[Foss-cafe] Novell's new desktop

[dep]

quoth Fred Smith:

| Gnome 2.6 is shipping with an email, contact, calendar, and
| addressbook system called evolution-data-server, which allows any
| application (not just evolution) to connect with these data sources.

how? it seems to me that there would have to be some kind of standard to 
make this possible.

| With the notible annoyance that mozilla wipes the clipboard on
| startup, I'm able to copy and paste between mozilla, epiphany,
| evolution, xterm, and any other program.  Perhaps klipper is doing
| something to interfere with this behavior?

i do not think highly of klipper (or any kde clipboard since the 2.x 
days), but i have it turned off here. i'm thinking particularly of the 
gecko-based nvu, which would be an admirable program but for its 
disconnection from the clipboard.

| > it would be supremely cool to be able to switch around among email
| > apps the way one can among word processors or html editors, without
| > each one corrupting the entire proceedings for every other one.
| > this would be good not just for a common desktop but for the
| > adoption of desktop linux in general.
|
| Although how often does someone do that?  I used Konqueror the other
| day for the first time in about a year because I came across a site
| with some IE specific javascript.  Gecko was confused, but konqueror
| handled it wonderfully.  I've never had a reason to do anything but
| try Kmail; I use it for about 30 seconds every so often and realize
| it doesn't hold a candle to evolution.  Same thing with thunderbird,
| etc.  Why would someone switch between mailers so often?

for the same reason that one switches among word processors -- some 
favored feature for a particular task or simply because it suits one's 
taste or mood of the moment. or even, as is the case with kmail, that a 
new version will sometimes break the existing configuration files (the 
reason that i have not upgraded from kde-3.1.something to 3.2x -- it is 
reputed to break all manner of configurations. we some of us spend 
considerable time getting the desktop as we want it, and to have an 
incremental upgrade break it is troubling at least).

and, frankly, because sometimes people would like to try out a new email 
app just to see if it representa an improvement. but without standards 
for such things as mail subdirectories, addressbooks, and even certain 
configurations, this is an unpleasant thing and often one whence there 
is no easy, safe return if the new app proves less promising than it 
seemed.
-- 
dep

the mind earns by doing. the heart earns by trying.