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| KDE 4.2 Released; Short Interview: Aaron Seigo |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2009-01-27 18:41:22 |
| The release of KDE 4.0 was not a smooth one, and left a number of users a bit disgruntled. Still, the release showed so much potential that it was oozing out of every pixel. KDE 4.1 improved significantly in many areas of concern, but it wasn't yet ready for everyone. With today's release of KDE 4.2, the KDE4 vision is ready to face not only developers and enthusiasts, but every users. We have taken a look at the release candidate for KDE 4.2, and we have a short interview with KDE's Aaron Seigo. |
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| Great Release |
| By SlackerJack on 2009-01-27 19:24:14 |
|
Big Thanks to all the developers and contributors who made KDE4.2 happen and a great release for the 4.x series. Please can you not keep going on about 4.0?, it's not like you spend good money on it and HAD to try it or use it. The 4.2 release shows how far the 4 series has come, I personally love the 4 series and contribute because of it. Many people didn't seen it for it's potential(instead banged on about where's my KDE3.x features), I did see it's potential. Edited 2009-01-27 19:27 UTC |
 - Score: 12 |
| Ugly themes |
| By averycfay on 2009-01-27 19:25:19 |
| Well, I'm a gnome user. I watched those videos and it actually looks like there's some cool stuff there. I may end up trying it out. BUT man the theme in that video is so ugly. The little plasma things on the desktop look good, but the menus/buttons/other widgets in normal windows look horrible. Maybe (hopefully?) that's not the default theme. |
| - Score: 2 |
| Well done Thom |
| By kragil on 2009-01-27 19:29:20 |
|
I especially liked the interview. Aaron was humble and honest. I don't know but the whole tone of this "The answer" release is very low on marketing buzz words and hype. Very well done. Personally I cannot wait for sonnet to get language detection. I will use 4.2 anyways :) but I'll switch once 4.3beta is out. |
| - Score: 5 |
| RE: Ugly themes |
| By shiny on 2009-01-27 20:01:28 |
|
Are you suggesting that the Oxygen widget theme, as seen for example here [0], looks ugly? To each his own I guess, but for me it looks like a clear, calm and great looking theme. [0] http://kde.org/announcements/4.2... |
| - Score: 10 |
| RE: Great Release |
| By Adam S on 2009-01-27 20:03:49 |
|
> Please can you not keep going on about 4.0?, it's not like you spend good money on it and HAD to try it or use it. The 4.2 release shows how far the 4 series has come, I personally love the 4 series and contribute because of it. Many people didn't seen it for it's potential No. I don't think we should ever forget it. KDE 4.0 was a colossal disaster and it's a great model for open source projects to learn how NOT to do things. Everyone now knows when you release something and expect the users to do alpha testing on real stuff, they will revolt. You gotta get your stuff up to snuff, at least mostly functional, or risk angering a large chunk of your userbase. Not that I don't respect the KDE guys or what they are doing, and I am not upset about it, I'm just saying, we shouldn't just move on. I don't think users want to have to learn to wait until x.2 until something is usable. We all learned a lot from this experience, and thankfully, it looks like the KDE team is actually going to realize much of their vision and win back many of their fans. It's a story with a happy ending. On a related note, Aaron Siego, for all his bytes, is a great face for KDE for the tech folks. He's interested and he's substance. People respect that. |
| - Score: 5 |
| ... |
| By Hiev on 2009-01-27 20:14:19 |
| Not that bad, not that great. |
| - Score: 0 |
| RE[2]: Great Release |
| By shiny on 2009-01-27 20:23:44 |
|
> Not that I don't respect the KDE guys or what they are doing, and I am not upset about it, I'm just saying, we shouldn't just move on. I don't think users want to have to learn to wait until x.2 until something is usable. If KDE 4.0 had not been released back than, we'd hardly be at a 4.1's level by now. To develop and enhance the software you actually need users to use it, spread the word, encourage people to give feedback, find bugs, and point the most missing parts. You gain contributors that way too. By hiding your project and labeling it WIP you'll hardly get the fraction of help and interest. It's not like KDE could have waited till now and release 4.2, it'd be in a much rawer state. By seeing what we got today, I'd say it was worth it. It did no harm, but instead produced a great DE in reasonable time window. Besides, it's not like KDE 3.5 disappeared after KDE4.0's release. |
| - Score: 11 |
| RE[3]: Great Release |
| By Adam S on 2009-01-27 20:28:18 |
|
Counterpoint: it did lots of harm. Lots of people ditched KDE, lots didn't use 4.0, and the team, I think, still suffers from some users who feel burned. Furthermore, it's erroneous to say that if they hadn't released, they wouldn't be up to 4.2. First of all, it wouldn't matter the version number if it was actually complete and worked. Secondly, why would you assume the work would go slower? Because there are fewer people using it? So you are, in fact, advocating the release of incomplete, buggy, untested software to users? Just checking. If I realize an empty zip file and call it an OS today, I can't after 4 years or work go back and later say "had I not released that zip, I wouldn't be here today." |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE[4]: Great Release |
| By coolvibe on 2009-01-27 20:53:37 |
|
KDE 3 wasn't gone. It never was. It's still here now. If you didn't like 4.0 (or 4.1), you could have stuck with 3.5.x or used GNOME, or XFCE, or some other environment, so basically your point is moot. Sure, you tried it and didn't like it. That's why there's choice. Hell, you can even run several DEs side by side. Stop complaining, or help out to make it better. Or fork it and make it better. It's not like you have to pay for it or something. |
| - Score: 6 |
| RE[2]: Ugly themes |
| By averycfay on 2009-01-27 20:54:15 |
|
Yes. It looks like it's from the mid-90's. Edit: also, the theme doesn't fit well at all with the plasma things on the desktop. They look great, but the normal windows next to them look completely out of place. Edited 2009-01-27 21:05 UTC |
| - Score: 1 |
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