DISCLAIMER: this blogs containt some sarcastic comments. Reader discration is advise
I had the chance, or the bad luck, to attends to the Second Ottawa Desktop Developers' Conference. I say bad luck because almost all the talk where about Gnome and freedesktop technology, and even those which weren't about the gnome stuff where geared toward it. I was looking in learning something but it was not the case.
Here a more detailled description and comment about the talk (didn't write this yesterday so it's from memory so ...)
monday talks
XCB and Xlib:
this talk was about the X C Bindings, a replacement for the xlib.
since xcb is a X protocol binding you can implement X over it.
What's new in Eclipse 3.1
basicly they presented eclipse 3.1 new features like improved Gnome integration, no word about kde
the port of swt (their widget set) to cairo and the reduction of the flickers in the user interface. Beside those minor improvements, they didn't improve
the usability
of their interface =)
Desktop Development In China
This talk was somewhat interesting, it explained what is happening in china since the decision of the government to use linux.
the talk was more targeted to managers than to developers. to make a long story a short one: we will need to learn Chinese.
Bloat of Data in the Unicode Era
this article focused on the use the use of gnome and xml to implement localization.
didn't really listened to it since I was busy trying to get my internet connection working.
Evas & Edje for Enlightment - Independent Structural Objects for Gui driving
This talk was interesting, presented a lot of cool window manager feature, like fast window drawing,
powerpoint like transition from on desktop to another or when changing the background,
background image resizing without lost of quality in the picture. animated menu hilighting.
But even if those feature where cool and can be used from a scripting language embedded in the window manager, they make more sense in a video game than on my desktop
Inkscape
I missed part of this one, because we took more time for the lunch.
Basicly he presented inkscape features and explained a little svg.
X on Gl
this talk was interesting only because x on gl is a weird and intersting beast. instead of targeting an hardware memory buffer they reimplemented the X
server to the opengl api. but since not all video card support opengl (yes I know the new ones do) I believe it's a dead end in the long run.
Modularizing the X window system source tree
The roadmap to X11R6.9 (monolythic) and X11R7 (modules based) and beyond.
Free Software for digital photography
this talk was about lingphoto2 and a big rant against digital camera makers being uncooperative and a bunch of liars.
the only point that need to be noted is he talked a little about the Exiv2 library which has 2 majors problems even if it relatively complete
1) it's in C++ 2) it's GPL ...
Introduction to the Openclipart Library
Was to tired so I decide to get home at this point
Tuesday talks
Rapid Linux Desktop Development With KDE and Kdevelop
No gnome developers attended even the eclipse guys where
not here
Bringing X.org's GLX support into the modern age
this talk was about the changes that was made to the glx support since xfree86 4.0.0 basicly they are changing the
mesa spec files and python script by an easier to maintain combination of xml and python scripts.
Moving Bottlenecks: CPU Cycle Reduction Using Liboil
the presenter works on gstreamer and esound ...
the stuff is really lowlevel.
Liboil is a Library of Optimized Inner Loops, in other word a collection of simple functions operating on arrays, they are tested and profiled.
One of the goal of liboil is to make easy to use MMX, SSE or altivec extension in your application
the library containts - math functions, type converstion, colorspace conversion, codec, image manipulation , misc (UTF-8 Checking, md5sum)
the most interesting part of the library, according to the author is the init part ...
Helping third-party developers
this talk was about how to attract and keep 3rdparty developer, and that we need to concentred on support not the technology
and we also need to reduce the learning curve of the developer. Even this presenter made the common error about the common specs and standard which need to
be supported (eg is freedesktop.org supported). He also said that we need to keep uptodate documentation, explain what is obsoleted and when it will be
removed. and also we need to "potty train" the ISV by giving them a clear path to follow if they want to use our technology over any other available. And
since not all the developers are not using C or C++ or java ... it's bad to force them to read the C++ api documentation. it even better to add examples in
all the supported language in the documentation. and support more than the trivial hello world example or point to an available model real-world application.
It seems that trolltech get this right in their documentation.
Putative software engineering and the x window system
Sotfware engineering in the X team ...
review of diverse source control and tla was tested but it's not ready for X 
imake is getting replaced by make/autotools/pkgconfig (wow 3 tools to replace one ... nice improvement
some talk about bugzilla and source code management integration ...
an insider's guide to cairo
Computer graphics lecture !!!
so far what I understand computer graphics systems SUCK
he explained all the problems you can have with graphics primtives ... spline etc etc ...
He said that postscript have all of them, inkscape too and so cairo ... so what is the need for a new computer graphics library then?
toward a gnome office suite
this talk is what need to be done to get gnome office suite, seems they don't like openoffice.org because it doesn't use standard library (read here gnome)
for what I understand, every thing will be in libraries ... the application will be less than 100 lines of source code
Actualy only present, a presentation viewer, is available. and the project is started by some persons at ximian
Uniconf, gconf,kconfig,dbus,elektra, oh my! - or -DConf A configuration framework for everyone
They explained the Mother of All Configuration systems and why all the currently used ones sucked
basicly it's a common abstraction layer over any existing configuration systems that will offers:
permission and access control,notification of changes, transactions, standalone and daemon mode, and pluggable configuration backends
uniconf also provide a network protocol so we don't need to use the library. The pluggable backends can be used by a kde application to use gconf or the
opposite a gnome application to use kconfig ... The only thing i find interesting in this is the network protocol, maybe I can use it or be inspired by it
for m2/arrggh, but that will depend if it's what I need
Possible futures of linux kernel/user graphics drivers
this talk was about the problem existing in the X window world.
they described the current situation and talk about the new ddx.
