Project Portland allows developers to write code at once for both KDE and Gnome

The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) and FreeDesktop.org have launched the Portland project that will let developers create a single application that works on both the KDE and Gnome Linux desktop environments.

"The Portland project will allow for a platform to be developed so that if you're an ISV or an open source project, you can now write your code once and you can use it in either a KDE or Gnome environment," Stuart Cohen, chief executive officer of OSDL said in an interview.

The organisation hopes that the project will increase the appeal of Linux as a desktop operating system.

A preview of the project was unveiled at the LinuxWorld conference in Boston on Tuesday. A first beta is scheduled for release in May 2006 and the 1.0 version is slated for June.

Both KDE and Gnome are desktop environments for Linux. They define the graphical user interface, thereby creating a more user friendly environment similar to the user interface for the OS X or Windows operating system.

Both Gnome and KDE are built on top of Linux but there are subtle differences between the two that require developers to tailor their software to each of the environments. The Portland project aims to eliminate those differences.

While to the outsider the differences between the two platforms may seem trivial, they can be the subject of heated religious debates between backers of the rivalling environments.