface technology.

Unfortunately for KDE fans, the upgrade to version 4.0 comes at an awkward time, just a few months before Ubuntu's planned release in April of its "Hardy Heron" version of Linux. This will be the second version of Ubuntu for which its backer, Canonical, offers long-term support. Because Canonical wasn't confident that there would be good developer support for the previous KDE 3.5 and expected KDE 4.0 not to be mature enough, Canonical decided to support just GNOME.

But there still are plenty of other Linux distributions, and KDE 4 will work fine on Ubuntu (the version is called Kubuntu) even if commercial support is absent. And let's face it--Linux on the desktop has appealed more to programmers and technically savvy do-it-yourselfers than to mainstream computer users.

KDE (K Desktop Environment), is one of the two major interfaces for Linux, the other being GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment). Both open-source projects include software ranging from low-level components such as buttons and drop-down menus to higher-level applications such as file browsers, games, and a console for those who want a command-line interface. The software handles many basic user interface tasks such as managing windows on the screen and letting users launch programs and switch between them.

One of the significant new features is Kickoff, the revamped start menu. Instead of offering just a hierarchical list of applications, Kickoff offers several other ways to get at programs you might want, including a search bar a la Windows Vista, a list of favorite programs, and a list of recently used programs and documents. It also provides quick access to hard drives, USB drives, and other storage devices.

KDE 4 also has been reworked to take advantage of new glitzy interface possibilities. Windows can be made transparent--a feature for which I personally see almost no utility, but I'll keep an open mind. But there are more useful options, too, such as the ability to quickly show all running widgets or to show all running applications in miniature, features that users of Mac OS X's Dashboard and Expose will recognize.

Perhaps more significant in the long run is some work to make KDE more resolution-independent. Most operating systems and accompanying software assume computer screens have a resolution of something like 96 pixels per inch, but hardware companies are capable of producing much finer resolution.

Theoretically, that could help produce higher-quality text that's less pixilated and easier to read and photos with more detail, but in practice you risk running software that's unusable because of with microscopic type and icons.

Some KDE applications, including the KMines minesweeper game and KPat solitaire card game, now have vector graphics, which scale to any size independent of pixel resolution. It's a small but welcome step.

Another new feature is Dolphin, a new file browser that among other things can present thumbnails of images and let users add captions and star ratings.

A revamped Systems Settings interface resembles Mac OS X's approach, with different options split into related categories.

Cosmetically, KDE has new artwork, including graphical elements such as buttons and window frames, called Oxygen.

And under the covers, there are other changes. A new Phonon library provides audio support to programs, KHTML is available for Web page rendering (it's used by Apple's Safari, too), Trolltech's QT 4 user interface components require less memory, and a package called Solid helps manage hardware details such as power management, wireless networking, removable storage devices, and Bluetooth networking. And for those whose computers have multicore processors, the ThreadWeaver library is designed to make it easier for software to take advantage of hardware abilities.

There are two dominant software projects that provide Linux with a graphical user interface, but only one of them will get long-term support in Ubuntu's next version of the open-source operating system.

GNOME, the default user interface for Ubuntu, will receive the support, but KDE won't. The reason, according to Canonical, which sponsors Ubuntu and is trying to make a business of selling the support contracts, is simply that KDE is at an awkward transitional period between two versions, the old-line 3.5 and the imminent and significantly different 4.0.

Developer interest is focused on KDE 4.0, but it's not mature enough yet to use in the next KDE-based variation of Ubuntu, called Kubuntu, Scott James Remnant, leader of the Ubuntu Desktop team, said in an explanation to a Kubuntu mailing list. But most Kubuntu developers adding features "upstream" of today's products are focused on KDE 4.0, meaning that it's risky to release a long-term support version based on 3.5.

"Given the attention being paid to KDE 4, it is difficult to believe that this will not be the preferred release in three years' time," Remnant said. "The KDE upstream position appears clear: KDE 4 is the focus of developer attention; KDE 3.5 will be supported as long as KDE 4 isn't suitable for support."

Even though I'm among those who prefer KDE overall, I think Canonical's decision is sensible under the circumstances. And maybe, if we're lucky, this choice will be one small step toward moving beyond the problem that there have to be different Ubuntu flavors with different user interfaces in the first place. But more on that later.

Ubuntu 8.04, aka "Hardy Heron" and due in April 2008, will become the second version of Ubuntu Linux to receive Canonical's long-term support (LTS) designation. Most Ubuntu versions are supported for 18 months, but LTS products are supported for three years for desktop machines and five years for servers.

GNOME-based Ubuntu more popular
GNOME is dominant among Ubuntu users, accounting for about two-thirds of Ubuntu downloads, according to Canonical Chief Executive Mark Shuttleworth.

