Charles Obler wrote:
I do not "actually comment on bug reports on kde.org", because I do not feel competent to do so. I don't want to clutter up the bug reports with amateurish complaints. Because I am NOT a professional, I do not feel qualified to participate in Linux, except in entry-level forums like this.
I'm not complaining, so much as I'm expressing disappointment. I'm writing as someone who loves Linux, someone who would not dream of using a Microsoft product. I hate to see features that I have come to know and love disappear. I don't want to see Linux dumbed-down to the Microsoft level. I like having a CHOICE. Why is that so hard to understand?
What is hard to understand is...why do people that haven't participated in open betas or contribute via bug reports (for fear of making fools of themselves?) feel they now have the authority (for lack of a better word) to critique a body of work they had no involvement.
Greg Freemyer writes that there HAS BEEN a gradual transition to the new KDE concept. Well, I think developers and users like me operate on a different time-scale. From the user's perspective, the transition is SUDDEN: One day I have a system I love, and the next day, a system that seems, af first sight, to be a throwback to Microsoft.
KDE 4 has been under development for some time before it was unleashed on the general populace. Some would say that until 4.3 it wasn't ready for prime time and KDE 4 should not have been the default KDE until 4.3 was done. I can't comment on that since I didn't start to use KDE 4 until 4.3 was released. But, I can comment on my switch from KDE 3 to KDE 4. First, I don't operate in a vacuum. I knew KDE 4 was coming, and I was aware that it was significantly different than KDE 3. As such I personally didn't expect KDE 4.X to be the same as KDE 3.X. Otherwise wouldn't it have been called KDE 3.X+1? So, since I retain my home directory between upgrades and didn't trust nor did I want some process to try to shift my old settings to the new settings I logged in via ssh and moved aside all things KDE before logging in under KDE 4. Then I went about the business of setting thing up the way I like under the KDE 4 way. Yes, it took me a fair bit of time. But, I tried to treat the exercise as a learning curve. FWIW, I could not get KDE 4.X to work exactly as I want it to. Then again, I could not get 3.X to work exactly as I wanted to, nor could I get GNOME X.X, or xfce .... There were a few things that I thought I lost in moving to KDE 4, but when I asked I found there was just a different way to do it. In fact, one thing changed from 4.3 to 4.4.
I don't understand why there is such a rush to phase out things that work perfectly well. Isn't maintaining support for obsolescent equipment one of the hallmarks of Linux? Well, how about maintaining support for obsolescent users, as well?! :)
AFAIK, KDE 3.5 is still available in 11.2 and you are welcome to use it. I also saw that some group has formed a project to keep 3.5 available unofficially and longer term. (It may have been on a fedora list however). But, please note, if you decide to remain with 3.5 don't expect there to be much in the way of changes/upgrades as in a 3.6 release. And, don't expect KDE 4 to cease progressing/evolving. The KDE development world has limited resources and there will come a time when those supporting 3.5 will dwindle and probably cease to support it. At that time your transition to KDE 4.X or KDE 5.X will likely be even more traumatic. -- 葛斯克 愛德華 / 台北市八德路四段 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org