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<chapter id="what-is-kde"> |
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<chapterinfo> |
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<date>2002-01-18</date> |
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<releaseinfo>3.00.00</releaseinfo> |
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</chapterinfo> |
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<title>What is &kde;?</title> |
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<anchor id="whatiskde"/> |
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<sect1 id="what-is-kde-introduction"> |
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<title>What is &kde;?</title> |
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<para>&kde; is a desktop environment. In other words, &kde; is a |
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collection of programs, technologies and documentation that attempt to |
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make life easier for computer users. &kde; is targeted at &UNIX; |
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workstations. It features network transparency and a contemporary work |
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philosophy. </para> |
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<para>The creators of the K Desktop Environment are a world-wide group of |
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software engineers. This group's major goal in free software development is to |
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provide high quality software that empowers the user with easy control of his |
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computer's resources.</para> |
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<para>&kde; seeks to fill the need for an easy to use desktop for |
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&UNIX; workstations, similar to the desktop environments found under |
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&MacOS; or &Windows; 95/NT. &kde; meets the requirement |
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of users for an easy to use work environment. Tools used to reach |
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this end are: enhanced inter-application communication, component |
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reuse, generalized drag and drop, uniform look and feel and many |
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more. Thus, &kde; offers much more than the traditional &UNIX; window |
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managers.</para> |
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<para>Stability, scaleability and openness are qualities which have |
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made &UNIX; the undisputed choice for the information technology |
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professional for many years. &kde; builds on top of this excellent |
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base framework and brings new, much needed qualities: usability, user |
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friendliness and beauty! &kde; was the first, and stays the forefront |
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player in bringing these qualities to &UNIX;, which constituted for |
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years, the premier platform for server computers and scientific |
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institutions, but wasn't very attractive for desktop users.</para> |
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<para>Without &UNIX; the Internet would not exist, or at least would |
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have a vastly different form. &UNIX; has not, until now, addressed the |
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needs of the average computer user. This fact is particularly |
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unfortunate, since a number of implementations of &UNIX; (<ulink |
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url="http://www.linux.org">&Linux;</ulink>, <ulink |
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url="http://www.freebsd.org">FreeBSD</ulink>, <ulink |
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url="http://www.netbsd.org">NetBSD</ulink>, etc) are freely |
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available on the Internet, all of which are of exceptional quality and |
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stability. </para> |
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</sect1> |
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<sect1 id="what-is-kde-the-desktop"> |
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<title>&kde; The Desktop Environment</title> |
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<para>In combination with a free implementation of &UNIX;, &kde; |
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provides to the world an open and completely free desktop computing |
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platform either at home or at work.</para> |
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<para> This platform is available to anyone free of charge including |
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its source code for anyone to modify.</para> |
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<para>While there will always be room for improvement we believe we |
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have now delivered a viable alternative to some of the more commonly |
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found and commercial operating systems/desktops combinations available |
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today. It is our hope that the combination of &UNIX; and &kde; will |
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finally bring the same open, reliable, stable, and monopoly free |
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computing to the average computer user that scientists and computing |
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professionals world-wide have enjoyed for years. </para> |
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</sect1> |
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<sect1 id="what-is-kde-the-development-framework"> |
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<title>&kde; The Application Development Framework</title> |
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<para>&kde; focuses on the user's needs, but it's obvious that this |
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focus is more easily achieved by also giving developers the best |
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tools. &kde; code contains, and comes with, some of the best |
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development technologies of the modern computing age.</para> |
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<para>Authoring applications under &UNIX;/X11 used to be an extremely |
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tedious and labor intensive process. &kde; recognizes the fact that a |
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computing platform is only as good as the number of first class |
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applications available to the users of that particular |
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platform.</para> |
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<para>&kde; defines new technologies in &DCOP; and KParts, created to |
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offer a component document model and technology. Together with the |
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complete &kde; libraries programming interface, &DCOP;/KParts are set |
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in direct competition with other similar technologies like &Microsoft; |
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<abbrev>MFC</abbrev>/<abbrev>COM</abbrev>/ActiveX technologies. The |
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excellent quality and the high level of refinement of &kde;'s |
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application programming interface (<acronym>API</acronym>) enables |
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developers to focus on original and interesting issues and avoid |
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reinventing the wheel.</para> |
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</sect1> |
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<sect1 id="what-is-kde-the-office-suite"> |
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<title>&kde; The Office Application Suite</title> |
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<para>In its current form, &kde; provides, apart from the essential desktop |
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component applications, a suite of powerful office programs known to the |
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world by the name &koffice;.</para> |
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<para>&koffice; is based on the &kde; &DCOP;/KParts |
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technologies. It currently contains: a word processor with desktop |
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publishing capabilities (&kword;), a spreadsheet application (&kspread;) |
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and accompanying charting program (&kchart;), a presentation program |
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(&kpresenter;) and a vector drawing program (&kontour;). Tying things |
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together is the <application>KOffice Workspace</application>, an |
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integrated shell to ease the use of the &koffice; components in |
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conjunction with each other. Additional components include an email |
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client, a news reader, and a powerful <abbrev>PIM</abbrev> (Personal |
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Information Manager - an organizer).</para> |
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<para>While some of those components are still in alpha development, |
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others are already extremely powerful. For example, &kpresenter;, |
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&kde;'s presentation application, was successfully used at the 5th |
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International &Linux; Congress in Cologne, Germany to deliver a &kde; |
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presentation. </para> |
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<para>We would like to invite you to <ulink |
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url="http://www.kde.org">learn more about &kde;</ulink> and <ulink |
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url="http://koffice.kde.org">&koffice;</ulink>.</para> |
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</sect1> |
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</chapter> |
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