"The Linux Software Development community faces a serious
challenge from within, as two factions work to aggressively push
their separate desktop platforms. The KDE (K Desktop
Environment) League, which announced its official formation at
Comdex here last week, tried to downplay possible conflicts within
the Linux community, specifically with the GNOME (GNU Object
Modeling Environment) Foundation."
"Chris Schlager, president of the KDE League, acknowledged that
the two bodies will compete aggressively and that such competition
will not create a friendly environment. But Schlager said he hopes
the competition between the factions "will be restricted to a
technical level and will not distract from Linux's goal of
providing a unified front on the desktop that can take on Microsoft
Corp.'s Windows and Office suites."
"Havoc Pennington, a spokesman for the GNOME Foundation, said in
an e-mail response to questions that he wished the KDE League well.
"I hope we can continue to work with them on interoperability
efforts such as the window manager specification, cut-and-paste
methods, drag and drop, and tool kit user preferences," Pennington
said."