[kde-community] Proposal One: KDE (Core) Apps and Suites

[Jos Poortvliet]

On Thursday 24 April 2014 23:23:28 Jaroslaw Staniek wrote:
> On 22 April 2014 11:31, Mario Fux <kde-ml at unormal.org> wrote:
> > Proposal:
> > Reduce the amount of KDE Core Apps according to a definition and release
> > the other apps in independent groups or suites like e.g. KDE Edu, KDE
> > Games, KDE PIM, Amarok or the Calligra Suite.
> > 
> > Details:
> > We could decide on a group of KDE Core Apps (for the Desktop) based on a
> > definition like this:
> > - Allows you to manage your files and documents (e.g. => Dolphin, Ark,
> > K3b?) - Allows you to view documents and pictures (e.g. => Okular and
> > Gwenview) - Allows you to watch movies and listen to music (e.g. =>
> > Dragon and Juk) - Allows you to administrate and manage your system (e.g.
> > => print-manager, ksane, systemsettings)
> > - Allows you to do this in an accessible way*: (e.g. => Simon, Jovie and
> > Co) - Allows you to write some notes and find them again (e.g. =>
> > Kate/Kwrite)
> One note, I would not call Kate as core app. It rather belongs to a
> Specialized Apps group (with KDevelop, Konsole and... Kexi for
> example). Anyone unconvinced can look at, say, Kate's Tools menu :)
> 
> So my idea could be to start from optics of basic user, discovering
> personas, their
> goals or needs, and then realistic groups would appear naturally.
> BTW, does even "Core Apps" sound fine for the basic user?

Core Apps is horrible in any case, it should be something like the KDE 
Essentials.

But, as Agustin also pointed out, we need to be careful not to dilute our 
brand. Plasma is our desktop (ok, 'workspaces', but primarily desktop still). 
We ship applications, which are currently conveniently bundled in 'KDE 
Applications' with a 'Extragear' and then some separate suites, Calligra and 
Amarok being separate (but Kontact being part of the KDE Applications...?).

I think the idea of grouping releases ('Sigma'?) is a good one. How about we 
start there. Let's give Applications more freedom, yet allow them to be part 
of the 'bunch', yes? Calligra, Amarok, the Extragear apps - they should be 
part of the KDE Applications. Fold it all in there, with more flexibility 
thanks to more regular (but non-mandatory) releases. Yes, everybody their own 
release numbers, no synchronization needed at all. Not every release needs 
every application, but perhaps for convenience of distro's we provide 
everything in a tarball- just not with updated version numbers. They can ship 
KDE Applications 2015.6 (?) and be sure to have all of them, but many of the 
apps might not be different from those in KDE Applications 2015.2.

And then we have Plasma, as it is now - the core desktop (netbook/media 
center) experience. Kwalletmanager, Systemsettings - they are part of this 
already, aren't they? That makes sense. The criteria: you really need them to 
use Plasma Desktop in a reasonable way (eg 95% usecase).

To satisfy the need of distributions (and users) to know what they should have 
for a basic, functioning, KDE-software based desktop, we define the KDE 
Essentials. Very bare: Konsole, Kwrite, Dolphin, Ark, Okular, Gwenview, you 
can imagine. The criteria: EVERY user (well, ~90%) uses these applications, 
BUT you can swap them with another without everything falling apart.

Example: You can't configure things without Systemsettings (gnome 
systemsettings won't do the trick for you...), you can't save passwords 
without kwalletmanager, but you can replace Dolphin with Nautilus and Kate is 
most likely not needed by ~90% of our users. So Systemsettings goes in Plasma, 
Dolphin in Essentials, Kate in its module in KDE Applications. Accessibility 
also probably belongs in Essentials, not for 90% of the users needing it but, 
well, let's call it human decency that accessibility is something we consider 
essential!

We ship no duplicates in the essentials, and have a best-of-breed policy. Let 
the release managers decide what goes in, in consensus-style discussion with 
the application maintainers, that should generally work just fine. The modules 
- I think they can stay where they make sense for their respective teams (KDE 
Edu comes to mind) and just go away where they already don't really exist (KDE 
Admin) or make no sense.

The result: branding stays the same (stronger, even, pulling in Amarok, 
Calligra, Kdenlive etc), we protect what we build up over the years, it is 
simple, YET it cleans up a bit of the fuzzy stuff and gives more clear 
criteria for decisions.

I know. The idea above isn't much different from what Mario proposed, except 
with a very limiting 'core'. More 'essentials'. I know I probably used more 
words than I should have.

Hugs,
Jos
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