Interview: Xandros and KDE

Fabrice Mous writes "The Xandros Desktop OS is known for their intuitive graphical environment that works right out of the box. Their polished desktop product is based on KDE. The KDE News website had the privilege to talk to Rick Berenstein, Xandros Chairman and CTO and Ming Poon, Vice President for Software Development about Xandros and their products and the relationship between Xandros and the KDE project. Without further ado ... enjoy the interview!"

At

[AbbyNormal]

$90 a download, I'm not sure really what they have that other distributions don't? I think they have simplified a few processes (look and feel of the desktop) a little for the average user, which is fantastic, but most of which is in some form or the other on other distributions.

Stop confusing intuitive with familiar

[Anonymous Coward]

There is nothing "intuitive" about Windows-based interfaces.

They're merely familiar!

Re:Why is it "intuitive"?

[Gilesx]

"Why is this deemed "intuitive" then? Isn't this just another attempt to replicate MS experience on another OS? Or am I missing something?"

Actually, you'll find that the KDE desktop project in general is very much like this. It's always seemed to strike a rather uneasy balance - the look and feel are mainly based on Windows, yet the icons seem to be more Apple like. This is going to be very confusing indeed for a migrating user.

Re:At

[stomer]

CodeWeavers CrossOver Office and Plugin makes it able to run any Windows compatible applications on Xandros Desktop.

That alone could justifiy the cash for the average user to be able to make the switch.

Not for me or you, possibly, but for the average joe, compatibility is key.

I just do not get it

[geneshifter]

Why the heck are we still focused on emulating windows right down to the exact contextual menus? Why not try to strike out on a new path.

I use OS X and I love it, but I also love mu Suse and I have always thought that a good GUI (ahem...not like windows) could launch linux into the stratosphere. Why spend time and effort "creating" a GUI that is already in use???

C'mon, don't waste your talents for another second!

Re:Why is it "intuitive"?

[manavendra]

Exactly my point. I fail to understand this whole OSS need to make a desktop, an interface and file manager that "just looks like MS!". Why is is to?

Or is it that they all accept deep down that MS has an interface that's hard to top?

You're all missing the point !!

[Qwavel]

Many of the posts here are slagging Xandros for trying to look like Windows and are questioning the idea that this makes it intuitive.

Maybe you are all just trolling, because I find it hard to believe that you haven't seen the desktop numbers (or at least heard about them). Almost everyone uses Windows on the desktop, except a few who use the Mac (with MS's full blessing).

The purpose of the Xandros distribution is to appeal to Windows users. It is supposed to be intuitive to Windows users, not Linux users. 'Lock-in' really exists and it is really important: it is very difficult to switch to another OS if you've only ever used Windows. It's not a matter of which is better, it's a question of familiarity.

I personally would like to see more Windows users using Linux (in any form), and I would especially like to see a small dent made in the MS monopolies so I'm glad to see Xandros working on this.

Now, if you want to slag Xandros, there are lots of better ways to do this. Most importantly to me, they don't seem to contribute much back. People are attacking Red Hat a lot these days, but take a loook at the amount that Red Hat contributes to important OSS projects (eg. GCC). Xandros does not. But that is their right - they are not breaking the GPL or anything (to the best of my knowledge). By the way, Dream Weavers (which is included in Xandros and shares some ownership) is also an excellent contributor (to Wine).

It also seems to me that their product is way over priced, but I guess I don't know what their strategy is.

Re:Stop confusing intuitive with familiar

[Alomex]

Such statements only hurt OSS. There's plenty intuitive in Windows, and the sooner we duplicate those the better we are.

By the same token, there is plenty that is non-intuitive too, so we should steer away from those.

As they say, know thy enemy. That is the rational think to do.... hey wait, this is /. never mind.

Re:I just do not get it

[abelsson]

I've noticed that all those people that cry "But they're just emulating windows" never make any concrete suggestions on how a superior desktop would look like. Just a thought..

Which begs the question...

