Guys, Though I often knock kde4 and all isn't perfect, 4.5.1-1 is looking much better. We are starting to see some of the 'smartness' and 'efficiency' that made kde3 such a great desktop creep into kde4. Case-in-point, simple things like changing the background in kde4 sucked largely because you were limited to a single column of thumbnails to choose from that was slow as hell to scroll through (especially if you have 100+ wallpapers in the search path. After upgrade to 4.5.1-1, I was surprised to see a clean 3-column selection now that triples the amount of data you have at a glance and greatly speeds transitioning the list of wallpapers. (it could have been there a version ago and I'm just seeing it now) I'm glad to see some of the highly visible sore thumbs of k4 are being addressed. Why it has taken 2+ years from the official June, 2008 release date to get here still has never been adequately explained, but for those who know open-source, you know why. So the purpose of the email is to tell Will, Sven and the rest of the tireless k4 devs on this list - great job, Your work and effort is highly visible and well appreciated. (Will, now if I can just get you in an advisory role on the Pearson project to preserve k3 as a 'choice' for the future, we will really have made progress on two fronts. I'll follow up privately later) Second, just as this example shows, it is the lack of the simple efficiencies in k4 that have caused serious acceptance problems for k4. Slow scrolling, inefficient lists, whack-a-mole focus handling, file managers that can't remember what they looked like the last time they were closed or remember what file or directory they were just in/on when pressing the (back) button while in preview in tree mode are apparently the things that were/are low-priority fixes that are being addressed last. This approach is completely backwards for a successful major version jump and the historical trouble k4 has had with acceptance bears that out. Things like this are often the first things people see in k4 and, it is true, you only get one chance to make a good first impression (hopefully that is a lesson learned for k5) Make sure the first things people see and use most work out of the gate -- not 2 years later. But regardless of the history, the successes and missteps, kde4 is looking very good in 4.5.1-1. Great job kde4 devs! P.S. Now, I'll go try the back button in nested tree mode in konqueror while previewing a wallpaper and report back :p -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org