Is the Desktop Environment of Windows 7 just a rip off of Linux KDE?

Question

I've been using Linux Mint Gnome for a couple of years and decided to give the KDE version a shot. I've been using Linux Mint 10 KDE for a few days and it has everything the Windows 7 has - transparent taskbar, transparent window border, Flip 3D and smart resize (when you move the window border the any edge of the screen, it resizes), plus it has LOTS of things that Windows 7 doesn't, and you have the freedom to customize all those looks, effects and everything..now I'm beginning to think that the Desktop Environment of Windows 7 just a cheap rip off of the Linux KDE...

Answer 1

looking @ the desktop effects of se7en doesn't quite cover it...

some background & food for thoughts to answer your question ;)



m@ke$$h!t has a long history of using other ppl's ideas, either by simply buying up code or companies (SQL Server from Sybase, Mosaic), hiring lead developers (Dave Cutler from DEC, Charles Simony and Richard Brodie from Xerox PARC) or partnering, when nothing else goes (Yahoo!, anyone?).



and the only reason Billy the Gates is the (2nd or 3rd) richest kid on the block is only b/c IBM was too lazy to develop an operating system themselves for a new product they created in the early 80s... the Personal Computer or PC for short :@

idiots.



even though the movie Antitrust (2001) might be a little far fetched, it has a fundamental point: m$ has taken from other companies (how ever) many of its products and has hardly ever "invented" anything; i don't say that they don't add "new" features, as they are pretty much the only ones developing LostDOS, someone has to add to it and that someone obviously has to be m$... but, like you pointed out, they nearly almost take someone else's idea(s) to incorporate them into LostDOS... with more or less success.



and as opposed to IBM, Xerox (PARC), DEC (or HP) who not only develop new hardware but also provide software to run it (and thus have to support the new hw features with their SW, m$ incorporate new hw when the hw manufacturer provides drivers for it

example? when v!$t0 was barely able to boot up in 64 bits, i was running openSUSE 10.2 (64 bits) weeks or sometimes months at end, without ever having to reboot, freeze or having any software malfunction; the only software update that requires reboot are kernel updates, as opposed to m@ke$$h!t which requires practically daily reboots b/c of its stupid updates...

why?

b/c m@ke$$h!t delegates the support of their cr@p to others... see, as an example, the se7en paralyzed updated which more or less systematically broke the devices of a certain manufacturer; who was blamed? the manufacturer, of course...



does m@ke$$h!t make anything, but $h!t?

i'm nearly ashamed to have to point out that they do, indeed... integration; most if not all m$ products will "plug'n play". if not, well, a hardware manufacturer hasn't done its home work & provided m$ with drivers & all for its products. this is enough reason for companies to spend millions for their server and PC OS, so they don't have to do that integration task themselves.



is that an excuse for home users? not really, but like cattle being led to the slaughterhouse, they buy LostDOS w/ the PC, so they simply power it up & start using it...



PS: about the instability of openSUSE 11, in conjunction w/ KDE 4...

can't quite argue about it, as i kept using openSUSE 10.3 'til it got desupported in fall of 2009 and then directly switched to 11.2; even now, however, i'm running 11.3 weeks at end (kernel updates are more frequent...) BUT still with KDE 3.5.10, which is to KDE4 what XP was to v!$t0 >:)

openSUSE still provides (even for 11.4) a repository which allows to use KDE 3.5.10

i think it is unfair to blame openSUSE for the bugs & shortcomings of KDE4 which, like v!$t0 versus XP is a complete rewrite of the desktop interface.

you would in fact blame them for supporting & founding the development of the next generation desktop environment for Linux / GNU...

imagine getting all the :( daily ? ): security updates from m$, running IE9 & all... on XP ¦-)

for another three years ¦-)))))))))))))))))))))))

Answer 2

This is a question that the jury is very divided on. Although Linux Mint 10 KDE is very clean it is not so long ago the KDE 4 Desktop Environment was horrendously unstable. I remember the hype surrounding the release of KDE 4 on OpenSUSE 11. It was without doubt most disappointing. OpenSUSE 11 had more than its share of bugs and coupled with the newly released KDE 4 rendered it pratically unsuable. To prevent the onslaught of OpenSUSE users I will add things have improved somewhat.

So back to the question. If indeed Microsoft did rip-off KDE then they did it well. Even myself an avid Linux user will give credit where it is due





LUg.

Answer 3

Linux is kind of a philosophy of OS design(based off Unix). Ubuntu is the most popular "flavor" of linux, each "flavor" works differently KDE and Gnome are desktop environments. Many Linux "flavors" or distributions were by default text based. Since graphic interfaces became more popular, they designed a couple types of interfaces for different people. KDE tends to be a little more simply laid out while gnome is more detailed layout. It's personal preference which one you want to use.

Answer 4

Gee, I imagine it has nothing to do with the fact Microsoft hires more MAC programmers than any company in the world and these employees are working to create a brand new Windows uncommon to the current Windows they already have. This information isn't very well publicized or common knowledge. Unfortunate looks has nothing to do with the operating system. You can make any operating system look like some thing else with whistles, bells and, decorations.

Answer 5

Windows 7 does look a lot like KDE, but it uses up twice the amount of RAM, can't do half the things KWin does and isn't as smooth as KDE.

Answer 6

In my opinion it is quite possible. I know that when I program games, I often like to verify a bunch of popular games and see what people like of them. Then I try adding something similar to what I saw from these games making them popular, only with a few differences to somewhat be a little original. It often helps to have something to guide you. Also, the goal of Windows is to get as many users, and if they see something that hooks other peoples attention, then they will probably want to add it as well so that they don't loose the interest of other users.