On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 6:10 AM, Adam Tauno Williams
False; you don't understand the nature of mail lists. There is no evidence of 'lot of "customers"', there is evidence of a very vocal group of undetermined size [that doesn't look that large to me]. Remember that web forums and mail lists *strongly* trend negative [and toward the discontented; those without issues... *do not post*] and that things like web site 'polls' are merely examples of self-selected-demographic.
Ah yes, statistics are only good if you can use them to support your view. The simple fact is that a large number of KDE3 users have either given up and switched to KDE4(reluctantly) or have started using Gnome or some of the other desktops, OR are still using 11.0/11.1 or newer to keep what works(like myself). After all the bashing that those of us who prefer the KDE3 model got, we mostly went away because that is what a vocal minority wanted.
And they aren't "customers". What did they pay?
I USED to buy S.u.S.E. Then I started testing to contribute. Now I do very little because of lack of time and initiative. I wouldn't pay for some of the releases after using them, like 10.1.
Speaking just for myself when a "customer" who I've never heard of [has never contributed anything to my project] storms into a forum with a demanding tone... I don't have any issues telling them to "fsck off". Respect causes respect in kind - accusing developers of being stupid, lazy, or callous isn't respectful [seeing as they gave you something for nothing....]
Lack of respect was a HUGE issue a while back. I still have yet to find a single compelling reason to use KDE4. It takes time I have tired of wasting trying to find and turn off the bling. And it's slower than KDE3. Uses more resources, etc. While a lot of people like the look, I prefer clean. I drop to a VT on a regular basis, so window effects hold no interest for me.
And maybe, just maybe, someone who has invested man-years into a code-base knows a little more something about it then a given "customer". A "customer" who doesn't begin with that assumption is just an idiot - because, of course, that's true.
There's more to investment than $$. Many of us have talked up open source and linux since we started using it. However, like many, we can't recommend KDE4. What's the old saying? For every 100 happy customers you have 1 that will bad mouth you and lose you at least 10.(or something like that). Happy customers don't tend to be as vocal as unhappy ones....... -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org