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FAQ
Questions
General
Deployment Questions
- Can I use KDE in my enterprise/business?
- Can I use KDE for general office organization?
- How many KDE installations can I use?
- Who offers support in case of problems?
Development Questions
- Can I use KDE as a commercial development platform?
- What costs are involved in using KDE as a commercial development platform?
- Who can I consult if I want a certain functionality implemented in KDE?
- What facilities are available with KDE to support a commercial application?
Answers
General
What is KDE?
KDE is a graphical user interface and development framework. It provides a standardized set of technologies for developing and running powerful soloutions.
How much does it cost?
KDE is an Open Source, Free Software project and is available at no charge. However if you want support you can make a Donation.
What platforms does it run on?
KDE runs under Linux on a great variety of processors including Intel, Intel IPF(Itanium), AMD64 family (Opteron,Athlon XP 64) and IBM s390 mainframes. Apart from Linux, KDE also runs on many other platforms including FreeBSD, Solaris, AIX and many more. Here is a list of Linux/UNIX vendors shipping KDE. KDE applications can be used on Microsoft Windows versions and Mac OS X by running an X11-Server.
Where can I obtain KDE?
KDE is freely available from the KDE Website and is also available from many mirror sites around the world. All major Linux/UNIX vendors include KDE as part of their distributions. See last question for details.
Deployment Questions
Can I use KDE in my enterprise/business?
KDE is a very capable interface, and can be very well placed inside your enterprise or business depending on your needs. KDE itself will provide a very easy to use and powerful interface to your computer. There is also a range of software available that can be used with KDE to facilitate the activities of your everyday business practices, and if the application is not already written to help you, you have the benefits of an open source, free and powerful development API that enables you to write your custom built software with.
Can I use KDE for general office organization?
KDE is very capable at helping you and the members of your organization with your day to day office duties. One of KDE central applications is Konqueror. Konqueror is a component based web browser and file manager that can be used for keeping an eye on your system files and moving, organizing, copying, etc. KDE comes with an integrated office suite available called KOffice which provides a number of applications for word processing, presentations, spreadsheets etc. KDE also has full support for sharing data and components between applications. As a consequence of KDE's inherent and transparent network support, Many native network applications are available in KDE . Mail, News, Instant Messaging and other services are all available and integrated in Kontact, the integrated groupware client. KDE includes native support for address books and other services, and will fit into your day to day office methods easily.
How many KDE installations can I use?
Due to the open source, free software nature of KDE, you are welcome to use KDE and install it on as many machines as you choose to at no charge. While the KDE Team does not offer official support for KDE, your Linux Vendor as well as a lot of companies offer commercial grade support, consultancy and software development for KDE. Your Linux vendor will be happy to explain the available options. Please contact these companies for details and conditions on additional services.
Who offers support in case of problems?
KDE is a volunteer project, thus there is no formal support obligation from any of the developers or contributors. However, KDE does have a number of informal support channels available such as mailing lists, IRC channels and people available to help. Details are available on the KDE Website.
KDE is also well supported by a number of distributors and technical support companies, so if you need on-site or phone technical support, there are organizations available. Quite some companies offer professional support for KDE, click here
to get a list.Development Questions
Can I use KDE as a commercial development platform?
KDE is fully available for use as a commercial and free software development platform. KDE offers a number of technologies freely available for use for commercial application development, and the desktop enables the deployment of this software.
What costs are involved in using KDE as a commercial development platform?
Use of KDE as a platform for commercial development activities doesn't impose direct KDE licensing costs.
Also, the licensing of the components of the KDE application development framework (libraries, tools and other resources) follows the free software philosophy. In other words, the use of the KDE libraries is free of charge for development of commercial applications. However, the KDE libraries rely on the Qt library. Thus you will probably need to obtain a license of Qt from Trolltech.
Please, be aware of the advantage that an investment in Qt licenses brings, as it won't be limited to commercial KDE development, but it will also allow general commercial Qt development and will eventually enable multi-platform software development.
However, developing free software applications for KDE does not require a commercial Qt license.
Who can I consult if I want a certain functionality implemented in KDE?
We suggest contacting a company that offers free software development for KDE. However, if you want to order a custom application for your own purpose that you don't want to be OpenSource, you can find companies here. Smaller customizations can be done by consulting companies. For extensions within KDE, we recommend choosing a company that works with the KDE team to ensure that those extensions will be merged into the next KDE release if they are of general interest.
What facilities are available with KDE to support a commercial application?
KDE offers a number of technologies for the integration of components, configuration files, network access, printing, mime type access and much more. Each KDE release adds and improves on previous technologies and the latest information on what is available in the latest and up and coming versions is available at the KDE Website and the KDE Developer Site.
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