- 80s. Although there were as yet no free operating systems, it was
- clear what problem Motif would cause for them later on. The GNU
- Project responded in two ways: by asking individual free software
- projects to support the free X toolkit widgets as well as Motif, and
- by asking for someone to write a free replacement for Motif. The job
- took many years; LessTif, developed by the Hungry Programmers, became
- powerful enough to support most Motif applications only in 1997.
-
- Between 1996 and 1998, another non-free GUI toolkit library, called
- Qt, was used in a substantial collection of free software, the desktop
- KDE.
-
- Free GNU/Linux systems were unable to use KDE, because we could not
- use the library. However, some commercial distributors of GNU/Linux
- systems who were not strict about sticking with free software added
- KDE to their systems--producing a system with more capabilities, but
- less freedom. The KDE group was actively encouraging more programmers
- to use Qt, and millions of new "Linux users" had never been exposed to
- the idea that there was a problem in this. The situation appeared
- grim.
-
- The free software community responded to the problem in two ways:
- GNOME and Harmony.
+ 80s. Although there were as yet no free operating systems, it was clear
+ what problem Motif would cause for them later on. The GNU Project
+ responded in two ways: by asking individual free software projects to
+ support the free X toolkit widgets as well as Motif, and by asking for
+ someone to write a free replacement for Motif. The job took many years;
+ LessTif, developed by the Hungry Programmers, became powerful enough to
+ support most Motif applications only in 1997.
+
+ Between 1996 and 1998, another non-free GUI toolkit library, called Qt,
+ was used in a substantial collection of free software, the desktop KDE.
+
+ Free GNU/Linux systems were unable to use KDE, because we could not use
+ the library. However, some commercial distributors of GNU/Linux systems
+ who were not strict about sticking with free software added KDE to
+ their systems--producing a system with more capabilities, but less
+ freedom. The KDE group was actively encouraging more programmers to use
+ Qt, and millions of new "Linux users" had never been exposed to the
+ idea that there was a problem in this. The situation appeared grim.
+
+ The free software community responded to the problem in two ways: GNOME
+ and Harmony.