A Deep-Dive into Qt History with Troll #4 Paul Olav Tvete - Video

At this year’s Qt World Summit, Qt celebrated its 30th birthday. A lot has happened over those 30 years — including plenty you’ve probably never heard of... Like the time Trolltech (the original Qt company) used up a large portion of Norway’s internet, the reasoning behind Trolltech needing an office in Australia so early on, and much, much more.

In this episode, Jesper talks with Troll #4 (now the most senior Troll — by far) for a walk down memory lane.
You won’t learn about new graphics APIs or how to use coroutines with Qt, but hopefully, it will give you a good laugh. So grab a cup of your favorite beverage and enjoy.

Link to 'API Design Principles' from Qt documentation: https://wiki.qt.io/API_Design_Principles

All 'Qt World Summit 2025' videos : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6idH--H9GD_oZIlO2UinYTX

00:00 Intro & Motivation  
00:41 When did you start working for the Qt Company?
01:05 Did you know Qt turned 30 this year on the 20th May 2025?
02:19 Can you tell me the story of tmake and qmake?
03:30 When was Qt first official version released?
04:10 Are you Qt’s longest-serving employee?
04:49 What was the first key milestone in Qt's birth?
07:38 Did KDE adopt Qt early on?
10:30 Why was Qt licensed the way it was early on?
13:48 How did Nokia end up buying Trolltech?
16:00 Why did Qt move to mobile phones?
21:00 Where did Qtopia come from?
25:04 What was the QtScape hack?
28:07 Do you recall the transition from Qt3 to Qt4?
31:38 How was the KDE migration journey to Qt4?