[Colonel Angus]

...will any Linux distro forego familiarity and try to revolutionize a new desktop? People are familiar with Windows, but, as stated here, is it really that intuitive? Not unless you've used it for some time. So why not develop the next gen desktop and trump MS. I know IceVM and the like are vastly different, but I don't know how Joe Sixpack would adapt to the interface. Who knows, maybe he would... but I would definitely like to see some innovation in the desktop as it has been untouched for decades, really. Christ, I remember GEOS on the C64 that was an 8bit, 64k version of today's desktop. End of rant... informative or not...

Transparent Migration

[Anonymous Coward]

The biggest reason for look-and-feel cloning is to make migration from Windows, with it's 98% control of the desktop market, to Linux as pain free as possible.

Besides, imagine trying to sell off the idea of Linux migration to a Fortune 500 company saying that "Oh, yeah, you'll have to retrain all of your staff who will be using the new Linux installation because we feel our WM and Desktop environment is cooler/slicker/13373r than that Windows crap." as opposed to "The computing environment will be familiar requiring minimal retraining and no loss of productivity."

Re:Jef Raskin says "don't say intuitive"

[diamondsw]

I would respectfully disagree with Mr. Raskin. Familiar is all well and good, but they should be discoverable above all else. Even if it's not familiar, the interface should be very accessible, users should immediately know where to go next, or have an obvious starting point to locate features (start menu, menu bar, etc).

Re:At

[stomer]

You're telling me that the reason that it's worth $90 is BECAUSE IT RUNS SOME WINDOWS APPS? You're fucking kidding me.

No, I'm not kidding you. I am talking about people who want to switch because they are fed up with the fact that windows is a piece of shit. Yet, they feel tied to the OS because nothing else will run that ONE app that they have to have. To that person, $90 may be reasonable.

Windows only costs $100.

Plus $X for McAfee
Plus $X for firewall software (or hardware)
Plus $X on beer to have geek friends help clean up the machine from spyware, virus, etc.
and so on.....

Don't be fooled by the sticker price on the box, windows costs a lot more than $100.

You're telling me that you think users should switch away from the 900lb microsoft gorilla in order to get the freedom (speech) and the freeness (beer) that Linux offers?!? And THEN you tell me that you think users should pay 90% the cost of windows, in order to be able to run a few select windows apps, because they will still need them in order to switch?!?

Again, I disagree that $90 is 90% of the cost. I'm talking about your average joe type consumer that might actually be getting fed up with microsoft crap. The other percentage of just plain clueless will probably just switch over to Mac soon anyway.

If it's only 10% cheaper, and not all your games and apps will work, plus your desktop is somewhat unfamiliar, plus it's generally not as professional and not as good, then why switch?

Because linux (or Mac OS X) is very stable, secure, less likely to be hit by virus or spyware, etc.

But, I could be wrong.

Transparent Migration

[FudgePackinJesus]

Posted AC originally but I thought it needed better visibility...

The biggest reason for look-and-feel cloning is to make migration from Windows, with it's 98% control of the desktop market, to Linux as pain free as possible.

Besides, imagine trying to sell off the idea of Linux migration to a Fortune 500 company saying that "Oh, yeah, you'll have to retrain all of your staff who will be using the new Linux installation because we feel our WM and Desktop environment is cooler/slicker/13373r than that Windows crap." as opposed to "The computing environment will be familiar requiring minimal retraining and no loss of productivity."

Re:At

[trezor]

• 6.) Easy to use, without insulting power users

This applies to Windows HOW?

/just asking

Re:Why is it "intuitive"?

[StormReaver]

"We all rant about things that MS got wrong and the superiorities of *nix over MS - why not apply all that to UI's as well?"

Because most of the time people, when confronted with a different UI, shreak and complain about how they'll never use it because it requires them to learn too many new things.

Change has to be gradual, but familiarity has to be maintained. When I show people Konqueror's split panes, they panic. Over the course of a few days to a few weeks, they learn how to use it somewhat effectively.

KDE has a good number of these UI enhancements over Windows, but most of the users I've introduced to KDE get very scared when I diverge from the things to which they are accustomed.