Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu [LWN.net]

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 7, 2012 8:01 UTC (Tue) by phil42 (guest, #5175)
Parent article: Canonical pulls funding from Kubuntu

Don't blame Jonathan or ubuntu. KDE went astray with 4.X, it became all about "look at what I can do" and stopped being about what you can do.

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Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 7, 2012 8:36 UTC (Tue) by jonobacon (guest, #54449) [Link] (4 responses)

I think that is unfair. The KDE project have a solid vision for their technology; it just might not be the vision you are interested in.

Then again, this is why Linux is awesome: we have choice.

Jono

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 7, 2012 12:23 UTC (Tue) by renox (guest, #23785) [Link] (3 responses)

> I think that is unfair. The KDE project have a solid vision for their technology

Maybe you could elaborate?
In quite a few occasions the KDE project seemed to be about "developers want to have fun": nothing bad with this, this is Free software after all, but is-this the "solid vision" you're talking about?

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 9, 2012 22:35 UTC (Thu) by blujay (guest, #39961) [Link] (2 responses)

You're absolutely right: KDE is, sadly, a developer playground. This is exemplified by the frequent regressions, rewrites of core functionality instead of fixing bugs, and lack of attention given to basic stuff like the Network Manager Plasma applet (how can a DE claim to be serious when it lacks a polished, simple network UI?). I still use it, because KWin is great, and I can configure Plasma to be nearly like Kicker was, and Dolphin is pretty good.

But if there is anything the KDE project is short of, it's vision. There may be individuals, like Seigo, who have a vision for their personal ideas and code, but that is not the same as the project having a vision. There is no leadership of the project as a whole. Each developer does what he wants with his own code, including dumping it and leaving it unmaintained when he feels like it, or releasing a complete rewrite that lacks existing functionality. There is no vision for the desktop UI as a whole--it's just a hodgepodge of Plasma applets.

If this trend continues, KDE will fade into obscurity. I don't like the way GNOME has developed GNOME 3, cutting off their face in spite of their nose (think about it), but I will say this: they have a vision and they are executing it. KDE would improve tremendously if the devs would submit, to some extent, to a leadership with vision, and spend a bit more time on the less-fun aspects of coding.

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 10, 2012 0:07 UTC (Fri) by ringerc (guest, #3071) [Link]

Most of these folks are volunteers and hobbyists. IMO, be glad they're doing what they are and giving you the benefit of it. If you want an environment with solid support schedules and other things that matter more to people _not_ involved in developing for themselves, you're likely to have to live with what a team with funded development time can offer you.

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 11, 2012 13:43 UTC (Sat) by jospoortvliet (guest, #33164) [Link]

GNOME and most other projects are no different - they just happen to have one or more companies who do the polish users need/want (eg Red Hat and to a lesser extend SUSE for GNOME, the last few years). KDE once had that (SUSE before it was acquired by Novell) and it was far better in terms of user experience.

Volunteers don't do that, period. Not KDE specific at all. KDE IS a project with amazing technology, which is years ahead of any other Desktop thing (be it Windows, Mac or anything Free). It just has nobody doing the polish. Maybe Spark can make a difference there, or somebody else can find a business model - eg 'Balsam Linux', an openSUSE derivative, has afaik such ambitions. I hope they or someone else succeeds at this... Too bad it didn't work out for Kubuntu/canonical (although I personally doubt they ever really tried).

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 7, 2012 9:40 UTC (Tue) by Pawlerson (guest, #74136) [Link] (5 responses)

The same and worse can be said about gnome3 and unity, don't you think?

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 7, 2012 15:05 UTC (Tue) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link] (4 responses)

Gnome3 at least tries to work with its users. That can't be said about KDE.

I think they've drifted way too far into Plasma-land to care about worldly matters anymore.

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 7, 2012 17:11 UTC (Tue) by Del- (guest, #72641) [Link]

Not sure where you got your experience from. My experience with the KDE community and Kubuntu in particular has been very positive. I will actually claim that no other DE goes to such lengths to satisfy it's users. Are you sure you know what you are missing out on?

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 7, 2012 19:28 UTC (Tue) by Pawlerson (guest, #74136) [Link]

It sounds like a joke. Gnome 3 not only broke user experience, but also stole the ability to customize your desktop. It's the last project that works with its users, really. Ask yourself why Gnome is so divided now?

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 7, 2012 20:49 UTC (Tue) by aleXXX (subscriber, #2742) [Link] (1 responses)

It took me along time to switch from KDE 3 to KDE 4. I finally upgrade with KDE 4.5. Before that, things crashed. I wouldn't recommend anyone KDE 4.0 ... 4.4.
Since 4.5 IMO it's rock stable and beautiful.
I didn't even switch the wallpaper or the window decaration, what I always did before.
It just looks beautiful and is more configurable than ever (if you want to).

Alex

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 9, 2012 0:19 UTC (Thu) by lenov (guest, #15428) [Link]

Entirely agree. I have been a KDE user since 1998 (with intermittent escapes to Gnome and GNUstep) and I almost gave up at KDE 4.1. But I'd say for the last two years, I did not meet a major problem except the classical wireless manager issue (and that is not a KDE problem), very easily fixed. And in my workplace, more and more users are selecting KDE over Gnome when they receive their new machine.

Canonical pulls the plug on Kubuntu

Posted Feb 7, 2012 14:57 UTC (Tue) by maco (guest, #53641) [Link]

It became something I can use for more than a half hour without running back to GNOME. Hell, I've been using it 3 years now, as of last week. A lot of the clunky, cluttered interfaces were replaced with more semantic & streamlined ones. I agree with Aaron Seigo's post about Gwenview, for example: http://aseigo.blogspot.com/2010/01/gwenview-user-friendly...