by tekwyzrd » Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:01
Read the kde forum. Read reviews. According to articles and threads I've read the devs stated that the change to a gnome clone control panel is due to an unmaintained kcontrol, users with no preference for one or the other, and a perceived need for overall simplification. To cater to the demands of users too lazy to try and learn and the ubuntu community they're eliminating functionality.
I anticipated the results of the re-merge of Beryl. I even commented in this forum about what I expected to happen when the Beryl developers started to cater to ubuntu. Primary concern there is gnome with KDE reduced to an afterthought. Now KDE's devs are following in the same footsteps (catering to the kubuntu community) and I'm concerned that once these simplifications are implemented and the less sophisticated users start using KDE there will be sufficient numbers and demand to prevent change. Once the simplifications are implemented there's no turning back.
Just look at the menu layout. I agree. The SuSE menu is an abomination. It's ridiculous to constantly use scroll bars to find what you're looking for. It's a poorly implemented, badly designed layout. Even so there have been enough people who like it that KDE has made it the standard. It's hoped that there will be an alternative available when the final 4.0 is released but there's no guarantees.
I switched from windows (xp pro and 2k) to SuSE in August of 2005 and about that time I started reading about work being done in preparation for the fall 2006 release of KDE4. What happened to KDE? Why was so much effort put into minor release versions? I've seen six releases in the last two years with little accomplished on v4.0. Sacrifice functionality to meet an arbitrary release date? With the delays we've seen to this point I'd rather see them delay the release again and get it right. A bad release lacking components current users are familiar with will alienate many users, myself included.
In anticipation of a major disappointment I'll start looking for something to replace KDE. I don't think I'll find anything but if the only viable choices are gnome or a dumbed down kde I'll probably switch back to windows and LDE(X).
Former Sabayon user (2005 - 2013) and current Arch user.
I liked Sabayon until it switched to Rigo and becoming the gentoo equivalent of Ubuntu. Extreme browsing? Extreme gaming? Extreme work? Extreme development? Like, totally gnarly, dude!