KDE 4 (yes, again...): what features are you using?

[James Richard Tyrer]

Thierry de Coulon wrote:
> OK, so I don't want to start one of those flame wars, I just look for
> clear answers.
> 
I agree, there is no need for a flame war.  We, as users, should be able
to have a reasonable discussion of the current state of the new branch.

> Who am I: a Linux user since 1999, and using KDE from version 0.4 I
> sticked to 3.5.x until now, but I decided to give 4 a try (I used
> OpenSuSE 11.1 in case that matters). I even decided to go so far and
> try to tweak the plasma-applettsrc file as many mails pointed to the
> fact that some settings could only be made there (beta smell to me,
> but well...).
> 
> Now it appears that, at least in OpenSuSE, this file gets overwritten
> with the defaults (or the present settings, I don't know) when you
> log out, so your changes are lost.
> 
I should first tell you that you should only edit the file when the
session it is for is NOT running.  This tends to be true of many
configuration files for KDE (in 3.x.y as well).

I also tried to do that and found that there are serious issues with
that file.  Perhaps it has improved since then since I haven't tried
again and that was months ago.

> So, before I waste more time with this piece of code, I want to ask a
> clear question, and I would welcome clear answers:
> 
> ******************************************************************* 
> What new features make KDE 4 interresting to you !?!? 
> *******************************************************************
> 
> I have read _lots_ of mails saying "KDE 4 rocks", and  have read the
> Wiki too, but really, honestly, I can't see anyone naming clearly
> what the gains are supposed to be, and all I can see are missing
> features (I mean things I could do with 3.5.x and I can't do anymore)
> and "useless" new features (useless to ME, that is): desktop effects,
> tagging possibilities, plasmoids, etc...
> 
Some of the new library should result in more features and better
desktop integration.  But, it hasn't really happened yet.  There were 
major issues with the KDE-3 Desktop and Panel, however this does not 
mean that Plasma was needed to fix it.  Plasma clearly isn't there yet 
-- so I wonder if it was a mistake (I see no need for widgets on the 
desktop although I would like a clock like I had in KDE-3 before the 
major regression that made it impossible).  Perhaps not, but a port of 
Kicker/KDesktop would probably have been working by now even with the 
needed major rewrites.

> I understand that under the hood many things have been "improved". So
> I'd be interrested to find out if I am simply completely out of the
> main stream (what's important to most people is not to me) or if KDE
> got caught with some Apple fever (Everything in KDE 4 is great and
> those who don't say this are bad believers).
> 
Apple Fever?  Yes, I think so.  But I have to say that engineering 
school tends to make people into realists that see the world in shades 
of Gray with no Black or White.

However, much of this new technology that has a lot more daemons running 
should result in good things in the future.  The downside is that it 
needs more memory -- 512MiB is no longer really sufficient.

> My bottom line is: either what the developers create is the
> majority's taste, and if it's not mine I just have to go look
> elsewhere (I did that with Windows and Mac, so no problem). Or the
> developers are really missing the point and I guess they should
> realise before they loose a good part of their users.
> 
Yes.  I also think that we need to put quality first.  Most of the new 
programing paradigms (eXtreme Programing, Agile Software Development, 
etc.) put the user first (which I don't find to be a new or radical 
idea).  Developers need to decide if they are doing this for their own 
amusement or if our objective is really world domination.

I have to tell you that I don't know how improvements can actually be 
put into practice although I have my ideas on what improvements need to 
be make.

Starting at 0, there is a problem that the KDE-4 project doesn't start 
at 0.  If this was a new independent project and we had released version 
0.2.1, nobody would be complaining since users would figure that when it 
got to 1.0.0 that it would probably work correctly.  So, we really 
shouldn't call this KDE-4.x.y, it should be called KDE4-0.x.y.

-- 
JRT

Linux (mostly) From Scratch

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