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font-size: 14px;" lang="x-unicode">All,
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I understand the thread started with the left foot but I think
there is some reality in it that is good to be discussed.
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I started with digiKam probably one month ago. I am a Windows user
and I think here is where most of the pain goes... Don't get me
wrong.. I love digiKam and most likely I will be using for long
time. It is a great software, excellent photo management
capabilities.
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I know this is open source same as other tools I use but honestly,
I think the support capabilities are very limited and can easily
be enhanced. What I mean is that most open source tools have a
forum tool for users to get help from the community. I found only
this e-mail list as support option. I might suggest that a very
easy way to start it is for example using communities in Flickr.
Not the best forum tool, but good enough for a starting point.
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I have faced many issues with digikam that seems to be working
fine in Linux or other OS. I believe Windows (even though not the
best OS), is still one of the most used ones so a lot of potential
here. I have been forced to try other tools due to my issues with
digiKam (I am currently using Lightzone, GIMP and Photivo, in
addition to digiKam). Changing to Linux is not an option for me
at least for some time.
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Even if I want to help improving, there is no tools for me to
provide details of the issues (no debugging capabilities like in
Linux). Every time digiKam crashes, the bug report tool starts but
always says 'Not enough information'. I am a user with not enough
knowledge of the code to understand why the errors. I tried using
this e-mail list to get help and I did (I know you tried looking
into it and I appreciate it), but not enough to resolve the actual
issues.
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Performance is another major pain. I know it is because Windows
limitations working with Java, but when comparing to other tools
(that have performance issues too) digiKam is probably the worst
time response (almost to the point of not useability). Lightzone
is bad in some cases too, but not as bad.
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I tried using digiKam for Editing but it crashes most of the times
with no reasons and does not reproduce consistently. I have not
reported those for the same reason.
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As a fan of digiKam, I would like to see it grow at the rate of
other open source tools and I know I have to give my 5 cents into
it, but what can we (users) do? If you give us options, I am sure
few people (including myself) are willing to do what we could from
our side.
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Hope I expressed my frustration in a positive way... If not, I
apologize.
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