Star Review: KDE 4.0.0
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 21st Jan 2008 18:22 UTC
KDE Ars reviews KDE 4.0.0: "KDE 4.0 was officially released last week after extensive development. The long-awaited 4.0 release ushers in a new era for the popular open-source desktop environment and adds many intriguing new features and technologies. Unfortunately, the release comes with almost as many new bugs as it does features, and there is much work to be done before it sparkles like the 3.5.x series." They were also at the KDE 4.0 release event.
E-mail Print r 8   110 Comment(s) http://osne.ws/et4
Permalink for comment 297210
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE[7]: Comments Unfair
by borker on Tue 22nd Jan 2008 15:36 UTC in reply to "RE[6]: Comments Unfair"
borker
Member since:
2006-04-04

Please address how SVN availability, alphas, betas, and developer previews do not fulfill the function of releasing early and often?


Have you actually tried developing on a desktop out of SVN? I've been developing against KDE4 for the last month and a half and having a moving target (which SVN, alpha/betas and dev previews all are) is a pain in the backside. Since .0 I've had a stable API/ABI and a functional desktop that lets me progress with development rather than catching up on continuous system changes.

which is, in my opinion, the best recipe for credibility loss.


With who? The devs like it, the distros appreciate having a stabilized build target and most user won't see it until the distros are ready. So who does that that leave? a handful of people with enough clue to build from SVN, install from dev repos or run a live CD but not enough of a clue to realize what it is they're talking about when they run off to the web to complain.

because of the poor judgement shown by the project leaders, *and their unwillingness to face up to it*. The KDE community seems to have gone into full defense mode over it, willing to argue the most nonsensical positions rather than admit that they released an alpha as a gold release


all of this is nothing more than your opinion, and going by both what you've said here and in other posts, in my opinion that isn't worth much. What exactly have you contributed? Any examples of your judgment floating around that would give weight to these continuous attacks on the works and choices of others?

Sure, DE enthusiasts can just shrug that off. But those who are in a position of making decisions on deployments of desktops in business *must* take notice of the level of responsibility demonstrated in the *actions* taken by the project leaders. It's our *job* to take notice of things that affect the future of the deployments for which we are responsible. And the coolness of plasmoids, etc. should not be allowed to cloud our judgement.


If you have enough brains / responsibility to make these assessments and you're looking further up stream than what the distros support then you ought to have enough sense to not go with .0 release of a major project re-write. All this talk of bad judgment is just total BS. No one is forced to use KDE4. No distro is pushing it onto their users. It isn't the default desktop anywhere. Just because you have a different ideal as to what makes a release .0 ready compared to someone else sure as heck doesn't make you right.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 5