Open Ballot: will you take KDE 4.4 for a spin?

No

Nobody Important (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 1:48am

I run a very tight ship on my computer. Minimal, simple, clean. Everything I need and nothing I don't.

KDE 3 was the absolute anti-thesis to my computing philosophy. It had more knobs and widgets and kahoozles than I could count. I tried KDE 4 and was struck by the same objections in a lesser fashion. It's so busy and complicated to do the simplest of tasks. Too many options. So much that I don't need.

I can become accustomed to a desktop over a period of time, but Gnome has been very, very good to me and my productivity. KDE has always been the absolute opposite of what I strive for. It's not that it's wrong or that it's a bad desktop, it's just not what I want.

NTN (Not This Noob) Addendum

adamg2000 (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 1:57am

PS: I was aware of Kubuntu - but it not being the main distro put me off.

KDE is great. especially

Foolz (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 3:35am

KDE is great. especially with version 4.4. I think by the time 4.5 or 4.6 come out. all the translation from 3.5.x will be complete, Kile, and K3B is the only two app that I can think of that is still at beta from their KDE4.x version. I really want to switch to KDE. However, there is three little things that keep me away from it, and they are not even that big of a deal(in term of difficulty of development). I think it will take developers a day or two to finish it.

First KDE menu doesn't really come with a "hide icon" option. sometime, I just want to make my menu nice and clean, some of the app that got install do come with ugly icon or no icon at all. the other time, the list is simple too long, I would like to just hide some of the items, I don't want to delete them because sometime I might and will use them, and often I don't remember their name. The kick off menu doesn't really solve the long menu problem, the whole point about me hate the long menu is because you have to scroll up and down in order to see the whole menu. and the Kick off menu simple make me scrolling up and down the entire time, I am shopping on my menu. Just want a hide icon option, simple as that.

Secondly, is those round edge or the windows, without "special effect" turn on, there is some little white spot on all four corners to square up the windows. Like really, at this point of time!!! it shouldn't be like this. NO Desktop environment have this issue. I know the desktop I run KDE is just using the cheapest intel graphic, like GMA 3000. But even that, it shouldn't have this kind of issue. I didn't have KDE running on anything else beside this chip set. So this might be a bugs on the intel driver or something. The point is really being the develop team shouldn't just focus on the appearance of the Desktop with special effect on, but also, appearance of the Desktop without special effect. Sometime, people just want to save every recourse they have to make thing runs a little bit faster. (and it is not even that little, you can totally see the difference with or without special effect on. It is much smoother without it.)

The last and most important thing is those in panel system monitor. like really, they are the best thing ever existed on Desktop computer history to me. just 4 little box, you are able to know everything that is going on with your hardware, and work load. and you can control your CPU step simply by clicking those little CPU app. it is simply amazing. it's not like KDE doesn't have something similar, but they are not nearly as good as the one in GNOME. I mean really just copy it. I don't care it is not original or what so ever. This is thing that work, and worked really really well. I mean it is sure more useful that putting snow on the desktop. if spend so many time to make something "looks" cool to the user, why not make something that "IS useful" to the user?

KDE have been working out pretty nicely, Over all it is wonderful. But it is really those little things that bugs me and make me running away from it. Like I really want to use it, but because it missing two tiny features. I have to turn my back on it. (it is not worth it, KDE.) For people who is more experience with computer. most of the "WOW" features is more or less meaningless. Instead, some of the very tiny details is what make them choose from one but not the others. We have a lot of fun with our computer, but it is not really a toy, we want to get the thing we want to get done, finish! Basic in a way is more important than advance sometime.

And one thing that I have notice over the year of Open Source Development is that most of the "BIG" project is becoming more commercialized. What I mean by that is that they are focusing on gaining user land, instead making thing work as good as possible. They are totally targeted on consumer, and just try to be creative and original without thinking the new stuff is really that useful. I mean just think of the root of Linux, the UNIX philosophy is still the best philosophy I have seen on making tools. And things have been over visualized as well. I mean I love visual effects, but hate them if the actual function is miss or not working well. Gaining user is important, but it is only important if you don't lose the user you already have.

Once last thing I want to say which is a bit off topic is that I think both KDE and GNOME really should look at each other and learn from either other. It is "OPEN" Sources after all, if project didn't take advantage out of it. It is kind of silly. Of course both project do have their own philosophy to follow, which is great, so people can go with what they like, but something in one but not the other didn't really go against the philosophy of neither the project.

No, I won't use it, because it's still KDE, and thus a mess.

