It’s 16th June today, and within about two weeks Trolltech are expected to release Qt4. Which will have GPL licensing option not only for Linux and Mac, as before, but for Windows, too. KDE 4.0 will follow very soon – the probably most powerful desktop in existence, having applications for nearly everything one may need for everyday’s work.
As a coincidence, within a couple of months, OpenOffice.org 2.0 will be released. Which is the office package that the free world relies upon. And happens to be its first version that is a) fit for the proverbial blonde secretary, and b) few, if anybody, doubts a).
All this creates a focal point in the development of free / open source software – a point where a relatively small effort may change the direction the software development goes as a whole. For a very first time, the users of Windows (that is, over 90% of the desktop users) will have all the components of an environment that is good for almost every use of almost every non-geek, and is free / open source software. And, more, is the same over Windows, Mac and Linux – one used to it will be able to switch the underlying OS without practically noticing it.
It is time now to create something I dubbed for myself “K Productivity Desktop” – a KDE-based suite, including also OpenOffice.org 2.0, Firefox, and possibly several other important F/OSS programs. With these two important assets:
1. Covering 99% of the everyday’s computer needs of the non-geeks.
2. Being the same for Linux, Mac and Windows.
Most large package-based Linux distributions would not actually need this as a separate product, since they include all or most of its components anyway. A virtual metapackage would be enough, if needed at all. But for Mac and Windows, this may need to be a separate product, with options for full or partial installing and de-installing.
Variants of CDs or DVD-based installations, network installations etc. may be explored; more than one may be used. In all cases, convenient mechanisms for security updates must be provided.
In addition to bringing the spirit and freeness of FOSS to the Windows users, such a package will be an excellent opportunity for the FOSS-based business. Making such packages, or customizing them, providing help and/or maintenance for them, teaching courses… you name it. Which, in turn, will increase the support of the business for FOSS – and FOSS needs every bit of support it may gather, and will need it even more in the near future.
Okay. Enough talk. Let’s see if we are able to produce something more substancial.