On Sunday 23 August 2009 04:02:45 am Dotan Cohen wrote:
The day when KDE 3 will no longer be viable is getting closer every day. Please tell me what problems you are having with KDE 4.3 so that we can get them fixed. KDE 3 is great because it is mature, configurable, and feature-laden without being bloated. I do not want to see that go to waste! It is the KDE 3 holdouts who have the attention to detail to distinguish the "little things" that make KDE 3 so great that are currently lacking in the KDE 4 branch.
Note that KDE 4.3 really solves most of the issues for me and most other people that I deal with. In fact, the features is adds over KDE 3 were enough to get me to switch. So please try KDE 4.3 and _let_me_know_ what does not work for you so that we can file bugs. I want to know about missing features, unintuitiveness, bugs, regressions, anything. You _will_ need to relearn some minor things as KDE 4 is a rewrite of KDE, not a Qt4 port of KDE 3, however let's get the major issues fixed.
Thanks. KDE really needs the picky, stubborn KDE 3 users to push the devs (who might not have the same attention to detail as us) in the right direction. I'm here to bridge the gap between us (the users) and the devs.
Dotan, Over the past 3-4 months, I have committed myself to being a picky kde3 user who has tried really hard to push the kde4 devs to just clean up some of the bugs that are the worst "annoyances" in kde4 to help make the kde4 desktop enjoyable to use instead of the current continual effort in frustration and head scratching over why "a", "b" and "c" don't work. I use kde4 as my primary desktop now, and I think the desktop has great potential, but candidly there are so many annoyances that kde4 is still very frustrating to use. After 4 months of exhaustive use, there is no question that kde4 is basically beta software. It's usable, just like any other beta or release candidate should be, but it was -- in nobody's wildest pipe-dream -- a completed desktop prior to 4.3. Even now, it is usable, but with all the unfinished bits and pieces, and all of the (for lack of better words) parts that don't work and just look thrown together to say "we have a finished desktop" it needs a lot of work -- just exactly as Dotan seems to be eluding to. The major frustration of the past year+ with kde4 has been the way it has been marketed as a "finished" and "released" desktop that can take the place of kde3. Face it, that has just been dishonest. To date, there still isn't a printer configuration in kde control center. It is very maddening, and at the same time comical, to recall how Novell and openSuSE represented that kde4.04 was a final "release" of kde4 ready to be the primary desktop for openSuSE 11.0 in June 2008. (really?) The same "honesty" was attached to the so called finished releases or 4.1 and 4.2. It is like somebody took the user community for being a collective body of utter idiots and thought "maybe if we just market these releases as actual finished releases instead of betas", the community will buy it and welcome kde4 as the next kdesktop sooner than if we were just honest and told them it's still basically beta software -- NOT. What a backlash that had. That was the same type of a bs political pitch as "When we invade Iraq, the Iraqi people will see us as liberators and welcome us with open arms...." There is no place for that political bs in Open Source Software development. That notwithstanding, KDE4.3 is what I, and I think a lot of people would agree, is an official non-beta release of KDE. Yes, it has it's annoyances, but at least most of the pieces are there and we finally have *most* of the icons in kde control center. It is a huge step forward and a step in the right direction over whatever kde 4.2 was. If what Dotan is suggesting is that there is now going to be a big push to clean it up, then fantastic, kde4 will be one hell of a desktop -- but the work has got to get done, it isn't there yet. Now, I haven't just set idly back an bitched about kde4 without trying to do my part. I have put my efforts were my mouth is to test every part of kde4 and author or contribute to bug reports on everything I find and have time to report in hope of getting this desktop to a point where I, and everyone else, can enjoy using it without having 1/2 your time wasted chasing down bugs in it or trying to figure out why x, y and z don't work. Here is the url to the list of 121 kde4 bugs I have either authored or contributed to over that period of time: https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?cmdtype=runnamed&namedcmd=Rankin%20Bug%... if that url doesn't work for lack of session cookies, etc., I have the list available on my server here: http://www.3111skyline.com/download/bugs/kde4/Rankin_Bug_List-2009-08-31.htm... Dotan, if you are serious about wanting the list of the major kde4 problems to push them to whereever or whoever they need to go to so they can be fixed prior to the 11.2 release, I am more than willing to prepare a list of the most glaring kde4 bugs that will really annoy 11.2 users who are transitioning from kde3 to kde4. Of the 121 kde4 bugs contained in the list above, the following are the really annoying ones that I, and everyone else, would be grateful if you would help get fixed. The way I look at it, the