Matthew Rosewarne on 18 Jan 2008 18:14:21 -0800


[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: [PLUG] speaking of KDE4.....


On Thursday 17 January 2008, jeff wrote:
> KDE4 has been released.

KDE 4, like KDE 3, is a generation of releases.  KDE 4.0 was the first release 
of the platform, and most of the improvements to the desktop and applications 
can only come once the platform is released.  The 4.0 release is not 
something many users will want to run.

> I am experiencing this absolutely eerie feeling of deja-vu and I don't
> like it.  It feels just like it felt when the press was going apeshit
> over the latest and greatest OS from that little old company in Redmond.

So, people are excited, it's not as if the colossal KDE Marketing Machine is 
pushing press releases.

> My learned linux coworker (and inveterate tinkerer) installed KDE4,
> following the directions so it could be installed alongside 3 (but
> removed if it wreaked havoc).  He located KRDC(?) and we both looked for
> the tabs, failing to locate them or any sign of something that looked
> like them (might have been a beta - not sure).  Oh well.

How exactly was KDE 4.0 installed?  Most distro packages at the moment 
are "highly" imperfect, and building from source requires quite some 
tweaking.

If you didn't see the tabbed KRDC, then you're probably running the KDE 3 
version.

> It appeared as if the developers had become suddenly jealous of Vista
> and attempted to put the most eye candy in as humanly possible.  They
> also `helped out' by making everything require twice the amount of
> clicks to get running.

Again, the desktop itself is still in a preliminary state.  I don't see where 
the comparison to Vista comes from, since the two look nothing alike...

> So here I am, with PTSD, feeling like I just watched the entire
> production floor installing Limewire, Vista, Compiz, and Webshots on
> their pc's.
>
> Yeah, I'm a curmudgeon, but so what.  There ARE people who don't want or
> need that kind of visual masturbation.  Even with a virtual dragster of
> a CPU, I wouldn't want that nonsense eating up CPU cycles.

KDE 4 is actually quite lean, particularly compared to KDE 3 or GNOME.  Unless 
you have some strange setup, it should start almost as fast as XFCE.  The 
only real "bling" comes from the compositing window manager (similar to 
Compiz), which in most cases is turned off by default, and is also easily 
disabled.  The only other "eye-candy" is the new artwork, which is a simple 
matter of trading one set of PNGs for a new set.  Again, you can disable the 
splash screen if you want.

> I am further advised that KDE dropped Konqueror in favor of Dolphin.
> Here I am, just getting used to what Konqueror can accomplish, and POOF,
> the design team has `helped me out' in the form of introducing a new and
> improved Dolphin.  When I tried Dolphin, a while back, it was small and
> unobtrusive.  It has three panes in KDE3.x, two of which I don't need.

Nobody's dropped Konqueror.  If you don't like Dolphin, use Konqueror instead.


I think this might be a bit of an overreaction to a 
not-for-your-average-user .0 release.  Nobody's forcing you to switch 
desktops, so there's not really much point in throwing the "V" word around 
just because you aren't a fan.  You can still use KDE applications from XFCE, 
you'll likely find that they are smaller and faster than their competitors.

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part.

___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug