[dot] Savanna Says: KDE 3.2 - A Quick Review

[Dot Stories]

URL: http://dot.kde.org/1078946275/

From: Fabrice Mous <fabrice at kde.nl>
Dept: where-upgrades-make-you-dance
Date: Wednesday 10/Mar/2004, @20:17

Savanna Says: KDE 3.2 - A Quick Review
======================================

   Right on the heels of the KDE 3.2.1 release, Savanna
[savanna at kdenews.org] is back with an article about her latest upgrade
to the KDE 3.2 desktop. After being on 3.2 beta for several months she
wasn't expecting much of this upgrade.




                        KDE 3.2 - A QUICK REVIEW
 by Savanna [savanna at kdenews.org]
     Last week, I finally took the time to upgrade to the fully released
KDE 3.2  desktop system. I was a little nervous at first because, as
many of the devs  online can tell you, I really don't know Linux that
well. That means that if  something goes wrong, I usually freak out, go
"Oh my God", and panic like  never before. Then they usually have to
help me get through the crisis and it  always ends up being something
fairly simple and stupid that I did myself.

     Needless to say, however, I've been learning. So I took the big
step myself  and, happily, I can say that it went off without a single
problem. I'm  running KDE 3.2 on Debian - just so you know, and apt-get
is a wonderful  tool.

     Anyway, after being on the beta release of 3.2 for a few months, I
wasn't  expecting much of an upgrade. But, of course, I was wrong.

     Beta CVS heads are nice, but they have all sorts of minor quirky
problems. At  least that's what it always seems like to me. You know the
type: your memory  going off the charts at random moments, memory leaks
making you restart your  desktop every few days (unless you know what
you're doing and can shut down  the appropriate processes, but we're
talking about me here), little programs  that don't work *quite* right
all the time. You know - buggy things. I don't  mean Microsoft buggy,
but quirky enough to make you realize that you're still  not on a full
release.

     Well, all that is gone. So far, I haven't seen a single application
do  anything weird. In fact, it's been as stable as ever.

     Okay, if you've never run or seen KDE, there are a few things to
know:

     1) It's stable.

     This is my work computer. I write columns, essays, articles, etc...
And this  is my computer on which I do all that work. I browse, email,
organize, read,  write, spellcheck and even entertain myself with music
all from this  computer. It doesn't crash or give me weird errors. I can
leave it on all day  and night (and I do), and I know that nothing will
be lost when I get back to  it.

     2) It's convenient.

     KDE is nice because it has all these integrated packages that work
with it  seamlessly. For example, when I blog something and enter the
text into the  browser window (Konqueror), I can spellcheck it right
there in the writing  box. In fact, it even spellchecks for me while I
type (live spellchecking).  No more copy/pasting posts in forums and
blogs to see if you made a typo. It  will do it right there. It also has
a nice little dictionary I use all the  time on the Kicker (the
applications bar on your desktop), and lots of other  things which
integrate so nicely that you never have to really maneuver  around one
application to the next to get something done. It's like your  whole
desktop is one big application that you use in various ways.

     3) It's easy to use.

     As I said, I don't know Linux very well at all. But I don't have
to. I've  written about this last year in another column, but it bears
repeating again.  And since KDE isn't only for Linux, it bears
remembering as well. Just like  many of my friends don't know what the
heck a .DAT file is for, I don't have  to know what all sorts of techy
Linux files are for either. The reason is  that KDE is all I deal with
when I'm on the computer, and that makes it easy  to use. Instead of
cryptic command lines, I just have very nice icons  everywhere, and I
can customize it any way I like. If the Kicker bar is too  long, I can
make it shorter. If I want more desktop space, I can have it with  3
clicks of the mouse. I usually use about 10 virtual desktops on my
system  so nothing is ever crowded at all - I always know just where
everything is  and I don't have to figure out what goes where because I
never run out of  real estate space.

     4) It's got everything you need.

