G+ Conversations on Fedora 20, KDE User Perceptions

By Dietrich Schmitz

We had a lively exchange over at Google Plus on Fedora 20, due out tomorrow, 12/10/2013.  (Image credit: www.infusivefive.com)

+Tycho Softworks, a regular participant, initiated the post and shared his thoughts on Fedora 20 and the 'free association' thread of comments took off leading to KDE Plasma Desktop and some of the issues users are confronted with, legitimate or otherwise.

Per usual, perception is reality and I solicited +Aaron Seigo for his view on all things KDE.  He is as always the 'Thinking Man' and has no shortage of interesting things to say.

Here is the Google Plus Post in its entirety (you will need to click through the G+ post's "time" to see the full thread of comments):

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Bodega - The Missing Piece

by Daniel Sandman

Some might not have heard of it but Bodega, a missing piece in the Linux ecosystem, was released not long ago. Many might not have put much thought about how important this little piece of software really is. As I talked about in my previous article the usual approach commercialized Linux take is to have their ecosystem closed. This can be a danger for open source and do limit the participation of others. In a way it takes the benefit and intent away from what open source really is and should be about. What the infamous +Aaron Seigo (shown right) did was to take the complete opposite approach and made his open. An infrastructure the open source world else would have lacked. This is not a small feat and a crucial part of the open source ecosystem have been filled. (Image credit: Wikipedia.org)

It's not just a content redistribution manager either. It is a more complete solution and on top of that almost completely decentralized. It does not just contain a singular entity where a central power enact it's control. It is built as if he took a blueprint of the real world with individual stores and warehouses and applied it to Bodega. People can join up and create their own business so to speak by partnering up. Which is really exactly how it should be done. I think the future will hold many specialized solutions and just as in the real world competition will be at it's core driving it forward. Anyone who have read his blog posts about the subject can see that he has put a lot of thought into this. He must have understood it's potential very early on and made sure to incorporate as much of it he could in Bodega.

Bodega - An open market for digital content

This means the reach for a content provider could be direct and limitless. It could even create jobs and lower the barrier for people who want to start a business. It is truly a vital piece filled that have been missing. At this point it might only be dream to be able to generate enough revenue to pay a rent but who knows about the future. Someone very service minded and driven could make something really good from it. The potential is really there and as it has just been release a true potential for anyone interested.

As it is still early days it do lack some parts I want to see. The only client I've seen so far is the one for Plasma Active. That is nice but I am missing a GTK one so if someone is up to it, give me a ping. I would love to test it. I know Aaron would love to see one too. He wrote about it on gnome-look.org.

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Guest Writer Aaron Seigo on Deck

As part of a regular weekly series, Katherine and I will be having Guest Writer appearances on Linux Advocates.

Aaron Seigo, Software Developer

We are pleased to announce that +Aaron Seigo, Software Developer, has kindly and graciously accepted an invitation to write and will be making a 'Guest Writer' appearance this coming week.

From his Wikipedia biography:

Aaron Joseph Seigo (born 1975 in British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian open source software developer who lives in Zürich, Switzerland. He has been a KDE contributor since KDE 2 alphas release in 2000.^[1] Currently, he works primarily with the Plasma team as project leader and developer, and won Jury's Award of Akademy Awards 2008.^[2] He was president of KDE e.V. from July 2007 to July 2009.^[3][4]

On behalf of Katherine Noyes, myself, and staff, I would like to extend a special thank you to Aaron for donating his time to Linux Advocates.  --Dietrich

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