The remaining third using KDE are a sizable minority, though, and Shuttleworth has taken pains to reassure them that KDE is a priority. Notably, in 2006, Shuttleworth became the first KDE "patron". He's since been joined by four other patron-level KDE sponsors.

Canonical's commercial interests aren't always aligned with community programming-project priorities, Remnant said.

"LTS' is a commercial-support commitment provided by Canonical, who shoulders the financial and administrative burden of doing so; as such, it is entirely their decision as to whether or not they provide that support for a particular release," Remnant said. "It is difficult for this decision to be made by the community because the community's stake in Kubuntu is one of personal achievement and pride, whereas Canonical's is financial and of commercial commitments."

One Kubuntu community member, Juan Carlos Torres, said on his blog that he isn't terribly happy with the decision, but he urged programmers to channel their energies into improving Kubuntu based on KDE 4.0.

"Kubuntu doesn't have the manpower to aggressively maintain two KDE versions. With this, we can focus our efforts on KDE 4 (and migrating KDE 3 utilities to KDE 4)," he said. "As Kubuntu shifts its gears towards KDE 4, we need as many hands as we can get."

KDE 4.0 is due to be released January 18 at the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif.

Wasted energy
I see this GNOME-KDE desktop interface split as a terrible waste of energy. It's based more a historical licensing artifact rather than on some engineering breakthrough.

KDE had the early lead among Linux users, compared to Unix interface predecessors such as CDE (Common Desktop Environment), but Miguel de Icaza, among others, started the GNOME project because of open-source licensing concerns regarding a collection of KDE user interface elements called Qt. By the time Qt developer Trolltech liberalized the license terms, GNOME had taken root, with support from companies such as Red Hat.

Now Linux users are stuck not just with two user interfaces, but often two sets of accompanying control panels, music players, modem-dialing utilities, command-line interface consoles, Web browsers, and more.

That's a lot of duplicative work for programmers, but there are other repercussions. Software companies have to decide whether to build their software using Qt or the GNOME analog, GTK+. Linux distributions that ship with both are bulkier, and running both takes up more memory, as multiple libraries are loaded into RAM. New Linux users are faced with confusing inconsistencies.

Open-source fans have long argued that there's healthy competition between KDE and GNOME. That's probably true, to an extent, but I don't see the differences as particularly profound; even my allegiance to KDE is pretty thin. Frankly, the more interesting rival is XFCE (used in an Ubuntu variant called Xubuntu), a spartan, utilitarian interface that forsakes glitz in favor of working on machines without vast quantities of memory, and the latest processors and graphics chips.

But the real competition here is with Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X. All this overlapping work on KDE and GNOME could be put to better use, matching or beating the innovation and performance of proprietary operating-system interfaces.

Novell released OpenSuse 10.3 Thursday, its latest free version of the open-source operating system.

Fancy 3D effects include windows that flame out when closed.

(Credit: Novell)

For those who need a refresher, OpenSuse is the faster-moving but mostly unsupported version of Linux from Novell and various outside contributors. It competes most directly with Linux versions such as Canonical's Ubuntu and Red Hat's Fedora. Novell has tried for years to pit it against Windows as well, even as it cooperates with Microsoft in a legally thorny partnership. Novell's supported product, Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise Server, is sold in the form of an annual support subscription.

Like most versions of Linux, OpenSuse has a choice of graphical interfaces. Version 10.3 includes new versions of the two most widely used, GNOME 2.20 and KDE 3.5.7, along with some elements of the forthcoming KDE 4.

Novell has been an eager adopter of fancy interface graphics, and 10.3 includes the Compiz and Compiz Fusion infrastructure for 3D effects such as desktop workspaces that map to the faces of a cube, or slightly blurred background windows, or windows that burst into flames upon closing. For those who want to head the other direction, version 4.4.1 of the minimalist graphics interface XFCE is an option.

You can either download OpenSuse for free or buy a $60 two-DVD set with a manual 90 days of installation help.

There are some notable new features, according to Novell and OpenSuse News:

• Version 2.6.22 of the Linux kernel.

• OpenOffice.org 2.3.

• Xen 3.1 and VirtualBox 1.5 virtualization software, handy for running Windows software but a complicated technology. Also included is virtual machine configuration support in the Yast management tool and an experimental version of the KVM virtualization software.

• A one-click install option to more easily add OpenSuse packages stored online.

• A new set of installation discs. Instead of coming on 5 CDs, OpenSuse comes on just one--one for KDE and a different for GNOME--with extras downloadable. Alternatively, the whole kit and caboodle is on a DVD.

• Easier installation support for proprietary audio and video "codecs" needed to decode files. When the Amarok or Banshee media players encounter an MP3 file for the first time, a dialog box will appear presenting the option to download the MP3 codec.