     Unless you play lots of games, you just don't need Windows anymore.
If you're  like me and you use your computer for 
writing/browsing/emailing/organizing/listening to music, etc... then
you've  got everything you want in KDE and more. And I don't mean really
hard to  understand applications with no style at all, but friendly and
nice looking  stuff. In fact, some of the applications I use are easier
than the ones I use  on Windows (I have two machines, but I use my
Windows one mostly for a few  games. If I didn't play games, I'd put KDE
on that too without blinking).  100% of the applications I use in KDE
are friendlier and easier to use than  Windows ones. They never crash
and I can customize whatever they look like  without even downloading
weird shareware which might, or might not, have a  virus or do something
strange to a .DLL file and mess up my system for good.  I have no
worries like that. In fact, I have so many options that I now think  of
Windows as being very limited and clunky and (gasp) techy to use. That's
 right. KDE is that friendly.

     5) It's secure.

     I just mentioned viruses, and I don't get them. Well actually,
that's not  true: people send me viruses from their Outlook mail, and I
giggle. I mean  it! I giggle. I don't even have a virus checker. Why?
Because I don't have to  worry about it with KDE. They won't run on KDE
so I don't even have to think  about it. No Norton subscriptions, no
worries about strange .EXE files being  sent to you. To me, viruses are
a thing of the past. I read about how others  get their hard drives
trashed, and I smile. Beat that.

     6) It's pretty.

     KDE is pretty. Hands down, it's just beautiful. Actually it's
gorgeous too.  I've got some nice set themes that come installed with
the KDE default, and  they are all so amazingly nice that I have a hard
time deciding which to  choose from. I've used Windows themes on my XP
box, and it's such a pain in  the butt to customize and make it look
nice. Not so with KDE. Every part of  the system looks like you can
customize the look with different types of  widgets. You just go into
the control panels and click around to suit your  taste and apply.
That's it. It can even do desktop slide shows with fade-ins  and other
things to make your desktop really come alive and to make it  unique.
The icon sets that I have so far are some of the nicest and prettiest 
things I've ever seen. And when I get bored of one set, I just choose
another  and apply. Even my Kicker bar can have wallpaper (and it does).
I'm glad KDE  is this pretty because it makes it look even more
friendly, which is exactly  what I want.

     7) It's fun.

     You want AIM? ICQ? MSN Messenger? No problem. Kopete on KDE gives
you access  to all that and more. It's got a beautiful user interface,
awesome icon sets,  and it's all integrated into one window and in your
Kicker dock panel. It  works flawlessly as far as I can see, and I love
it. Chat to your heart's  content.

     I also have a nice little weather updater on my Kicker bar with
pretty icons  telling me the temperature and what the conditions are
outside. Of course I  can look out the window but if I click on this, I
get a nice little window with more info.

     I always have music playing with Juk. It's integrated with a small
applet in  my Kicker as well (MediaControl) which lets me control
everything from the  kicker, even when I'm not on the desktop where Juk
is. I just love that. And  if you don't know what Juk is, you can read
my review here.

     I said that if you play a lot of games, then maybe KDE isn't for
you, but I  wasn't exactly right on that score. KDE does have games
included. And while  they aren't the latest shoot-em-up type of games,
they are a heck of a lot  nicer than the windows games. You have tons of
fun ones starting with  solitaire, backgammon, mahjong, and then even
the best tetris-like game ever  called Frozen Bubble (you have to try
this), and some other nice games as  well. That just makes you realize
that Windows, as it is, is just a  little...boring and stale by now. I
love my KDE games and I do actually play  them sometimes to relax.

     So all in all, I have to give KDE 3.2 a big thumbs up. It's about
as nice as I  ever imagined, stable, easy to use, and practical as well.
If you're  completely new to the idea of running something like this,
you really  shouldn't worry about it because you'll be up and running in
no time. If you  know windows, you can run KDE. After a day, you'll
never want to go back.

     So congrats to the KDE Dev team and many thanks. I hope to see even
more  surprising refinements in the near future.