Hello, On Fri, 19 Feb 2010, Felix Miata wrote:
Since the new project [= KDE4 (dnh)] was done from scratch, with plans to change and/or exclude functionality from KDE3, it should have taken an _entirely_ new name. Instead, the new project was cloaked with the KDE name, ensuring that distros and users would be minimally likely not to adopt it when upgrade the distro time came along. Not only was it cloaked with the familiar name, its alpha and beta releases were cloaked with version numbers that disguised its character as alpha (4.0, 4.1) and beta (4.2, 4.3) software, which speeded its uptake, and KDE3's discard, by the distro packagers.
Has it ever been different with KDE? I don't know about KDE2, but it was the same with KDE1 and KDE3 (as close as I followed). And the "really" useful minor version has been the last of that major version. I observe a pattern: 1.0.x a mess 1.1.0 still unuseable 1.1.1 useable (with not too great pains/shortcomings) 1.1.2 useful (i.e. people like(d) it, and last 1.x). 2.0.x a mess (I tried that even ... *shudder*) ... 3.0.x a mess ... 3.3.x ? (ISTR it might have been "useable" already) 3.4.x useable(?) 3.5.x useful (and last 3.x) 4.0.x a mess ... 4.3.x still messy (as far as I gathered here and on the german ML) 4.4.x useable(? here and next door ('-de') it sounds like it is ;) 4.5.x will probably be useful (and the last 4.x??) 5.0.0 I'm betting it'll be a big mess ;P And it'll be forked at the point KDE 4.x get's useful (and 4.x will go out of support or very soon after) Any takers? Care to fill in missing data? Corrections? Comments? BTW: yes, it's a rather "strict" definition of useable and useful. The latter implies "stable" too, i.e. no(!) random crashes of a "core"-app (like the WM/the plasma stuff, Dolphin, Konqueror, KMail, ...) e.g. because of a fritzed config when the user plays with the configuration (via the GUI(s), manually sabotaged config-files are excused ;). That still happen(s|ed) with at least 4.3.x AFAIR. And Gnome (and Gtk) seem to be more continually developed, even the switch from Gnome1/gtk1 to Gnome2/gtk2 went smoother (concerning features) than, say KDE1 -> KDE2. But, then again, you see requirements like 'gtk2 >= 2.10' or 'gtk2 >= 2.24' (or whatever) in the packages. Or worse[0]. So, you get to choose your poison when you choose a big desktop environment like KDE or Gnome. Apart from that fact that you may not like "the other" desktop (for whatever reasons like "just the feel"). Or dislike both (like me) and choose XFCE, LXDE or WindowMaker (like me) or sawfish or [insert about 50 other WM's names here] ... Or combine a simple WM with glitz, fluff and apps and tools (like a "panel") from another WM ... Use Dolphin as your default Gnome filemanager! k3b under WindowMaker, the Gnome-panel with sawfish ... The XFCE filemanager in KDE4 ... KMail or Evolution under aewm++ ... Whatever works _for you_! :) -dnh, not using KDE since 1.1.2 nor Gnome, I use KDE apps though. Still use the KDE1 kmix[1] on the old box, k3b (of KDE4.4 I think) on the new box with oS 11.2. And Gnome apps. Oh, and I have looked at KDE4. Just to know what I (don't) "miss". [0] I've more than once come across gtk/gnome apps not explicitly requiring 'gtk2 >= 2.16' (but, say, only 2.10) in configure while using functions that were introduced with version 2.16. Conversely, I've compiled packages cleanly and working against a glib/gtk2 supposedly "too old" (by changing the require in 'configure'). That's preferable and understandable though. "Better safe than sorry", the devs just didn't/couldn't easily test/lookup when each and every function was introduced and just required the oldest version known to work/or tested (or probably developed against). I do that too. [1] $ ps -eo cmd | grep '[k]mix' kmix -r 1 It claims to be 'KMix 1.01' in it's "About KMix"-dialog $ rpm -q --queryformat '%{installtime:date}\n' -f `which kmix` Sun 09 Jul 2000 08:48:59 AM CEST *cough* ;) -- / "Just say no to unnecessary complexity that just \ \ doesn't buy you anything." -- Linus Torvalds / -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org