[RFC] KDE 4.0 Release Roadmap

[Olaf Schmidt]

[ Sebastian Kügler, Mi., 14. Mär. 2007 17:13 ]
> The two different opinions are, roughly:
>
> - KDE 4.0 needs to be complete and stable, it will attract new user that
> might (based on the profiles we worked out) not be willing to accept
> software that's not completely stable or incomplete.
>
> - KDE 4.0 needs to be finalised ASAP, release early, release often is an
>   important mantra, delaying the release doesn't help the acceptance of the
>   user base, the development process will smoothen when 4.0 is at the
> horizon.

Both opinions are unrealistic IMHO.

It is clear that KDE 4.0 need not (and cannot) contain everything that is 
planned for KDE4, and I do not know anyone who has claimed that it should. 

But we also need to look at the end user experience. KDE 4.0 must not be a 
huge regression over KDE 3.5. It needs to be a release that can be worked 
with, and that shows where we are heading.

Ellen Reitmayr used a good formulation for this in a post to the release team 
list: KDE 4.0 should be at least as good as KDE 3.5. And I agree. If it 
doesn't, then even marketing cannot fix it.

Of course, we might well be able to get a solid release out by October. I am 
only saying that if it turns out that we can't, then we must not rush the 
release. Getting kdelibs developers out of "tinker mode" quickly is not 
enough. 

Olaf