John C wrote:
One of the greatest features of linux *was* that each individuals desktop was as different as that individual. The box looked, operated, and sounded the way that user wanted it too.I think that both gnome and kde are simply becoming more popular. I don't think, however, that linux has lost its sense of individuality. After all, gnome and kde do not *have to be* installed and programs written using libraries such as Qt and GTK can be used without gnome or kde being installed.Now it seems that individuality is out-of-style and every useful tool/program that is not part of gnome/kde is being pushed out-of-the-way or becoming "depreciated".I'm beginning to hate that word. John
I see both gtk and qt as libraries that make it easier for C/C++ programmers to develop graphical programs, but they are not the *only* libraries for this purpose. There are others I'm sure. If the program works well (regardless of which library it was developed with) then it can be used effectively to achieve a specific task.
Again, I really don't think that by having gnome and kde we loose individuality, we just gain more. Did you know that unix started without X? After X matured, we had window managers like openlook (on SunOS) and fvwm95 on linux, and X applications like xclock, etc. I see it all as a "growing process" that is healthy for linux to continue in as long as, like you say, individuality is not sacrificed.
-- Sincerely Jose Alburquerque