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KDE 3.4 Released
andy753421 links to today's announcement of the official release of KDE 3.4, and writes "Several KDE 3.4 based distributions such as ArkLinux and Kubuntu are soon to follow. Features in the release include built in Text to Speech, a revamped trash system, enhanced PDF support and PC to PC synchronization, as well as a new theme. KDE 3.4 weights in at 6,500+ bug fixes, 1,700+ enhancements, and a grand total of 80,000+ contributions." Reader gotr00t adds a link to the KDE download mirror page . Update: 03/16 20:58 GMT by T : mrevell points out an interview with KDE hacker Aaron Seigo in the latest LugRadio, in which Seigo "dispels various myths about KDE and talks about the desktop environment's future."
It runs fine on anything made in the last four years. If your system is older than that and it's too slow for you, try XFCE. The rest of us KDE and Gnome users will welcome you into the fold the next time you upgrade.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
There are a few basic replies to this.
1. You're assuming all 'developers' have the same level of competency and interests. Just because there are 100 contributors doesn't mean that 100 contributors all working on 'window shading' together would make things better, or even be efficient.
2. KDE (and Gnome) are much more than 'Window Managers'. If that's all you want, use something else.
I do agree that it seems that there are some redundant projects, but seeing multiple projects and code can continue to spur development of projects. If Kopete sees something in Gaim, they can add that feature, or vice versa.
Politics comes into it too. Just because someone contributed something to Gaim doesn't mean the Gaim devs would take the contribution. Having multiple projects for people to contribute to could be seen as fostering innovation, not splitting resources, as more people can express themselves, and (hopefully) the best ideas float to the top.
Whether the whole open source community is a true meritocracy or not is another matter, though I tend to think in most cases it's closer to that than other development models.
creation science book
There is still a KOffice because the developers of KOffice started working on it before OOo existed, and right now its MUCH lighter than OOo and has most of the features, and has several extra things.
"It seems that the developers' time would be better spent improving the core functions of the window manager."
The developers will spend their time doing what they want to do (and most likely are best at), if they didn't spend it working on program X, they wouldn't necessarily be spending it working on program Y.
I think this release is going to have trouble gaining much usage in the UK - the entire country has been left off the globe on the new wallpaper!
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
- Refactoring code
- Fixing bugs that hadn't been reported
- Adding features that hadn't been specifically requested in the bugzilla
- Writing and improving docs
- New translations
- Usability improvements
- New artwork
- ...
Remember, software isn't just code, and a lot more goes into it than just bugfixes and now functionality.KDE Documentation Team: http://i18n.kde.org/doc
"I'm used to it, and it makes sense in a way."
No, it doesn't make sense.
I am not clueless or Myths and misconceptions about the design of GoboLinux
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
I have to say, KDE is starting to get really good. And they seem to be cranking out improvements faster than they did in past years.
/usr/local/bin and /etc vs /usr/local/etc) and there is a well defined file hierarchy (man hier) which the majority of the ports conform.
I feel the QT/KDE teams has been particularly successful in developing a very extensible foundation. Everything fits nicely together which makes it very developer friendly. As a result, as it continues to gain popularity, development has accelerated.
Confusing layout of the filesystem
Thats one thing I particularly like about FreeBSD.. the OS and non-OS files are separated (/usr/bin vs
Given the detailed description of what each folder is used for makes it clear as to where you would expect to find certain files. The "Program Files" and "System" folder approach falls short. Sure your able to separate the system files and program files, but beyond that, there is no organizational structure. Things like the path variable are effectively useless and included additional content (help files, clipart, sound files, templates, etc..) get buried and may not be discovered.
Thats one of the big issues I have with Linux. This hierarchy is left up to the various distributions and many times, a strong, well planned layout is simply not there. I find I regularly spend too much additional time searching for files on Linux due to this (though still not nearly as long as digging through the registry and scouring various files on a Windows box) compared to knowing the hierarchy on FreeBSD and having a high level of confidence that a file i am looking for will be in one or two possible places.
Please please please don't install all KDE modules!
Now it has been said.
The kdetoys modules is designed to contain useless crap that makes people go: HUH? What the hell is that? Other examples from that modules is a tea clock and rolling head. So if you don't want useless crap don't install kdetoys!
Other modules to avoid is kde-i18n (do you really want KDE in Swahili and Welsh?) and kdeaddons (stuff no one wanted responsibility for)