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Oddly enough there seems to be an EU/US split with KDE and GNOME. SUSE has long been a KDE backer.

by tapoxi 8y ago

toyg 8y ago
Not that odd: Qt, the toolkit KDE is built on, originated in Europe at Trolltech. There has always been a pretty clear split where European companies (like SuSE) built on KDE/QT/C++ and American companies went with GNOME/GTK/C.
- h1d 8y ago
  What does it matter if Trolltech originated in Europe? I didn't know that until now.
  - Symbiote 8y ago
    The comment [1] could be relevant. I use KDE, if I introduce someone to Linux they're likely to use KDE as well. If significant "influencers" use KDE, like universities and people writing software for the public sector, then many casual users will follow. SUSE is German, Mandrake (Mandriva) was French, both defaulted to KDE. When I first used Linux, it was easy to find a magazine with an installation CD for one of these. Presumably there was some sponsorship, or simply network effect. Also, Gnome's top menu bar felt like it was trying to imitate Mac OS, which has always been less common in Europe than North America. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18367356 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18367356
  - toyg 8y ago
    The closer the company, the more likely the local ecosystem will adopt its solutions over competitors from afar. Customers get better access to top hackers and top management, and the network of users can reach critical mass and influence others: why choose GTK when everyone that could help you in Oslo knows Qt so well? And the same, vice-versa, in other places. It’s one of the reason the SF / Portland / NY / Boston / Berlin / London clusters are so valuable for companies of all sorts: the network effects are real. This was even more critical back then, 20 years ago: the internet was in its infancy (and slow), and flying was much more expensive than it is today.
lbeltrame 8y ago
Actually, most of the packages in openSUSE related to KDE software are handled by community people: two SUSE employees are part of the team, but they don't work on KDE stuff as part of their day jobs. Disclaimer: I co-maintain the KDE Frameworks 5 and KDE Applications packages in openSUSE and I'm not employed or affiliated with SUSE.

Oddly enough there seems to be an EU/US split with KDE and GNOME. SUSE has long been a KDE backer.

by tapoxi 8y ago

Oddly enough there seems to be an EU/US split with KDE and GNOME. SUSE has long been a KDE backer.

toyg 8y ago

Not that odd: Qt, the toolkit KDE is built on, originated in Europe at Trolltech. There has always been a pretty clear split where European companies (like SuSE) built on KDE/QT/C++ and American companies went with GNOME/GTK/C.

h1d 8y ago
What does it matter if Trolltech originated in Europe? I didn't know that until now.
- Symbiote 8y ago
  The comment [1] could be relevant. I use KDE, if I introduce someone to Linux they're likely to use KDE as well. If significant "influencers" use KDE, like universities and people writing software for the public sector, then many casual users will follow. SUSE is German, Mandrake (Mandriva) was French, both defaulted to KDE. When I first used Linux, it was easy to find a magazine with an installation CD for one of these. Presumably there was some sponsorship, or simply network effect. Also, Gnome's top menu bar felt like it was trying to imitate Mac OS, which has always been less common in Europe than North America. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18367356 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18367356
- toyg 8y ago
  The closer the company, the more likely the local ecosystem will adopt its solutions over competitors from afar. Customers get better access to top hackers and top management, and the network of users can reach critical mass and influence others: why choose GTK when everyone that could help you in Oslo knows Qt so well? And the same, vice-versa, in other places. It’s one of the reason the SF / Portland / NY / Boston / Berlin / London clusters are so valuable for companies of all sorts: the network effects are real. This was even more critical back then, 20 years ago: the internet was in its infancy (and slow), and flying was much more expensive than it is today.

lbeltrame 8y ago

Actually, most of the packages in openSUSE related to KDE software are handled by community people: two SUSE employees are part of the team, but they don't work on KDE stuff as part of their day jobs. Disclaimer: I co-maintain the KDE Frameworks 5 and KDE Applications packages in openSUSE and I'm not employed or affiliated with SUSE.