- 2 new 2d based DDX
- EXA.
overall he said it was a good thing because it's basicly an extension of the current drivers, (easy to implement)
- X over openGL
need new drivers ...
another possibility is to use a kernel drivers and one of the suggested approach is the merging of drm and fbdriver.
interesting but make more sense for embedded developers or the X server developers than for desktop application developers.
basicly he explained how to get the same performance from linux/X that we get on Mac OS X or windows
Conclusion
Some people might think I'm paranoid when all the talks are about gnome or freedesktop, you wonder what are real motivation of the organizers. And after watching the non gnome related talks, i mean the eclipse one and the freedesktop ones it's an evidence that freedesktop got hijacked by gnomes, all the desktop stuff they talked about integrated with gnome and not with kde, because according to one of the attendee I overheard: "It's normal that we don't see any KDE stuff because the last person using it died 3 months ago."
I'm not sure I will attend next year. Only positive point: I got a free t-shirt. 
update: there was an eclipse guy during the kdevelop talk. I apologise for any problem my mistake might have provoked
Syndicate Blogs
The comments on this blog
The comments on this blog are absolutely ridiculous.
I don't think any of you know anything about the meaning of the word sarcasm though. This blog was not sarcastic, and if you think that it was you need to get a proper grasp and feel for the English language. It was simply an opinion piece from one person who went along to a conference and got certain impressions about it. Don't read anything more into it. It's nothing to get overtly defensive and hostile about - not unless you think he's actually right, anyway
.
I'm very interested in Eclipse and KDE, so it was slightly disappointing to hear the lack of talk about KDE integration. However, I've seen many blogs by people around Eclipse who are still committed to working with KDE simply because they know that a lot of users use it and that they use it personally. But, if there are license or technology problems then get involved with the KDE people and ask questions. Drop on to the licensing mailing list, get on to the developer mailing lists and IRC and ask. The KDE people seem a great bunch for that sort of thing, and many KDE developers even use Java and/or Eclipse either for fun or in a work capacity.
And yes, it's extremely easy to say "Oh, well KDE developers should quit moaning and get more involved", but when you hear this...
"It's normal that we don't see any KDE stuff because the last person using it died 3 months ago."
...then it tends to make people slightly less motivated and feel that they're not welcome. Maybe they should take some lessons in human nature and common courtesy if the above statement is true. The "Oh, you should get more involved" thing is simply a cop-out.
However, I do find the above statement amusing because I think it has become abundantly clear that the vast majority of Linux/Unix users in the world today are using (and choosing) KDE. Maybe they're all dead
.
> "It's normal that we don't
> "It's normal that we don't see any KDE stuff because the last person using it died 3 months ago."
So what? That was one person at the DDC.
Put it this way: if I took Mathieu's comments about GNOME in this entry, or a certain person's current friendly name of 'DDC is a pile of gnome related crap ...', and used that to summarise DDC this year, would you still think that's fair?
No?
So what? That was one person
So what? That was one person at the DDC.
He was talking about the atmosphere at the place. That was one example. As I said, saying "get involved" is the easiest cop-out in the world.
Put it this way: if I took Mathieu's comments about GNOME in this entry
What comments about Gnome? Did he attack it harshly in any way? No, because he wasn't talking about Gnome.
or a certain person's current friendly name of 'DDC is a pile of gnome related crap ...'
And where's that?
Nowhere in that blog did he criticise Gnome, lambast it, attack people or write "DDC is a pile of Gnome related crap". I think you're the one inhaling the cleaning products here.
> ... would you still think
> ... would you still think that's fair?
Sure, if that is his personal opinion and/or impression.
IMHO just by reading the blog, it's pretty clear that this blog is about his personal impressions and that it is pretty sarcastic. So every intelligent being should see the need for a second opinion before taken this blog as the only truth. And who cares about everyone else?
hmmmm
Actualy, it's true that I'm not a native english speaker, but all my friend who are actually native speaker found the blog cynical and sarcastic ... but then maybe the concept is different between french and english is different ... but you must say that when i said "wow 3 tools to replace one ... nice improvement" or "... if they can't do it right so why another computer graphics library" those comment are higly sarcastic and cynical ... but then again maybe it a difference between the 2 cultures I have to deal with everyday
Eclipse on KDE
I just want to clear some stuff up. Billy Biggs and myself (Douglas Pollock) gave a talk about Eclipse.
During 3.1, we tried to integrate with KDE's MIME types, but had problems with crashes and some concerns over how we would license the code if we ever got it working. With xdgmime, KDE and GNOME will share the same back-end MIME database. Users with some core GNOME libraries who are running KDE should feel as though they are integrated with the KDE MIME database. If KDE were willing to work with us on fixing binary compatibility and licensing issues, perhaps we could bind to KDE's MIME support directly.
I would also like to point out that Billy Biggs was at the KDevelop talk. And he also went to the second part of KDevelop tutorial at the Linux Symposium, even though he was apparently the only one. He spent the time talking with Alexander Dymo instead.
Well, it sounds good that
Well, it sounds good that you are trying. It is just that you are trolling at the same time, with the licenses, stability and binary compatibility comments, you sound like any other GNOME troll.
I hope you are just mislead. If you want help to interface KDE's mimesystem, I might be able to help you (kde@carewolf.com).
Here's a hot tip: if you
Here's a hot tip: if you want to get productive work out of someone, try not accusing them of being 'any other GNOME troll'. Try to actually work through their issues. Hope that helps.
Another hot tip.
He said 'with the licenses, stability and binary compatibility comments, you sound like any other GNOME troll' which is different from how you quoted it.
my mistake
sorry didn't see any of you =)
probably because I was still asleep