cies' blog

i read some of the many writings on the strange positions some of gnomes prominent members seem to take. to me it boils down to: the relation of corporations and FLOSS projects.

as FLOSS grows (and grows, and grows) it becomes more and more important/interesting/dangerous for corporations. so they will try to influence particular projects. as FLOSS projects are very different from businesses (thank god), the means of influence corporations have are also very different. for instance, they cannot just buy them out.

when i look at how gnome is influenced by corporations the last years, i see a lot of resistance from its community on this influence: simplifying the interface, going mono, and the recent positions of some of its prominent members. all with a lot of resistance from the gnome community. i feel that the way corporations push gnome is not the way its community would like to go.

on the other had there is the kde project and trolltech as kde's the biggest corporate influence. it is in kde's case trolltechs influence is (for all i know) always welcomed... why? i think because trolltech simply pushes kde in the direction that the kde community is already going. it only facilitates.

look at the phonon news from today, isnt that beautiful?

i think that the relationship between kde and trolltech -- that was once regarded as evil and thereby spawned gnome -- is one of the most beautiful examples of a relation between a FLOSS project and a corporation that satisfies both parties. thank you trolltech!