Mike_IronFist (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 5:34am

KDE 4.4 is simply a stable, bug-free...unusable mess.

Honestly, even if it runs properly, even if it's stable and crash-free, it's terrible. There are dozens upon dozens of menu options for things that users wouldn't even think of wanting to customize, and frankly it's just annoying and cluttered.

There's nothing wrong with making options accessible for power users, but no "power user" is in need of the confusing dozens upon dozens of menus you'd have to wade through trying to customize your window colors, for example.

KDE's selection of options is a like a car filled to the brim with knick-knacks, books, clothes, and other assorted junk. Sure, people enjoy or make use of these things once in a while, but when you want to get from point A to point B, it all just gets in the way.

All in all, I much prefer GNOME. If I had to live without GNOME, I'd probably use Fluxbox or LXDE before becoming a KDE user - unlike KDE, Fluxbox and LXDE don't bombard the user with five million check boxes and option tabs.

Unlikely

DaveS (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 6:12am

There is much talk of desktops improving productivity and user experience. Maybe so, but I think they can get in the way, drag down performance, and hog resources. This seems to be a worsening trend. Certainly until I find them wanting, I will stick with JWM or Xfce.

Unlikely

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 7:17am

I occasionally dip my toes in the KDE pool, but usually return to my familiar tweaked Gnome. Partly this is because most of my work is on a notebook. I will probably give KDE a better try on my new desktop PC with a bit more screen space.

No, thanks...

Another Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 8:32am

When I first installed Linux a couple of years ago via Ubuntu 8.04, I found that I loved KDE 3 far above GNOME & XFCE, and didn't like KDE 4 much at all. (Didn't help that KDE 4 was more resource-intensive.) So much for the many claims I've seen that KDE 3.5x fans are just resistant to change, considering I was a raw newbie at the time!

Eventually I had to switch to GNOME full-time just to upgrade my distro -- I've tried KDE 4 a bunch of times since then, hoping to fall for it...but no dice. I've seen comments that if people like me really wanted, we could just change a bunch of settings and make it seem mostly-like KDE 3... The problem is, I don't especially want to slog through all of that work, especially not when I was also pretty comfortable with GNOME from the start.

These days, everything seems a bit slow/bloated in Ubuntu as it is, so KDE 4 really isn't an option at all. If I go in any particular direction beyond changing distros, it's (if anything) going to be to follow the more-experienced users towards lighter environments or even straight-up window managers.

Yes I'll try - Keep if it makes me more productive

Baldrick - February 17, 2010 @ 9:06am

I switched my day-to-day machine from WinXp to Ubuntu this past summer once I felt there were comparable tools to put aside any productivity concerns (ie. OpenOffice, Evolution, etc.)

Some things still feel dysfunctional especially when I collaborate on material that is produced with some commercial apps by colleagues as well as some other nuisances.

I'll give KDE a try and if it smoothes out those bumps I may switch to Kubuntu.

I give KDE a try with every

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 9:26am

I give KDE a try with every new release but every time i get back to GNOME. And so I will with version 4.4.

KDE is cool, feature rich, stable (finally) and with a better composite engine than GNOME's but sadly is complicated and bloated.

A DE should be invisible to the user: Performing a task (launching a program for instance) should require the same effort necessary to open a door through its handle and KDE fails on this

No

bloodorangeonline (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 10:07am

I'm not really interested in KDE. I've tried it in the past but I like and prefer Gnome, or XFCE. I'm sure KDE is perfectly fine, but it just doesn't suit me. I think my main thing is that I don't like the desktop-replaced-with-widgety-idea-thing. But that's just me...

no

johnvile - February 17, 2010 @ 10:56am

like (liberty) said Maybe from a Live CD but I couldn't live with it.
I used Suse back in the day for just over a year, while the interface wasn't to bad the whole experience put me off KDE.
KDE is proof that the Infinite monkey theorem is correct. Only in an infinite space with an infinite number of universes can KDE really make sense. It's a shame were stuck in the universe that has the crap KDE, whilst just a few universes away people are using a really shit hot version.

At some point...

Tobi - February 17, 2010 @ 11:25am

...boredom will overcome me and I will try it - regardless of its version number. Hope Andrew will have to explain some complicated part of the Kernel today!

I am using it now. I will stay with it.

bananaoomarang (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 11:59am

I am using kde(mod) 4.4 now on arch linux. My computer is no beast and about 5 years old. It runs absolutly fine. I love being bombarded with checkboxes and configuration is really what makes kde shine. Here it is like I have designed my own interface, and all by just checking boxes. Everyday I come accross a new option. It's fun and when configured, kde looks good AND is just as productive as gnome.

