Color palette

To the casual observer, one way to tell about the progress of work on aspects of KDE 4.0 is to look at the topics on KDE blogs.

Maybe that's not the most precise measurement, but I'm not quite finished with the Real Time (tm) KDE Completion Gauge for each section of KDE. In fact, even though I'm 39.27% complete with the gauge, it only thinks that it's 19.88% done. I digress....

Moving from daydreaming to brainstorming to discussion to architecture to library work...we're now seeing some UI and presentation layer work. Recent blog entries show great progress on KDE games, KDE edu apps, anti-aliased network monitors, updated list selection sexiness, requests for Kalzium images, etc.

As a friendly reminder, the Oxygen team has a color palette that they've been using in all new KDE imagery. I hope that as application maintainers move to interface work, it's second nature to consider this color palette to ensure UI consistency.

Sure, there are situations where an application might appropriately reference other colors (like the blinKen game), but don't forget HIG/CIG. More to come.

Q++ and Purchasing Power

Back in November, I made up a term called "Q++" in the kde-promo mailing list in discussing how to improve our familiarity and appeal. The idea was based on the media Q-score concept here in the States.

A recent slashdot link reminds me that life is often indistinguishable from the Onion.

Robber barons/tycoons/industrialists turned philanthropic in their latter years to both appease their guilt and to bolster their legacy and reputation for future generations. Apparently, it worked then and it works now.

Don't misinterpret me; I'm in no way condemning or minimizing the actions of the Gates Foundation. But don't ask me to discuss motive. The good news? I still believe that genuine Q++ can't be bought so easily, and as the KDE community continues to give and flourish I have little doubt how we'd fare on a "Reputation and Public Opinion Survey".