[techtalk] Netscape and Java

[R Pickett]

On Wed, 13 Oct 1999, Ian Hall-Beyer wrote:

> On Wed, 13 Oct 1999, Ingrid Schupbach wrote:
> 
> > uh, actually, i guess calling "Gnome" my window manager is incorrect - i
> > guess Enlightmenment is my window manager, and what the heck do I call
> > gnome?
> 
> Strictly speaking, GNOME is a widget set, like Motif/Lesstif and KDE (KDE
> is the widget set, and I think kwm is KDE's default window mangler, much
> like E is GNOME's default window mangler.
> 
> What a widget set does exactly, I'm not sure. makes widgets, I guess, just
> like the hypothetical factories of days gone by.

A 'widget set' is a chunk of code that creates user-interface elements like
buttons and scrollbars and menus and the like.  There are several major ones
out there, the original (horribly ugly) Athena widgets that are part of the
core X distribution, Motif and its clone Lesstif, GTK+, and QT, as well as a
handful of less-used ones.

GNOME and KDE are not widget sets.  Each of them is an 'operating
environment,' consisting of a mess of interoperating applets and toolbars
and the like, and a set of specifications so that you can create new GNOME-
or KDE- compliant applications.  Each of GNOME and KDE contains a file
manager, little thingies like calculators and calendars, a handful of little
games and other accessories, and so forth.  Each also is amassing a mess of
third-party applications that will play nicely with the rest of the
environment.

GNOME is built on the GTK+ widget set, and KDE on the QT widget set.  GNOME
requires a separate window manager;  KDE includes its own, but will happily
run under any other.

Historically, GNOME was created as a response to KDE, since QT was not
considered 'free software' in the FSF sense of the word, and GTK is.  QT's
license has since been updated to just about everyone's satisfaction, but
the separate efforts still exist and are the cause of fun and exciting
flamewars to this day.

-- 
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R Pickett                Look around you. This is what the world
emerson at hayseed.net      looks like at the end of the millenium.
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