[kde-linux] Opinion: KDE4 is very great, but does not deserve the version number

[Frank Reifenstahl]

>>> Shipping 4.0.0 as a "Official Release" and not Beta will get more people
>>> on it, and more issues to the forefront. Thus fixing many issues prior to
>>> 4.1 and so on. I think it was the right move.
>> I don't think so. A major release with known flaws and not recommended
>> for business use. M$ would get torn to shreds daring to cheek us that
>> way. KDE devs should use RCs to converge on stability. Maybe that will
>> move it slower, but it's the honest way and doesn't smack of a marketing
>> trick.
> 
> No trick.  Individual distros make the decision as to whether and when to 
> include it.  As far as I know no distro so far has done so as the default.  
> Therefore you have made the decision yourself, despite that fact that it has 
> been said for more than 20 years that a .0 version is necessarily flawed.

... talking of flaws you're not aware off. I'm a software developer 
myself, and would never distribute software as a .0 version that's such 
a rough framework like KDE4. For me a .0 is a version ready for the 
user. If it's not, I would denominate it a RC or beta or .99. Up to now 
I've had the notion that OS people are highly label-resistant. The KDE 
crew makes me doubt.

> How else can anything get tested in the wider world?

I am running a lot of very stable 0.x apps, which are lively developed 
with feedback by lively communities, apparently no need for them to 
switch to .0.

> It has been said over 
> and over again that it is not yet ready for deployment in a production 
> environment.  If you choose to be a tester in an environment that is 
> unsuitable then you are at fault.

Don't get me wrong, I am not running KDE4. I am talking about a matter 
of principle.

Frank