However plasma STILL CRASHES RANDOMLY. WHYYYYYYYY. This is the only thing which annoys me about kde and I hope this will be fixed soon. I cannot believe that the devs, after FOUR MAJOR releases STILL fail to stop this happening.
I will still use kde because I dislike gnome more.

I used to be a die-hard KDE

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 1:06pm

I used to be a die-hard KDE fan. I was excited about KDE4 and I still am, but while I was waiting for it to get better I started using Gnome. I was surprised to find out how much it had improved and now I have become a die-hard Gnome fan! We will see what happens with Gnome 3.0. The best thing about Linux is choice. It is great to have a multitude of desktop interface choices!

Debian

xyx (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 2:22pm

I would love to try, but it is not in Debian (I mean testing/unstable) yet.

fringe whinge

gumb (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 3:17pm

When Windows XP ruled the roost and the disaster of Vista arrived, Linux could rightfully claim to offer the most advanced and contemporary OS interface. But whatever your thoughts on Mac OSX and Windows 7 (and I'm not exactly enamoured myself), they are nonetheless improving and moving forward now, and Linux has to keep up the pace.

KDE4 has gone further than most in this regard. Yes, they got their communications wrong at the beginning and that's been widely reported, but those days are now past. Some of the naysayers left over from that debacle and who switched to GNOME had better be prepared for another shake-up later in the year when GNOME3 arrives and makes its own perfectly valid attempt to take a big step forward. Ultimately, those left out in the cold for a second time will have to either make compromises, or start to realise that they represent the fringe elements of users, which was not so evident until now since Linux itself was inherently a representation of the fringe user, but Linux's moves into the mainstream will increasingly show them to be at the margins. The good news is that with Linux, users still have a choice, and can follow one of those more marginal paths without being alienated. I just wish some of them would get on with whatever choice they make and not devote so much energy to bad-mouthing the considerable attempts at improvements that some projects are trying to make, even if it's no longer going in their own preferred direction.

The comments so far highlight an interesting and common paradox in negative attitudes towards KDE4. Many still cite it as over-complicated and bloated, whilst the other half complain about dumbing down and removal of options. Aside from a few specific elements that one could pick out as going too far in either direction (the ubiquitous K-centric naming for example), these two opposing views cannot be logically reconciled and therefore regarded as wholly valid, which I believe only goes to prove that too much is just puff and hot air. The KDE devs are making gallant attempts to beat a path down the middle between ease of use and configurability, with apps like the latest Gwenview being perhaps the best representation of that.

And as for me, KDE 4.3 has reached such a state of maturity that I've no need to grab 4.4 just yet. I'll happily wait till the next openSUSE release in the summer, and take the odd backported app if necessary.

@gumb

Nobody Important (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 3:48pm

Directed to the above comment by gumb:

So because different, unrelated commentators disagree with each other on why they don't like KDE 4, you claim, we can safely ignore what they have to say?

My dear friend, what on earth have you been smoking?

ITT: FUD

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 5:04pm

@the guy above
KDE sure has a popup after it detects a device.
you can select it in the device manager plasmoid and choose the action(e.g. importing fotos)
if you didnt get a notification, you removed this standard plasmoid or your system is fucked up
you can even select to have it mounted automatcally, at login, etc.

It's All a Matter of Taste

Mike_IronFist (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 5:36pm

@gumb
"The comments so far highlight an interesting and common paradox in negative attitudes towards KDE4. "

It's not a paradox, it's what's called OPPOSING OPPINIONS. When opinions oppose eachother, they tend to be in support of the opposite things.

KDE fans seem to enjoy the four-billion configuration options for its dialogs. KDE-naysayers dislike this. That's exactly why the fans would complain about it getting "dumbed down"; they like a feature that the naysayers dislike.

As for your comments that KDE4 manages to keep up with Windows 7 and Mac OSX, I couldn't disagree more. It's a ripoff of Windows Vista's interface - that's hardly "keeping up".

Sorry, no

uomosenzanome - February 17, 2010 @ 9:01pm

I'm happy with the balance of speed and eyecandy in my GNOME 2.22.2 desktop environment in Debian stable. I don't have time for testing things out these days, I have real work to do. "Improved support for social networking" sounds like distractions rather than a useful feature, and I have all the online collaboration I need with google docs. When KDE 4.4 makes it to debian stable, maybe it would then be worth trying it out then.

