> Quick update.  I burned the image to a CD, which
> resolved the crashing issue.  While I note that KDE4 has drastically improved
> since the early days, it still is not something that I would choose to use
> over TDE/XFCE. Even after "reverting" to folder view and other KDE3-esque
> settings, I found myself not only using many more mouse clicks than
> under TDE but also it seemed like I did not have full control of the
> environment.  Setting a screen saver?  Not intuitive (actually I was not able
> to find the control at all within a reasonable time).  Opening a
> terminal?  All the lines were cut in half.  Run a custom command?  Could not
> find a way to launch the minicli from a menu.  Press the power button (e.g. to
> power off)?  The screen corrupts itself.
> 
> In short, I think KDE4 needs a lot more work to be useful
> for people like me who want to hybrid an old-school terminal and modern GUI
> experience.

I have not yet tinkered in a serious manner with KDE 4.8.5, which is part of the stock Slackware 14. When I last tinkered I used version 4.5.5. At that time I experienced sufficient frustration.

I imagine that folks who have been with KDE4 since the first release have grown accustomed to the different ways of doing things. I accept that anybody moving from KDE3/Trinity must remain open to doing things differently. The point that can be resolved only by each user is whether the different way is more productive or more efficient. Each to their own is the best answer about that.

Discouraging to me is akondai, nepomuk, and strigi continue to grow deeper roots into the entire KDE4 desktop. Reminds me much of how Internet Explorer grew to a point of not being able to be removed from Windows. There does not seem to be any option to build KDE4 without those three layers. Perhaps that is possible, I don't know, but I haven't found any tutorials about the topic.

For myself, I want a cohesive desktop environment. I don't like mixing and matching apps using different widget tools. That is a personal fetish. Many people don't care about mixing apps. For me to use KDE4 means I want to use the kdepim suite. For the life of me I still don't comprehend why I need to run a backend database cache for the handful of emails I receive during the day. Or why I need to run that database cache for the few akregator feeds I receive or the dozen and half tasks I maintain in kalarm.

I don't know why features like strigi indexing, nepomuk, and compositing are enabled as the defaults. Many of the complaints I read are about that overhead. The last I read, kdepim apps remain buggy.

I remain open to new technologies but there has to be real choice. The choice of using or not using KDE4 is simple enough, but true choice allows compiling KDE4 without the evil three and still have a fully functional desktop environment.

I still don't like the way KDE4 looks. The wide sidebars in apps, the flat look, the big buffoon mouse pointers all are not appealing to me. Seems no matter how I tinker with themes, styles, widget looks, etc. I can't find a look-and-feel I like. If my desktop is not relaxing to me then I'm only increasing my frustrations.

I don't care that other people call KDE3/Trinity old. I don't care that certain people think that some of the patches we push are trivial. I find Trinity useful and visually pleasant.

I don't care that other people want to be excited about the software they use. I only ask they allow others the same liberty.

We don't bother anybody. We advertise with a news release to invite others to use Trinity, but we don't pimp our efforts. That really is the whole debate in a nutshell. We don't bother anybody. So why can't other people do likewise?

Darrell