[kde-community] Give People Access to Great Technology - a possible vision

[Simon Edwards]

On 2014-09-19 18:56, Andrew Lake wrote:
> A possible vision
> -----------------

Think this is a fine vision for computing centered around a desktop. 
Unfortunately it is a model which doesn't fit how I do computing these, 
and I suspect that it doesn't fit a large part of the "desktop using" 
population.

Bluntly put, the desktop is that thing I briefly see before my web 
browser starts up.

The applications I use the most are web applications. I read my email 
via Roundcube which is served from my main 'desktop' machine. I follow a 
lot of RSS feeds using Tiny Tiny RSS, another web application served via 
my 'desktop' machine. Music streams through a web application too. That 
plus the usual web sites and discussion forums which live in their own 
tabs in Firefox. My computing time is split 3 main machines, a desktop 
machine (KDE) and a laptop at home (KDE), plus the machine I use at work 
(Win7, no admin). There is no one desktop for me. The only 'one' thing I 
have at the center of my computing is the set of web applications I use 
and the network which ties it together.

I don't think that I am alone in this. Just go have a look at what the 
'normals' (=not us technologists) are doing on their 'desktop' 
computers. They're doing their email in a web app. They're watching 
video and movies via web apps. They're writing documents in web apps. 
And of course they are using Facebook, LinkedIn etc etc, things which 
have never had desktop equivalents.

Where does KDE fit into this? I don't know. But I do know that there is 
a big need for software which respects the user's freedom and is truly 
controlled by the user, regardless of how it is technically created or 
delivered. Currently there is no KDE for the web.

Regarding our approach to "cloud services". The Cloud and the stuff that 
run on it aren't just remote services which we can integrate with using 
our desktop clients. These services are available everywhere and 
directly usable through the browser with no installation, and most 
importantly directly compete against traditional desktop apps for user's 
attention. The biggest competition with the traditional desktop isn't 
mobile. It is the web itself and applications it delivers.

I apologise for not having more answers.

--Simon

-- 
Simon Edwards
simon at simonzone.com
Nijmegen, The Netherlands