Tried it already

grendel (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 9:29pm

Solved some problems, but some applications were cast into dependency hell.

no. maybe...no.

Strider (not verified) - February 17, 2010 @ 11:45pm

If I had enough money to buy a computer fast enough to not freeze up after five minutes of working in Chrome in KDE, and had enough time to figure out all the random knobs and widgets and the other half-billion things I don't need, like widgets, and the things I do, such as dual-screening (ever tried installing KDE on a Gnome machine and try to dual screen? try it if you dare.) I would love to have an over-complicated, slow desktop experience, with the cool look. However, as it is, I have a machine that freezes every time I try to use KDE 4, and just don't have the time to figure out the over-complicated user interface.No.

Quite simply

Andy S (not verified) - February 18, 2010 @ 3:11am

Yes. As soon as the packages hit the mirrors for Arch I updated from 4.3 to 4.4, just like I did from 4.2 to 4.3. The only difference is that I went from KDEmod to the normal KDE packages.

Everything works nicely, no crashes here for... a long while. I think the last problem I has was with Chromium and flash, so completely unrelated to KDE.

KDE has gone from strength to strength with the last few releases and it continues to impress me. At this point I don't think any new release will make people switch or change their minds. There are those that still say 'it uses more resources' or 'there are too many options' etc, etc. The same things that people used to say about KDE 3.5. KDE has always had more options to make it the way you want it to work and look. If you don't want to spend 10-20 minutes setting up your desktop that you're going to use every day for the next X months/years then you really need better time management ;-)

Certainly

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 18, 2010 @ 5:39am

Yes I am going to try out KDE4.4, in fact it will be there when I update my sidux distribution!

KDE 4.4.... wow....

greenmang0 (not verified) - February 18, 2010 @ 6:54am

KDE 4.4 is aw3s0m3...

Maybe ...

keLz (not verified) - February 18, 2010 @ 11:32am

I've never likde KDE in the past, GNOME is perfect for me. Works well and provides stability but since KDE 4.4 seems more stable I'm open to the idea of trying it out in the near future.

Yes

Dan from Norway (not verified) - February 18, 2010 @ 12:36pm

Already using it. Been using KDE4 since 4.1. KDE4 just gets better and better, and i love it. It is much better then KDE3.

I'm using it now

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 18, 2010 @ 6:25pm

I haven't hit a bug since version 4.2 and even then I had no problem. I don't see what everyone's complaining about! It's much better than GNOME (sorry).

Yes, I am already.

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 18, 2010 @ 10:50pm

Ever since day one and it's excellent.
People who say that it's a mess and buggy are beyond lairs.

Absolutely

Judd (not verified) - February 18, 2010 @ 11:36pm

Using it.. LOVE IT!! when I used KDE3, I always had to tweak the desktop to make it look and feel the way I wanted. Every time I've used Gnome, I've had to go to forums to work out how to change and manipulate settings files to get it to work and feel the way I needed or wanted it too.

Gnome is fine if you stay with the basic default settings, but move away from those, and it's just a real pain to deal with.

KDE4, in my opinion, has found a wonderful balance. If you don't like something, it's quick and easy to change. If you don't need to change anything, it looks great in it's default settings, and works well. KDE 4.4.0 is by far the best desktop experience I've used.

arch

flammenwurfer (not verified) - February 19, 2010 @ 1:36am

@Jan

You should give arch a try. All of the kde packages are modular so you can install a base kde system then pick and choose which other parts of kde you want to install.

I'll pass and wait for KDE 5.1

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 19, 2010 @ 2:34am

I was a SuSE + KDE 3.x user since SuSe, was, well, just SuSE, all the buzz was about how soon would we reach the year of the Linux desktop now that Mandrake Linux was going to soon merge with Connectiva, and maybe, just maybe Red Hat would consider a community distro called Fedora something-or-the-other.

Those days of using KDE came to an abrupt end with the 4.x release. I know, I know. It was a release "fit only for developers and alpha tester." To me, not a developer or tester, but someone who used his computer to get things done, that just said "screw you, you're not our demographic any more." I responded in kind and switched to Gnome and lately have been using Windows 7 more and more for work.

