KDE 4.1 is supposed to make everything right with the recently troubled desktop. Everyone agrees now that KDE 4.0 was a mistake. However, what the mistake was -- and whose -- is a matter of opinion. KDE developers blame distributions for rushing to include a release that was never intended for everyday use, while users blame developers for changing everything. More here. Also, Tectonic published an article titled "Beyond the desktop with KDE4", while the now well-known for its sarcasm 'Linux Hater' blog has something to say too (warning: some profanity).
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Member since:2007-02-17
I don't really think that's the answer. KDE4 is here to stay and so far I think its for the better in certain areas. What I don't agree with is changes like the plasmoid desktop view. Yes, its all well and good for me as a well versed user to create a large plasmoid that emulates the functionality of the old paradigm but a new user will most likely wonder why his desktop doesn't have any icons. They will get confused, just like I got confused when I deleted all my desktop icons in gnome but the desktop was still packed when I would login into KDE4.0. If the abilitty is there to follow the convention then it should be the default, don't confuse people more than you have to just to be different. If a user wants separate plasmoid folder views then the ability is there and they can change things as they please. The real reason why this isn't the default is again because the implementation is horribly incomplete at the moment. Hopefully by KDe4.2 things will start to come together.
Member since:2006-06-12
It is called a fork, and it would be extremely bad for KDE. Forking would separate develper in 2 (ok, let say 99% with kde4 and 1% (corporate devs) with kde3).
KDE3 is also based on old libs like qt3 witch have just, well, no future. Qt4 is just better, even if 4.4 need some speed optimization and got some redraw issue (4.5 will focus on fixing that).
Anyway, the fork would be kde3 and not kde4. After let say, a years, the kde3 fork will die, because kde3 will just be obsolete, even if they took the KDE4 "krash2" or alpha1 build (qt4 port, but kicker/kdesktop/konqueror/kwin "intact").
KDE4 is the way to go that's all. Computer are evolving, desktop have to evolve too. Web is taking more and more space, file are getting bigger, we got much more of them, DPI/PPI is getting higher, the range from lower resolution to bigger resolution is getting bigger (thanks to UMPC/PDA and widescreen LCD), average Linux user become less "elistic"/Geek and start to become less or more everyone with the new generation of UMPC, the average power of device are getting higher (ok, well, i would prefer if this was reserved to application, but why not few eye-candies).
All that will continue. KDE4 come with solution to these problem, KDE3 does not, that's all. Things are changing so the desktop is changing. A message to all trolls, the war between conservative Windows XP user (i am not talking about those who wanted a less memory hungry OS, only those that just didn't wanted to see things moving around) was fun to watch for a Linux user, and Linux user were trolling for XP too just for fun, but in reality, that war was useless, windows has to evolve too, maybe they didn't made good choice every were, but a least they did something. I think that KDE4 is in better position. Yes things are moving around, but they have a plan, a guideline. If they follow it, it will provide a smooth and excellent user experiences. Aaron try to keep this vision intact, so it can actually happen. In open source, it is hard to follow a guideline, it is one of the big advantages of the proprietary model, but this time more than even, it is necessary. Stop complaining, wait and see, as a KDE4 user since march and a developer, I am well placed to confirm that this vision is the right path to follow and that the technology under KDE4 are there and ready to provide what is promised since 3 years.
Member since:2006-01-01
Member since:2005-07-06
While I am not a fan of the current state of KDE4, this it not really a practical suggestion. Beyond the jump in QT there are a number of problems in the KDE3 code base that make the progression of that branch impractical.
Starting fresh and rebuilding based on the lessons learned in the KDE3 branch was a good decision. I strongly disagree with some of the 'logistical decisions" but it does not matter.
KDE has some talented developers working on it. In about 12-18 months it should cross the line where most complaints from 3.5.X users are silenced. OSS users can be quite loud when they do not like something. By the same token though if given a product they can use, even if it is not what they expect, users adapt and eventually quiet down.
I think most would agree that KDE4 had a rough beginning. Whether the roughness was one of perception or programming is not important though. KDE4 is here to stay and is trying very hard to be the spiritual successor of its progenitors. We can give it a few years to see if it manages to live up to its ambitious promise.
Member since:
2006-01-01
I like kde4 to me this version menu seems more organized. if kde4 is making many people unhappy then kde should rename kde4 to something else and continue to develop kde3 for people who wants that design and have this design for people like myself who prefers it over kde3 and that probably will make everybody happy.