4 ms·

The branding got confused down the road. It was simply KDE for over a decade (maybe two? I don't remember the timing precisely). Then suddenly, a rebrand, KDE i

by chungy 4y ago

The branding got confused down the road. It was simply KDE for over a decade (maybe two? I don't remember the timing precisely). Then suddenly, a rebrand, KDE is the community of developers and users and Plasma was the desktop environment. Which just about everyone continues to call it KDE. KDE is a better understood brand than Plasma. It might always be so.

atoav 4y ago
As someone who learned about the desktop only after it was already called Plasma I don't think it is that confusing at all. Maybe it is about what one is used to? When someone says they use "KDE" as their Desktop, I still understand what they mean. After all the KDE family of applications in it's totality also represents some sort of ecosystem that one may use.
- alxlaz 4y ago
  > After all the KDE family of applications in it's totality also represents some sort of ecosystem that one may use. Sorry I gotta ruin your day but KDE applications means something else entirely in the KDE branding parlance: https://apps.kde.org/en-gb/ https://apps.kde.org/en-gb/ . It's a bunch of apps except Plasma and a few applications that are actually developed as part of plasma, like System Settings, Discover and a few others. See why everyone hates this :-D ?
account42 4y ago
The KDE-is-now-the-community rebranding is definitely corporate PR tier cringe. Was sad to see an open source project emulate that bs.
- moxvallix 4y ago
  Don’t agree. The vast amount of KDE related projects meant that the name described so much more than just a desktop environment.
- usrusr 4y ago
  As an outsider (haven't used KDE in 15 years) I perceived "Plasma" as just a fancy "very major" version number. The usual post-semver insecurity: "if every change has to be a major increment if it can't be guaranteed to be an unfailing drop-in replacement in every corner case scenario, how do I express a larger change?" Not nice, but far from cringe. But I certainly won't rule or that this is just me enjoying the blessings of ignorance :) I find it more concerning how the author celebrates all those hypothetical device classes, instead of focusing on being good at one thing (desktops). Feels a bit like being stuck in time loop where Windows 8 is still the hottest new thing (it never was, got ridiculed from the start). But again, I might be wrong, if there are non-desktop use cases that are not only live in production but also major contributors (perhaps something like large TV brands building on/building Plasma for their UI?), then they have made all the right calls. off topic: feels a bit weird to read through that very talkative YouTube monologue style, that's probably contributing a lot to my perception. But, wow, so much better to have a transcript than the video itself!
guax 4y ago
They should've renamed the organisation instead of reassign meaning. K Desktop Environment is still seared in my mind. It would be simpler to have KDE under whatever name instead of renaming KDE to Plasma + Friends.

by chungy 4y ago

atoav 4y ago

As someone who learned about the desktop only after it was already called Plasma I don't think it is that confusing at all. Maybe it is about what one is used to? When someone says they use "KDE" as their Desktop, I still understand what they mean. After all the KDE family of applications in it's totality also represents some sort of ecosystem that one may use.

alxlaz 4y ago
> After all the KDE family of applications in it's totality also represents some sort of ecosystem that one may use. Sorry I gotta ruin your day but KDE applications means something else entirely in the KDE branding parlance: https://apps.kde.org/en-gb/ https://apps.kde.org/en-gb/ . It's a bunch of apps except Plasma and a few applications that are actually developed as part of plasma, like System Settings, Discover and a few others. See why everyone hates this :-D ?

account42 4y ago

The KDE-is-now-the-community rebranding is definitely corporate PR tier cringe. Was sad to see an open source project emulate that bs.

moxvallix 4y ago
Don’t agree. The vast amount of KDE related projects meant that the name described so much more than just a desktop environment.
usrusr 4y ago
As an outsider (haven't used KDE in 15 years) I perceived "Plasma" as just a fancy "very major" version number. The usual post-semver insecurity: "if every change has to be a major increment if it can't be guaranteed to be an unfailing drop-in replacement in every corner case scenario, how do I express a larger change?" Not nice, but far from cringe. But I certainly won't rule or that this is just me enjoying the blessings of ignorance :) I find it more concerning how the author celebrates all those hypothetical device classes, instead of focusing on being good at one thing (desktops). Feels a bit like being stuck in time loop where Windows 8 is still the hottest new thing (it never was, got ridiculed from the start). But again, I might be wrong, if there are non-desktop use cases that are not only live in production but also major contributors (perhaps something like large TV brands building on/building Plasma for their UI?), then they have made all the right calls. off topic: feels a bit weird to read through that very talkative YouTube monologue style, that's probably contributing a lot to my perception. But, wow, so much better to have a transcript than the video itself!

guax 4y ago

They should've renamed the organisation instead of reassign meaning. K Desktop Environment is still seared in my mind. It would be simpler to have KDE under whatever name instead of renaming KDE to Plasma + Friends.