I gave openSUSE 11.2 with KDE 4.3.something. In two hours after installation I ran into 9 separate crashes or, in my opinion, show-stopping issues. Three of these were SUSE, and one was the fault of those jerks at the QGIS project (how can you let months pass while your Python plugin-manager crashes with the newest release of Python?). The rest were all KDE. I just loved being greeted by windows announcing Akonadi (whatever the heck that is) crashed and the Neopunk (sp!) service crashed too, and let's not forget the KDE sound system that blasted the opening chimes at full volume over my speakers. Oy. This is "professional" programming in Linuxland? No thanks, I'll take Steve Balmer's sloppy seconds over that any day.

Prevarication

I'm a GNU, a-gn-other GNU (not verified) - February 19, 2010 @ 7:04am

Go to the back of the class, put on a dunce's cap & write out one hundred times :

Prevaricate means to speak or act evasively, to deceive. Procrastinate means to put something off.

Grrr

biggles1000 - February 19, 2010 @ 2:02pm

KDE is awful! I see gnome and kde like this; KDE-Glass, but bulletproof ie. not as fragile) and Gnome-Looks like a desktop environment should, but seems fragile (with mint; mint leaf; leaf tears). As solid seeming KDE is, wobbly windows are awful on it, and gnome is just much better.

It's pretty, but does it dance?

Djune (not verified) - February 19, 2010 @ 4:40pm

In a nutshell, I've tried it so I guess my answer is yes. However, I really don't like it, so I'm going back to Gnome.

I've heard all the hype, and I've seen for myself the beautiful environment. Yes, it puts Micro$oft to shame, and yes, it easy for my wife to navigate given that she's used to Micro$oft. But, how the hell do you configure the thing???

What took me 3 or 4 clicks at the most, now takes me 10 or more just to find the stupid configuration program. Invariably I simply drop to the command line and do it from there rather than search for the right GUI tool that does the same thing. (Yes, I found the terminal and put it on my desktop for easy use.) And good luck finding all the programs you're used too... It takes forever to go through that tiny windowed menu. How very unpractical.

I've also noticed that it takes my computer a full 30 seconds longer to boot.

Now, let's be honest here. Since when is 30 seconds out of my life really going to matter that much?!?!? It won't! But what that does speak to is the amount of resources being loaded into memory that simply don't need to be there!

My desktop doesn't have Bluetooth, nor does it have wireless, but damned if I can turn the freaking thing off because it's needed by other programs... And why is it taking a full meg of memory????? My God, not even OpenOffice takes that much memory when I'm working on my 300 page book!!!!

I'm sorry, but if the trend is growing towards bloated desktops, then I'll stick with Gnome. I can prettify it all I want, and still run half the memory KDE was pushing. The trend should NOT push towards Micro$oft type bloatware. Simple really is better!!! Make the windows in Gnome rounded, and you've got something better than KDE... It's all in the theming!

Guess you didn't want lengthy explanations, but you did open the door by allowing us to prevaricate so of course we'd have to justify our reasons for the flip-flopping.

;-}

Djune

yes,yes,yes

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 19, 2010 @ 5:19pm

I'm useing linux mint 7 KDE and love it. I will upgrade/fresh install with mint 9 LTS.

Yes - I have just been waiting for a stable version of KDE4

oldlofty (not verified) - February 20, 2010 @ 12:20am

I used KDE for many years as my primary desktop and have been waiting since April 2008 for a stable version of KDE4 to use with ubuntu (ie kubuntu). I am hoping that KDE4.4 will be it.

I downloaded PPA version of KDE4.1 for Hardy and was greatly impressed with it, however it was too buggy for everyday use. Also the Kontact apps were slow and needed refinement.

I am hoping that with KDE4.4 the Kontact apps will be more stable, faster and will synchronise better with google calender and contacts.

No!

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 22, 2010 @ 6:48pm

KDE 4 made me a Gnome convert. I have found that Gnome does not get inot one's way unlike KDE4

I desperately want to like

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 23, 2010 @ 3:37pm

I desperately want to like KDE, but since 4.0, I just can't. 4.0 was functionally useless - too bug ridden and inflexible to do anything of any use. I can forgive that, because it's new and had potential.

In 4.4, it's the complete opposite - solid, helpful, flexible and so vastly messy, it's still near useless. I don't want to have to learn how application or plasmoid Z is configured, because it will be different from application or plasmoid Y, and there's a good chance version +1 of Z will change it too.

I've yet to find a plasmoid that matches the basic unix ideal - does one thing only, but does it well (to be fair, most of them match one criteria or the other, but I don't want to have to install 8 plasmoids with a total of 200 facilities just to get the best of the 8 I need)

I don't believe the complexity is a killer for KDE, and I can tell that there's good stuff happening under the bonnet, but until the basics work *for the average user*, it's quietly killing itself. I do feel that 4.5 has a good chance of being a good release - one where the randomness and inconsistency is reined in, but if it isn't, I'm afraid KDE is going to have to do a lot more to catch up with Gnome.

