Circles of imperfection

[minthaka]

I would like to know the reason why for KDE4. What are the needs for its development?
Explanation: KDE3 is for me something perfect. I would like to understand the needs for its abandoning. As I see at the present moment, that KDE4 is good for eye-candies, but if I take a look to its functionality, there is a huge loss compared with KDE3: applications full of bugs, less possibilities. In my view, maybe in 2 years it will achieve the same functionality KDE3 already have, and for this period we will be having unstable desktop environments. Is it worthy?
Please, share your opinions. I don't want to judge the hard work of the developers, but I don't see the imperatives. Thanks!

[techieMoe]

I certainly share the sentiment that KDE 4 isn't nearly as stable or feature-rich as KDE 3.5 at this point in its development. I don't pretend to know all the reasons for the split, but I seem to remember reading something about the KDE 3.5 codebase becoming too messy and hard to manage. Does anyone else remember this?

[L4Linux]

For crying out loud, cut some slack to KDE4! Its advantages:

• cross platform:We'll see K3b & Amarok to windows. Much easier for windows users to migrate to Linux.
  And personally, since I am a Solaris administrator, I'd like to see KDE running in Solaris.
• cleaner codebase. Someone has to do the developing part. Their work now will be easier.
• clear seperation of backends & frontends
• more eycandy

You should wait for KDE 4.2 before writing a rant. It closes hundreds of bugs.(which only strengthens your point, right??)

[techieMoe]

For crying out loud, cut some slack to KDE4! Its advantages:

• cross platform:We'll see K3b & Amarok to windows. Much easier for windows users to migrate to Linux.
  And personally, since I am a Solaris administrator, I'd like to see KDE running in Solaris.
• cleaner codebase. Someone has to do the developing part. Their work now will be easier.
• clear seperation of backends & frontends

These are valid, substantive advantages IMO.

• more eycandy

This one isn't. Perhaps I just come from an old school of thought, but "eye candy" should never be a priority for developing software. A bullet point? Sure. Something you look at once the underlying product is stable? Absolutely. Just not a priority.

You should wait for KDE 4.2 before writing a rant. It closes hundreds of bugs.(which only strengthens your point, right??)

I'd be very surprised if 4.2 brings KDE around to parity with 3.5. Next the developers will tell us to wait for 4.3, then 4.4. How long will it be be? I'm not a betting person.

[bigtomrodney]

Moe you've got it down. I'm a KDE fan but massive rewrite or not, software regressions are not acceptable. What we're looking at now is really an early beta for 4.0 as far as I'm concerned. Yes, it is a matter of expectation but expectation is very important.

As mentioned in the other big KDE4 thread I think it's hypocritical to take praise when it's going, have aspirations to take on the big players and then admonish and berate dissatisfied end users when they give feedback. I'm wondering if KDE hasn't decided whether it's a professional or hobbyist piece of software.

That all said I'm still rooting for them, I'm still a KDE fan. I just hope they pull a Homer on this by 4.3.

[elija]

For crying out loud, cut some slack to KDE4!

Why?

It was released as ready wasn't it?

I'm sure it has potential, but I have yet to see anything positive about it. Still maybe by 4.6 eh?

[oz]

I personally think that taking on lots of flak goes with the job when you decide to more or less reinvent the wheel, especially when the wheel revolved as smoothly as did good ol' KDE3.

That said, I'm looking forward to stability improvements and more native KDE4 apps, but eyecandy is by far the least of importance to me. In fact, I currently feel that there's way too much focus on eyecandy. Either way, I just hope that it doesn't take them too long to bring it up to speed, because Gnome is feeling more like home all the time.

At the current rate of progress, I'm still going to guess that it'll be version 4.4, or perhaps 4.5 before it's ready enough for me.

[L4Linux]

From KDE homepage :

With 828 bugs closed in the past week

Did they close those bugs just for hobby??
You say about version 4.4 or 4.6, someone will eventually say "wait for 4.20!" while 4.2 is not released yet. Just wait one month for 4.2 and we 'll talk again.
As for eye-candy, it is not a priority, but since they achieved it in parallel I don't see any problem. I almost forgot, we do show compiz videos to convert users, don't we??
It has become tiresome to read rants every time a new KDE version comes out. We have started to sound like Windows users that say "-I HATE Vista Gui! -Why? -Because the taskbar is black, of course!! I want blue and green." (Do I sound like the Troll then??)

[techieMoe]

while 4.2 is not released yet. Just wait one month for 4.2 and we 'll talk again.

No problem. I'll download the latest LiveCD when 4.2 goes gold.

I almost forgot, we do show compiz videos to convert users, don't we??

I certainly don't. I think compiz is functionally useless. Pretty, certainly, but it doesn't allow me to be any more productive with my desktop.

It has become tiresome to read rants every time a new KDE version comes out. We have started to sound like Windows users that say "-I HATE Vista Gui! -Why? -Because the taskbar is black, of course!! I want blue and green." (Do I sound like the Troll then??)

I don't mean to sound like a troll. I do like the KDE project, and I was a big fan of 3.5 for quite a while. When KDE 4 is stable and feature-complete it will definitely be something to talk about. I'm just disappointed that the "official" releases so far have been so unstable.

[L4Linux]

I don't mean to sound like a troll.

I actually meant it for myself Moe, not you. That I sound like those who defend Vista at all costs.

No problem. I'll download the latest LiveCD when 4.2 goes gold.

It's settled then! We 'll wait for 4.2!