Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-factory (904 mails)

< Previous Next >
Re: [opensuse-factory] GNOME/KDE4/KDE3 (was: [status report] openSUSE distribution, week 15)
  • From: Andrew Wafaa <awafaa@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:12:55 +0100
  • Message-id: <20080410231255.3371bf1f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:46:47 +0200
Pascal Bleser <pascal.bleser@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

....
People with at least a bit of experience with Linux know that there's
KDE3 and KDE4, and that they're not the same at all (certainly more in
common as with GNOME or other DEs/WMs but still).
At least I know that what I would expect from any distro is to be able
to choose directly between KDE4, KDE3 and GNOME.
Also, an additional step+click in the workflow should be avoided if
possible, from an ergonomics' perspective.

I agree. Keeping the flow short and sweet is definitely the way to
go, one of the most common complaints with 10.3 was that the install
took too long and had too many steps (personally I didn't think so).

I don't to launch the debate again (at least not as a flame war), but
the order *is* important. Using alphabetical order is an excuse.
The reality is that what most people who don't already have a
preference infer from the order of options there is that the top item
is the "standard" and best supported desktop environment on openSUSE.

And please, please, please don't interpret this as a flame, as it
isn't, but the openSUSE desktop environment survey showed that >70%
are using KDE(3) and while it might still be a reluctant memory
effect from SUSE/S.u.S.E. times, my gut feeling is that KDE is still
better supported as of now (not to disregard the good work and heavy
involvement of the GNOME devs and packagers towards openSUSE since
over half a year). But, of course, I might be wrong :)

How about
[ ] KDE 4
[ ] GNOME
[ ] KDE 3
?

Arguably, that order also goes from the least stable on top to the
most stable at bottom. Not 100% sure that makes sense either.

I'm just absolutely certain of one thing: it's stupid to have
political aspects (as it happened the previous time this question was
raised, at least IMHO) being the reason to decide for one or the
other. It must be considered from an honest point of view for the
good of the end-users installing openSUSE.
The option giving them the least headaches should be the #1 on the
list, as it's most likely to be picked by those who have no idea what
KDE/GNOME/XFCE/... is and just want to "try Linux".

How about
[ ] KDE 3
[ ] GNOME
[ ] KDE 4
?

But clearly, I might be completely wrong here (except on the paragraph
above), as I didn't use GNOME since years and haven't had the time to
have a real shot at KDE4 recently.


I have always associated KDE with SUSE regardless of incarnation or
spelling of the distro. There are also a lot of linux savvy people that
also have the same association, unfortunately the media is getting
pretty lazy nowadays and need a bit of help. I would certainly agree
to have the order as:

[]KDE4
[]GNOME
[]KDE3

This does give a bit of weight to KDE4 over it's older sibling, but
that is kind of wanted (in my eyes). KDE3 wont be around for much
longer, and I think it would be best for the KDE devs to have more bug
reports on 4 than 3.

Regards,

Andy

--
Andrew Wafaa, openSUSE Member: GNOME Team.
awafaa@xxxxxxxxxxxx | http://opensuse.org/GNOME
openSUSE: Get It, Discover It, Create It at http://www.opensuse.org

http://www.wafaa.eu
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@xxxxxxxxxxxx

< Previous Next >