[CS-FSLUG] Theory Exercise: Stable Desktop

[Eduardo Sánchez]

On Wednesday 31 December 2008 14.41.56 Ed Hurst wrote:
> Humor me for a moment. I write from acknowledged ignorance of the
> finer details.
>
> Assume for the moment I am part of the leadership for a new distro
> project. We are going to have one, and only one, desktop. Among other
> things, we want to choose, adapt, or if necessary develop our own
> desktop environment. A major requirement is stable experience for the
> user over a period of years. Underlying changes are fine, but it must
> remain just as quick on that same hardware four or five years later
> as it was at first. This is non-negotiable. Innovation must take a
> back seat to stability.
>

KDE 3.5.10 is one answer. It's been over 2 years since its release and 
it got lots of bugfixes. It seems that it will still get a little more 
maintenance. It has a huge amount of localization, and plenty of apps as 
well.

Problems? Qt 3.x is no longer supported at Nokia (IIRC). But otherwise, 
it is a great desktop.

A lighter alternative would be IceWM, coupled with a graphical config 
frontend (and I understand there are many of those). Small, fast, runs 
very well on ancient hardware with little memory, and it's very stable.

I use KDE 4.1.3 right now, and I'm getting ready for 4.2, but I 
understand KDE 4.x is not something unchanging or very-long-term stable 
these days.

Happy New Year to all!!!

Blessings,

Eduardo

-- 
Eduardo Sanchez, B. Th.
Traductor Público Inglés-Español
http://shadow.sombragris.org
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 As under cover of departing Day
 Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away,
   Once more within the Potter's house alone
 I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay.

	-- The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
	   

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