Re: GNOME, KDE developer statement

On Mon, 2003-03-24 at 15:03, Daniel Veillard wrote:
> A sizeable group of developers from the two leading free software
> projects developing desktops based on the X Window System, KDE and
> GNOME, have been discussing the current situation among themselves
> and decided to draft and release this document.
> 
> We acknowledge the dedication of the XFree86 project in providing us a
> free and innovative implementation of the X11 industry standard,
> something we benefit from on a daily basis.  Therefore, we want to
> share our joint point of view with the community.
> 
>  1. XFree86's recent technical progress, culminating in the 4.3
>     release, brought significant advancements to the X desktop. Prior
>     X Window System implementations were lagging behind the needs of
>     modern desktop users.
> 
>     Cursor theming, simplified font configuration, dynamic screen
>     resizing, and so on address long-overdue usability issues with X
>     desktops. XFree86's robust solutions in these areas have been
>     invaluable.
> 
>     However, the work is not done. Our goal is to provide the
>     community with desktop systems far beyond what anyone offers
>     today. We are ready to take advantage of an X Window System
>     implementation that continues to innovate.
> 
>  2. GNOME and KDE have two interests in X:
> 
>      - We would like to have a single organization where X innovation
>        occurs. By innovation, we mean the definition of new APIs,
>        specifications, and features - new additions to the foundations
>        that KDE and GNOME rely on.
>  
>      - We would like to have a frequently-released, robust, stable,
>        open source implementation of these APIs, specifications, and
>        features.
>    
>     We are explicitly distinguishing innovation from implementation,
>     because standards should be adequate to allow multiple
>     fully-interoperable implementations.
> 
>     Within the development organization responsible for defining and
>     crafting new features to be adopted as standards, innovation
>     should happen in the open, with all affected parties able to
>     participate early in the process.
>  
>  3. We do not want to take sides on the recent political wrangling of
>     who did what when and who should be in charge. Our hope is that as
>     a community we can find a way to involve everyone in X's
>     development and move forward with solving technical challenges.
> 
>  4. It makes sense to us if the organization responsible for X
>     innovation also develops the most widely used open source
>     reference implementation. This ensures an emphasis on working
>     code, and provides a pool of active technical expertise.
> 
>  5. We would like to see this forum work toward a unified
>     organization, governed by active contributors, that implements,
>     deploys, and standardizes new X innovations.
> 
>     We do not want to take an a priori position on how this
>     organization should be organized or governed - that is a
>     conversation we're trying to start, rather than one we're trying
>     to end. We trust and will support the X community as they work to
>     address this issue.
> 
> Best wishes
> 
> Waldo Bastian
> Jonathan Blandford
> David Faure
> Glynn Foster
> Jody Goldberg
> James Henstridge
> Miguel de Icaza
> Antonio Larrosa Jiménez
> Stephan Kulow
> Daniel Molkentin
> Dirk Mueller
> Ralf Nolden
> Havoc Pennington
> Zack Rusin
> Daniel Veillard
> Jeff Waugh

I fully support all the points made in this statement.

-- 
Andrew Sobala <[email protected]>

This e-mail represents my personal opinions and is not an official statement from the GNOME project