As most of you probably already read, there was some effort to rebrand KDE lately.
http://dot.kde.org/2009/11/24/repositioning-kde-brand

If you are curious about some background, see this blog post by Stuart

And i already did some real life test to see if it can work.
My Mom and her friend never understood what exactly KDE is. So, i started a new try lately, according to the brand map. And now finally they are beginning to understand what KDE is all about.

So, what are your thoughts? Did you already try something like what i did? What was your experience with that?

If not, just talk with someone not used to KDE, and try to explain it in a way according to the rebranding. What happened?

I tried with some people close to me. I'll probably try again (for them it's just "Linux") now that this is officially out.

I think it's a good choice as it really makes clearer what KDE is.

Usually I would explain KDE as a desktop environment, which isn't really understood by any simple Windows or MacOSX user as there is only one desktop environment which is simply referred to with Windows or MacOSX.

But saying it is a Community creating software wich includes a complete pack of software needed for the most use cases of a pc is really more fitting. Additionally you can add that KDE is a complete desktop in Linux (which includes windows manager, login screen, software manager).

I also like the term KDE Software Compilation.

But what's best is the way of the rebranding. It's no huge step away from the old brand it's just a clarification of what KDE has become. But everyone even in the future will understand the old definition as KDE still is a Desktop Environment (too).

I think rebranding is the wrong word; it's more about nomenclature.

Essentially, KDE4 isn't a desktop environment; that was a 1980s metaphor that KDE1 took up because there wasn't another metaphor. It is really, to borrow another term from the 1980s, a view manager. It defines how your view the Internet, your family photos, your videos, your documents.

It is the way forward as camera-enabled mobiles (one way of managing your views on the world) converge with netbooks and netbooks with laptops and laptops with wide-screen TVs.

If you want to rebrand KDE, rebrand it as the common view manager that you will find on all this hardware. Keep the initials KDE as the name of the view manager as a whole but never say what it means. MS got ahead with Windows because it gave people a series of standard rectangular areas in which to work. KDE can get ahead by giving people all the different shapes they want to have within which to view things, whether still or moving, and easy ways to move between one view and another.

unbranded KDE ftw.

the expanded names shown in the blog (KDE SC / KDE app_name) etc feel like one of the things i hate in windows. start - all programs - [company name] - [wanted application]. and there [company name] application in the window title bar. kinda to make sure that i acknowledge that its them the great who made this application

the SC addition feels like a software company which is running out of attractive version numbers and wants a new trademark (photoshop CS anyone ?)

i want to use clean and straightforward kde (the way it is now) without self advertising (seeing the word kde at random places like kde dolphin). seeing the new kde 4.0 apps without k in the name i thought it was obvious but now i am unsure

i want to call this desktop just kde - anywhere and allways. not kde sc. if i say that i installed kde i guess its clear that i installed the software and not the actual kde community on the computer

i want to see version numbers only when working in the package manager of my os. and in this case i want real numbers like 4.4.1. without cs or new numbering scheme standing in the way.

as for the desktop environment - i usually refer to kde software as just 'kde' without any extra word. never had problem or misunderstanding with it. when others ask me what the heck i am running on the computer i just throw 'kde' without mentioning linux. (like it really matters whether its linux and not bsd)

AS far as I understand your way of using the word KDE is included in the new meaning. KDE is more than software, but it is software too.

KDE is community and software. But software was devided by the rebranding too as KDE is growing and includes many technologies and applications. The rebranding gives you the chance to direcly say what you mean by some new words and expressions.

"What's KDE?"
"I am!"

Madman wrote:"What's KDE?"
"I am!"

+1

Instead of calling it the "K Desktop Environment", we now get to call it the "K Desktop Environment Software Compilation". It is like the "Microsoft iPod 2007 Professional Human Ear Edition (With Subscription)".

By the way, I really do not like the change.

@Shining Arcanine

K Desktop Environment doesn't exist anymore, and KDE is not an acronym anymore - it is just KDE Software Compilation

You should have read the dot article first: http://dot.kde.org/2009/11/24/repositioning-kde-brand

We will use simply "KDE" and retire the expansion "K Desktop Environment"

Shining Arcanine wrote:Instead of calling it the "K Desktop Environment", we now get to call it the "K Desktop Environment Software Compilation". It is like the "Microsoft iPod 2007 Professional Human Ear Edition (With Subscription)".

By the way, I really do not like the change.

No, the whole "K Desktop Environment" is retired. If you refer to the workspace, it's "KDE Plasma Desktop" or just "Plasma Desktop". (Then there's also Plasma Netbook, and possibly more to come).

KDE Software Compilation is a set of software (workspaces + applications) that is released together and tagged with a version number.

There is a plasma mid/tablet and plasma media center also under development.

Hans wrote:

Shining Arcanine wrote:Instead of calling it the "K Desktop Environment", we now get to call it the "K Desktop Environment Software Compilation". It is like the "Microsoft iPod 2007 Professional Human Ear Edition (With Subscription)".

By the way, I really do not like the change.

No, the whole "K Desktop Environment" is retired. If you refer to the workspace, it's "KDE Plasma Desktop" or just "Plasma Desktop". (Then there's also Plasma Netbook, and possibly more to come).

KDE Software Compilation is a set of software (workspaces + applications) that is released together and tagged with a version number.

Unless you rename it to be something other than KDE, the name "K Desktop Environment" will be in use forever, regardless of the official stance. It is like PHP with "Personal Home Page" and GCC with "GNU C Compiler".

Shining Arcanine wrote:Unless you rename it to be something other than KDE, the name "K Desktop Environment" will be in use forever, regardless of the official stance. It is like PHP with "Personal Home Page" and GCC with "GNU C Compiler".

That doesn't mean we should encourage its use.

Shining Arcanine wrote:It is like PHP with "Personal Home Page"

Call me ignorant if you want, but I didn't know about that.

Trivia: before becoming "K Desktop Environment", it was actually "Kool Desktop Environment".

TheBlackCat wrote:There is a plasma mid/tablet and plasma media center also under development.

Seems like we'll get Plasma Mobile soon too!