Let's put it this way - I can install Ubuntu with Gnome on a machine, log in, spend 5 minutes rearranging the defaults to suit me, my girlfriend or even the cat, and we can all get on with life. Or I can install Ubuntu with KDE and spend a week trying to make it do what we want, and probably failing. I shouldn't have to think about that.

It's time KDE faced the reality of the non-geek user - Windows XP and 7, Gnome and KDE 3.5 kind of work - install, adjust some personal settings and get on with it, and they're giving KDE 4.x a kicking, without even trying.

KDE also has increasing competition from maturing Gnome and non-Gnome addons. I'm finding a Gnome system with Conky and Gnome-Do is a lot better than KDE 4.4. And Gnome-screen is next on the list to look at.

All of my whinging aside, I do have high hopes for 4.5, and I really do want it to work - simply because it feels like there is a fantastic desktop in there screaming to get out. I just hope the developers can release it.

newb town confusion.

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 23, 2010 @ 9:42pm

Short story encompassing my KDE experience.

Installed Mandriva one recently having never used KDE before. Cool nice, no welcome screen explaining the everything is a widget theme so when I deleted the activity bar I was rightly spooned. Took days to find an answer cos it was so 'obvious' you could delete the activity bar when trying to get rid aof a quick launch icon no one mentioned it!

Kinda cool, Lifes too short.

KDE4

zygmunt (not verified) - February 24, 2010 @ 10:23am

Half working bloated unergonomic overkill that complicates trivial operations. A nightmare to use. The command line is much more efficient and versatile. This will for sure kill the Linux desktop. Now Gnome, even using mono, is excusable!
Artwork doesn't matter when the underlying functionality and modes of operation are so clumsy and inelegant. Windows 7 positively shines in comparison. KDE4 structure is wrong. Signed diplomatically.
/-----\
| RIP |
| KDE |
| |
\-----/
Bring back KDE3 because I use Gnome but don't like it.

keep it simple, if possible

fraxinus (not verified) - February 25, 2010 @ 11:02am

I have been very interested to read all these comments - amongst the contributors, I recognise many people like me who really really want to like KDE 4 but cannot easily accept it day to day on their desktops.

Also, I think it is undeniable that KDE is now becoming an enthusiast/techie desktop choice, whereas almost anyone could work out their way around KDE 3.5. I could install it for non-technical family members without a thought and leave them to get on with it - nowadays I would give them Gnome or LXDE. Is this a problem or not? I don't know.

Where KDE's real significance lies is under the surface, perhaps. Under the glassiness, glitz and non-intuitiveness that so many of us dislike lies a boldly rebuilt code base which has vast cross-platform potential and could be of real significance in encouraging software development for Linux, including from commercial sources as well as from the FOSS community.

For these reasons alone, I don't think we should give up on KDE 4. However, I'd like it to be made REALLY obvious to users like myself how one sets about simplifying the KDE 4 desktop experience. Many of us would be quite happy running it without (for example) transparency and CPU-hungry desktop effects, and certainly without Nepomuk and the 'semantic desktop'.

What am I saying? Some of us would rather run KDE 4 in a 'back to basics' mode, and have the opportunity to opt into interesting but potentially memory-hungry and buggy new technologies if and when we end up needing them.

Wow - Impressed

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - February 27, 2010 @ 12:21pm

Just decided to give 4.4 a spin from the OpenSuse Factory build and I can honestly say wow what a major improvement it is over 4.3.5 in terms of responsiveness, had to check my motherboard that nobody had slipped in a couple of extra cores while I wasn't looking.

Good work KDE team !

wats that

scrarfussi (not verified) - February 28, 2010 @ 1:49pm

i am having issues ith kde4 everytime i upgrade it something seems to go wrong 4.1 worked 4.2 i had issues with the taskbar so i left it used kde3.5 4.3 resolved my taskbar issues until i got 4.3.2 and once again i have taskbar issues and phonon issues and issues with xorg issues with nepomuk which i had never really heard of it really leaves me wondering if i should upgrade to 4.4
i hate how opensuse handles the updates though

KDE4.x

zygmunt (not verified) - March 2, 2010 @ 7:38am

Still Kan't Do Everything (KDE). Gruyere cheese as mouse hits desktop holes whilst transiting the main menu.