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Remove ancillary discussions or put them in footnotes.

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Nathaniel Beaver
2015-09-14 11:12:47 -05:00
parent 393bd6a4e0
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@@ -1090,43 +1090,13 @@ Lack of control over desktop environment.
Windows has many ways to customize its appearance;
there are many `alternative shells`_ and `visual themes`_,
and it's possible to `change the login shell`_
or `run without explorer.exe at all`_.
or `run without explorer.exe at all`_. [#KDE_on_Windows]_
.. _alternative shells: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_alternative_shells_for_Windows
.. _visual themes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_%28computing%29#Operating_systems
.. _run without explorer.exe at all: http://lightquick.co.uk/running-windows-without-explorer.exe.html
.. _change the login shell: https://superuser.com/questions/108265/how-do-you-replace-the-logon-shell-with-iexplore
It's even possible to run the KDE desktop environment on Windows,
since KDE uses the cross-platform Qt framework.
The KDE on Windows Initiative is an ongoing project to port the KDE
applications to MS Windows. Currently supported versions of Windows are XP,
Vista and 7.
https://windows.kde.org/
This is not without difficulties, however.
The current implementation of KDE is designed in a unix specific way, which is
partially different from the Windows way. Examples for this are:
* Process creating - Using the Unix way of fork and exec.
* It isn't available on Windows, this difference requires a redesign of the related parts.
* Its missing Windows api counterparts.
* KDE uses Unix domain socket for high speed data transfer betwen kioslave
slaves and its parent process and for the communication to/from the dbus
deamon. On Windows there are no Unix domain sockets. They could be emulated
by tcp sockets with the costs of slower bandwidth and additional patches to
deal with Unix domain socket files exchanged between processes.
--- Ralf Habacker, KDE developer
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/79007/
There is Windows software for
tiling window managers, [#tiling_window_managers]_
virtual desktops, [#virtual_desktops]_
@@ -1148,23 +1118,17 @@ the Windows API determines the behavior of libraries like
``user32.dll``, ``gdi32.dll``, and ``comctl32.dll``.
Everything in hardware goes through the Windows API,
including keystrokes, mouse clicks, and graphics.
However, Windows must also obey licensing requirements,
However, Windows must obey licensing requirements,
such as copyrighted content protection.
This means that it is difficult to, say,
replicate the Flip3D program.
This means that there are artificial barriers
to writing certains kinds of programs,
such as something similar to Flip3D.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3848558/what-is-the-api-to-create-applications-like-flip3d
Something like `Wine`_ could, in principle, work around this,
since it provides an open-source implementation
of libraries such as ``user32.dll``.
Perhaps that's why `Windows rejects a registry with the Wine configuration key`_.
.. _Wine: https://www.winehq.org/about/
.. _Windows rejects a registry with the Wine configuration key: https://www.winehq.org/pipermail/wine-devel/2005-February/033868.html
Another example: on Windows 8,
it is impossible to disable the dwm window manager.
To give another example of limited user control over the Windows desktop,
on Windows 8 it is impossible to disable the dwm window compositor.
In Windows Vista and Windows 7, desktop composition is disabled in a number of
scenarios. In Windows 8, DWM desktop composition is a core operating system
@@ -1174,12 +1138,11 @@ it is impossible to disable the dwm window manager.
--- Windows Dev Center documentation
[ . . . ]
This was not without controversy.
I understand the choice and it improves the overall experience, but it is
going to force us to retire some of our older software, and it tool many years
to overcome the problems caused.
going to force us to retire some of our older software, and it tool [sic]
many years to overcome the problems caused.
--- Dan Ritchie
@@ -1190,6 +1153,37 @@ but it is not tied to the desktop environment,
and is not controlled by a single corporation
in the same way that the Windows API is.
.. [#KDE_on_Windows]
It's even possible to run the KDE desktop environment on Windows,
since KDE uses the cross-platform Qt framework.
The KDE on Windows Initiative is an ongoing project to port the KDE
applications to MS Windows. Currently supported versions of Windows are XP,
Vista and 7.
https://windows.kde.org/
This is not without difficulties, however.
The current implementation of KDE is designed in a unix specific way, which is
partially different from the Windows way. Examples for this are:
* Process creating - Using the Unix way of fork and exec.
* It isn't available on Windows, this difference requires a redesign of the related parts.
* Its missing Windows api counterparts.
* KDE uses Unix domain socket for high speed data transfer betwen kioslave
slaves and its parent process and for the communication to/from the dbus
deamon. On Windows there are no Unix domain sockets. They could be emulated
by tcp sockets with the costs of slower bandwidth and additional patches to
deal with Unix domain socket files exchanged between processes.
--- Ralf Habacker, KDE developer
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/79007/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Non-resizable dialog boxes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~