[dot] KDE and Distributions: Red Flag Interview

[Dot Stories]

URL: http://dot.kde.org/1152563989/

From: Wade Olson <olson at kde.org>
Dept: one-billion-users
Date: Monday 10/Jul/2006, @13:39

KDE and Distributions: Red Flag Interview
=========================================

   Red Flag [http://www.redflag-linux.com/eindex.html] Desktop Linux is
the leading distribution
[http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=redflag] in China and
surrounding regions. Its goal is to provide the most professional
desktop product available. It has more than an 80% desktop share in the
Chinese linux market, and over one million copies are shipped each year
with KDE as its only desktop environment.  Huang JianZhong, a Senior
Manager in the Desktop Product R&D Department of Red Flag, speaks below
about the history of Red Flag Linux and their relationship with KDE.  In
2006, Red Flag Linux has been visible by joining the Open Source
Development Labs (OSDL) [http://www.osdl.org/] and their ongoing
[http://www.asianux.com/announcement_redflag.php] work with Asianux
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asianux].



                                  PAST
 Can you tell us about the history of your distribution? (How/when/why)
     Huang JianZhong: Red Flag Linux was launched in 1999 by the
Institute of Software [http://www.ios.ac.cn/english/index_english.htm],
China Academy of Science (CAS)
[http://english.cas.cn/Eng2003/page/home.asp]. We hoped to promote Linux
in China.

     Why did you choose KDE and which version of KDE did you first
implement?

     HJ: At that time, KDE was more stable than GNOME. The KDE version
was 1.1.1.

     How did you find initial support for a new distro?

     HJ: We got some support from DEC China and Founder China.  Of
course, the biggest support was from Institute of Software, CAS
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Academy_of_Sciences].

     What could KDE have done better to help new distros use KDE?

     HJ: More flexible modular packages and performance improvements.
Also, a reduction of memory footprint.

     What were your first impressions about KDE's documentation and
community?

     HJ: Great and complete, but no Chinese version.



                                PRESENT

     How closely do your releases depend on KDE releases?

     HJ: Historically, we wanted to keep the API of our release as
stable as possible, So typically we kept the version of KDE unchanged
for long periods of time.  We would then backport some APIs and features
from the newest KDE release. Now, we have decided to follow the official
release because we find that the newest version of KDE is stable enough
and fixes more bugs than our work. Also, it always provides many new
features desired by our customers.

     Do you have a clear target audience for your distro?

     HJ: All Chinese users who want to use Linux and KDE.

     Do you have any user feedback mechanism? If so, what feedback do
they have about KDE?

     HJ: Yes, a powerful service network, bugzilla and forums.

     In general, the feedback from customers is good: they have a
comfortable desktop environment. More feedback focuses on hardware
drivers and compatibility. But, if we can make KDE faster, that is
great.

     In what ways do you customise the version of KDE that ships with
your distro?

     HJ: We never change the APIs and Core Libraries for compatibility
reasons.  Most work focuses on "ease of use" and bugfixes.  Also, we
make an effort to work on GUI improvements and application enhancements.

     What are the biggest strengths of KDE for your distro?

     HJ: The interface is similar to (forgive me) Windows, so the
commercial users have no need to change their situation.  As for
computer fans, they can customize the desktop as what they want; KDE
provides a great configuration system.

     What are the biggest weaknesses?

     HJ: Applications such as a Firefox KDE version (see below).

     What KDE applications are the most popular among your users?

     HJ: Kontact, Kopete, Amarok, K3b, Kaffeine and Konqueror as a file
manager (everybody use it).

     Do you feel that you have a good relationship with the KDE
community?

     HJ: I am not sure, but we are trying to contribute more to the KDE
community.



                                 FUTURE

     What feature would you as a distro maintainer like to see in KDE?

     HJ: Integration between Konqueror and Gecko engine.  Better KOffice
ODF support and interoperability with OO.o.  However, we hope for a pure
KDE environment.

     Is the extended 4.0 release cycle an issue for your distro?

     HJ: Umm...well, we have plans to adopt KDE 4 in our next release;
so we are waiting for it.

     What are you most looking forward to about the 4.0 release?

     HJ: A completely new and exciting user experience.

     Do you plan any involvement in the beta/RC releases of the 4.0
release?

     HJ: We hope so. We will do more bugfixes for KDE 4.

     Any other plans for your distro in the future?

     HJ: We have plans to implement some new features for the KDE 4.0
series, so we have some new ideas.