real visible and annoying ones are the ones that a user will see when they try to do the simple things like have konqueror file manager open up looking the same as it did the last time they closed it (after saving the file-management profile). That still doesn't work and things like that where you have to continually repeat basic application or desktop setup is just inexcusable in the "third" (.3) release of a finished desktop. I have taken the time to pull from my bug list the top 20 or so annoyances and grouped them by kde component. (e.g. Konqueror, Plasma-Desktop, etc..) If these are fixed, then kde4 *will be* a replacement for KDE3. KONQUEROR: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=195808 ( #1 Annoyance) File Manager Does Not Restore Saved Profile https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=198073 ( #2 Annoyance) Choosing "Back" In Tree View Mode Ignores Previous View https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=202754 konqueror (Web Browsing) Fails to Remember Last Upload Directory https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=202970 kdiff integration broken in konqueror https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=195528 Detail View: Clicking in space between File/Folder name and Size fails to place Focus https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=48944 Directory name not updated in sidebar tree view after rename https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=201048 No Print Option in Right Click Context Menu https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=197742 "Copy Link Address" Missing from Right-Click Context for Remote FTP Sites https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=163533 Konqueror's tab settings take effect only after restart https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=200736 Save File Reports "connection to host <hostname> is lost" KONSOLE: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=153376 right click on tab doesn't open context menu anymore https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=202852 Open Browser Here option - Doesn't (Broken Feature) PLASMA-DESKTOP: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=198122 Printer Configuration does not provide an interface 'KCModule' system-config- printer-kde https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=192836 all settings for classic menu discarded after switching to kickoff-style and back https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=195697 F8 (show hidden files) Requires Manual Focus on File List https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=205358 Gwenview - Crop "Save/Save All" Bar Shifts Whole Image Down - Shouldn't https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=198030 Panel Auto-Hide Duration/Delay Missing https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=188658 file completion in open/save dialog in network places uses files from home directory https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=198105 Pager does not display correctly if Compiz started with Fusion Icon or compiz-manager https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=201970 kappfinder "Apply" doesn't add anything to the menu https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=203643 okular eating 100% of CPU on pdf KDE-CORE: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=195493 Groupware Integration Authentication Fails after Session Timeout KATE/KWRITE: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=204733 kate warn about files modified by a foreign process broken https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=200935 kate snippets broken - applies ansi codes to editor when snippet input into file https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=205295 Configure Kate Download Highlight Syntax Files Broken https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=203039 Kate auto completion sporatic or non-functional https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=197911 kwrite printing with dark theme prints light text on paper https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=204732 configure kate help broken KMAIL: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=198017 spamassassin claims 100% CPU when adding imap account This isn't intended as a be-all end-all list of kde4 bugs, but for daily use, these are the ones that I notice from using kde4 regularly. From my bug list, these are the ones that stand out as just being incredibly frustrating to deal with every day. There are hundreds (probably thousands) more that haven't even been reported yet that are of the same type (I still need to file the one about the "smart" selection in kwrite/kate, etc. that prevents the 1st char from being copied). I don't know how you get these fixed faster, but it seems many of them have just been lingering on the kde bug list without much effort put toward getting them fixed. I look at the list above and think about "what kde4 would be like to use without them", and I think it would rock. So I know it will get there, it just a bit frustrating to use at present. Thanks for your efforts in helping make kde4 what it is today, and what it will be tomorrow. -- 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