KDE and Distributions: MEPIS Interview

URL: http://dot.kde.org/116
2426636/

From: Henrik Nordin <>
Dept: capital-letters-only
Date: Wednesday 01/Nov/2006, 16:17

KDE and Distributions: MEPIS Interview
======================================

   The MEPIS distribution has been one of the bigger
KDE-centric
distributions around for some years now, created to make
desktop
GNU/Linux easier to use. As part of our KDE and
Distributions series
founder and main contributor Warren Woodford talks to KDE
Dot News about
the history and current vision of the distribution.



                                  PAST


  I. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE HISTORY OF YOUR DISTRIBUTION?

     I started MEPIS in November 2002 because I wasn't
satisfied with
the distros I had used.  I've been working with GUIs since
1984 and I
know what I like and expect from an OS and a desktop. 
Trolltech had the
tools and KDE had the desktop but, in my opinion, everyone
was missing
the mark when putting it all together to create a user
experience.  So I
decided to do MEPIS.  I didn't know if anyone would like the
results,
including me.


 II. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE KDE AND WHICH VERSION OF KDE DID YOU
FIRST
IMPLEMENT?

     KDE and Qt reminded me of the NeXT desktop and NeXT
AppKit, which I
liked a lot. Programming in Qt/KDE was easy because the
concepts were so
similar to NeXT (now Mac OS X).  I think I first used 2.2.


III. HOW DID YOU FIND INITIAL SUPPORT FOR A NEW DISTRO?

     I found everything I needed in the documentation.


 IV. WHAT COULD KDE HAVE DONE BETTER TO HELP NEW DISTROS USE
KDE?

     I can't think of anything.


  V. WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS ABOUT KDE'S
DOCUMENTATION AND
COMMUNITY?

     I'm happy with the documentation. But some apps seems
to have ample
documentation, while others seem to have very little.  I
wish the
implementation were more even.

     I've met some of the community members at shows, and
they're a
great crowd.



                                PRESENT


  I. HOW CLOSELY DO YOUR RELEASES DEPEND ON KDE RELEASES?

     We sync releases with KDE, since KDE is the largest
part of what
the user sees.  Typically we wait for KDE to settle a bit
after a new
release and then we roll out a new MEPIS.


 II. DO YOU HAVE A CLEAR TARGET AUDIENCE FOR YOUR DISTRO?

     Our number one target is non-technical computer users
who want an
easy path away from Windows.  But often our users are
technical and
experienced.  For many of them, computers are a bit of a
hobby, a way to
learn new things and a way to socialise with others.

     A recent poll on the MEPISLovers forum indicated that
we have users
starting at 2 years of age going up to 90 and that the curve
is flat
from about 30 to 60, or maybe it was 70.  In other words,
MEPIS seems to
appeal to people of all ages.


III. DO YOU HAVE ANY USER FEEDBACK MECHANISM? IF SO, WHAT
FEEDBACK DO
THEY HAVE ABOUT KDE?

     We get feedback from the MEPIS forums, the MEPISLovers
forums,
direct email, and reviews written by MEPIS supporters. 
MEPIS users
usually have little to say specifically about KDE.  It's
there, it
works, they like it.

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

     We choose which packages to include and we tweak the
defaults. 
Otherwise, we let KDE be KDE.  It's an incredibly flexible
and
adjustable desktop.  We don't feel a need to rewrite it.

     Our OnTheGo feature, which gives the user an encrypted
desktop
running on a USB key, uses some custom magic at login time.


 IV. WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST STRENGTHS OF KDE FOR YOUR DISTRO?

     The many many well integrated KDE pieces that we can
choose from to
make the MEPIS desktop.

     Your commitment to quality.


  V. WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST WEAKNESSES?

     Media device support.  It continues to get better, but
it still
isn't good enough for very non-technical users.  I'm hoping
that'll be
cleared up in 4.0.

     And media players.  The current choices all have
strengths and
weaknesses. None of them are a clear winner.  It reminds me
of K3B 3
years ago, close but no cigar.  K3B got their act together,
and now they
kick butt.  Hopefully, the same will happen to KMPlayer or
Kaffeine or
some other app.


 VI. WHAT KDE APPLICATIONS ARE THE MOST POPULAR AMONG YOUR
USERS?

     Amarok, Kmail, K3B, Digikam, Konqueror


VII. DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH THE
KDE
COMMUNITY?

     Yes.  Everything's fine.



                                 FUTURE


  I. WHAT FEATURE WOULD YOU AS A DISTRO MAINTAINER LIKE TO
SEE IN KDE?

     As I indicated above, I'd like to see a world-class app
for playing
video files and streams.  Maybe KMPlayer with more style, a
few more
features, and a better UI (like K3B).


 II. IS THE EXTENDED 4.0 RELEASE CYCLE AN ISSUE FOR YOUR
DISTRO?

     No, it'll give us time to catch up on other work.


III. WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO ABOUT THE 4.0
RELEASE?

     I don't know yet.  Every time you have a major release
I find lots
of new goodies to play with. 


 IV. DO YOU PLAN ANY INVOLVEMENT IN THE BETA/RC RELEASES OF
THE 4.0
RELEASE?

     To the degree that we have time.  Some members of the
MEPIS
community are always among the first to try new KDE
releases.  I'm sure
they'll be involved.


  V. ANY OTHER PLANS FOR YOUR DISTRO IN THE FUTURE?

     64 bit seems to be inevitable.

     We plan on better integration with OS X.

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