Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-kde (199 mails)

[Daniel Mader <danielstefanmader@xxxxxx>]

I have to admit that I feel very much like Mathias and Oliver. Maybe the 
communication could be more polite, but I think they are basically right:

We have a core problem in openSUSE that the build process for KDE 4 is to 
flaky. Features which work today are broken after the next factory build. So 
yes: I think this is NOT a KDE upstream problem, but our own fault of 
packaging. Factory is not usable for real, satisfactory work. Factory 
development should not break things which perfectly work, imo.

At the same time, I feel very much unsettled about the path KDE4 goes. It is 
still miles away from enterprise desktop usage. It lacks both features and 
stabiliy:
* printing is a joke. Compared to Windows, MacOS and Gnome, it is just 
downright broken. No one can tell, if it will ever improve again, since Nokia 
doesn't care.
* PIM is lacking features, such as synchronizing with syncML and the like. It 
doesn't even have plugins for Google stuff, which would greatly enhance 
popularity. Again, noone seems to care -- and the bad syncml capabilities we 
have since KDE3. Take a look at Gnome/Evolution, then you know why it is the 
first choice for a corporate desktop.
* File preview is still not on par with KDE3. Transparent graphics are 
horrible. Admittedly, that's a minor issue...
* Soundsystem is flaky.
* Hotplugging is flaky. Audio CDs lock up when they are damaged, there is no 
(or not yet) action related to them.
* Multiscreen setups are not working for non-sophisticated users.
* KDE4 is definitely slower than KDE3, for whatever reason. I have two Pentium 
III notebooks with less than 1GB RAM, and they work fine with KDE3 but are way 
too weak for the newer "smaller memory footprint" version. This might be due 
to graphics hardware and the shitty graphics driver situation under Linux, but 
for the user it boils down to youknowwhat...

Many of the above things will see a solution, I am sure. But I really find 
they should have had more importance in the first place. Most of the above 
stuff should "just work" (tm), from the point of most users. It does not, and 
will not, not even in 4.3... Rotating plasmoids is not a replacement for the 
lack of core office productivity features.

Gnome is attracting large portions of former hard core KDE3 users, that's a 
fact. Bashing those "poisonous users" may seem justified from the perspective 
of a volunteer developper from amarok and the like but it doesn't make the 
problem go away. KDE 4 is currently not an option for serious desktop usage. 
Period. What scares me, though, is the fact that it will still not be an 
option in 4.3 and thus 11.2. Intermediate version upgrades from factory are 
not an option, either, so that means, for openSUSE the first working KDE 
desktop is still about 1.5 yrs from now...


We *need* better packaging, and we need stable, frequent and reliable KDE4 
snapshots provided for the endusers' audience. If we don't, I see the KDE 
market share drop to 30% from once 90%.
-- 
To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-kde+unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-kde+help@xxxxxxxxxxxx