"If KDE 4.2 doesn't resolve the problems KDE4 has I suspect KDE will lose a
lot of market share."
You know? KDE4.2 is a damn fine desktop environment offering functionality
that isn't available _anywhere_ else, in an attractive, stable and very
usable package. I merely tell you this because the sentence quoted above
seems to indicate you haven't tried it for yourself yet; otherwise you'd
have known already, of course, and wouldn't have felt the need to play
cassandra.
In any case, in my KDE4.2 environment I can run all the KDE3 applications
that I need, and I never had a problem running the KDE4 application under
KDE3 either. Nor running a pure KDE4 or a pure KDE3 environment on the same
laptop.
Posted Feb 2, 2009 5:08 UTC (Mon) by mrshiny (subscriber, #4266)
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KDE4.2 is a damn fine desktop environment offering functionality
that isn't available _anywhere_ else, in an attractive, stable and very
usable package. I merely tell you this because the sentence quoted above
seems to indicate you haven't tried it for yourself yet; otherwise you'd
have known already, of course, and wouldn't have felt the need to play
cassandra.
You'll have to excuse me. My KDE 4.1 environment is so close to being totally unusuable that I didn't feel the need to rush out and download 4.2 on release day just to see if they finally fixed the problems they shouldn't have introduced in the first place. Call me cynical, or too pragmatic, or whatever, but I feel let down by the 4.0 and 4.1 releases: even after all this time the 4.1 release is still quite unpolished and is, in many ways, a severe regression from 3.x. Don't get me wrong: there are lots of good ideas and intentions in 4.x. But users expect more and in fact need more than what 4.1 delivered. You say 4.2 is awesome. I hope it is; I know the KDE team can deliver awesome. But after being burned I will wait until the updates come from my distro, because I already waste too much time administering my computer instead of getting stuff done with it. And if 4.2 doesn't deliver, I for one will switch, because I won't be able to take it anymore.
KDE 4, distributors, and bleeding-edge software
Posted Feb 2, 2009 7:41 UTC (Mon) by mgb (guest, #3226)
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You fooled me once (KDE 4.0). And shame on me, you fooled me twice (KDE 4.1). Don't expect me to try KDE 4.2.
I too wasted inordinate amounts of time on KDE 4.x. Our laptops and desktops now run Debian Lenny which comes with KDE 3.5.10 - undoubtedly the best KDE release to date and supported by Debian for some years hence.
Kudos for all the experimental work that the KDE team is doing in 4.x. If they keep the good and throw out the bad then there is reason to hope that the KDE 4.x series will eventually surpass KDE 3.5.10.
But as a useful working environment, rather than as an interesting programming exercise, KDE 4.x still has a lot of catching up to do.
KDE 4, distributors, and bleeding-edge software
Posted Feb 6, 2009 2:03 UTC (Fri) by pyellman (guest, #4997)
[Link]
Huh. I don't consider myself to be tightly in any loop, but I got the message pretty loud and clear. I kept myself reasonably abreast of opinions and developments by reading occasional early reviews and feedback. I also tested the final beta, 4.0, and 4.1 using live CDs. All in all, not that much more investment of my time than I would spend tracking and testing a favorite piece of software like Amarok. I've tentatively decided that I might be ready to make the jump to KDE 4.2 -- of course, after I find the time to pop a live CD into a spare computer and take it for a test drive. As such, I don't expected to be surprised, disappointed, or fooled.
If the distribution I mainly use (Debian Testing, and still on KDE 3.5.x) had parachuted 4.0 on me without the option of staying with 3.5 for a while, yes, I would have been upset -- but not at the KDE team.