“The Free Software Foundation (FSF) and K Foundation are
currently in discussions about bringing their rival Linux desktop
environments closer together, but have so far failed to reach
agreement over which organisation’s component document model to
adopt.
The rivalry between the two groups began when the K Foundation
introduced a chargeable graphical user interface library called Qt
into its K Desktop Environment (KDE) in 1996.
The FSF objected to the move because the library was not made
available for free under open source licensing rules and so it
started its own rival project dubbed the GNU Network Object Model
Environment (Gnome) in 1997.”
“But Miguel de Icaza, leader of the Gnome project, said: ‘We
want to agree on interfaces that can be used by both parties to
improve interoperability. … You can currently run applications
side by side, but not the document object model, which allows you
to do drag and drop.’ “