Digested

Aaron makes the point that all of the technologies that make up KDE would be used in a file browser/manager. In fact, these technologies make it possible to come up with a spectacular file manager.

Usability is often misunderstood as simple adjustments in menus, dialogs etc. Those things are necessary of course. What makes the complicated systems that we use usable at all are the numerous technologies that abstract the complexities into managable pieces. Think web addresses. Instead of 24.67.200.84:80, you can enter http://commit-digest.org. The workings of that system are quite complex, and require server maintenance, security and all the magic that makes up the dns system. For the user, just enter the address. KDE has a whole stack of technologies that permit easy access to complex systems. The next challenge is to scare out the remaining unnecessary complexities, further abstracting the abstractions.

The improvements we are seeing in the 3. KDE releases are a result of the maturing of these technologies. There is much more to come. The pace of development over the last couple of years has been torrid. I think we ain't seen nothing yet. Hang on tight. It's gonna be fun.

Now that I've got you excited, I would like to ask for assistance. The KDE Commit-Digest has been a success by any measure, and I think contributed to the KDE project. The problem I'm having is keeping up with the above described torrid pace of development. There is too much happening for me to keep familiar with, on top of trying to maintain an increasingly complex application and server. If someone would like to help, drop me a line. You can have the unique and satisfying opportunity of serving a growing developer base. Remember though, the primary feature of the Digest is it's regularity.