KDE 4.7.0 Released

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Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday July 27, 2011 @02:19PM from the get-it-while-it's-hot dept.

jrepin writes "KDE 4.7 releases provide many new features and improved stability and performance. Lots of visual polishing took place with an update to the Oxygen icons, and improved consistency between panel items such as clock and notification areas. The window manager KWin brings a new shadow system and can now run on OpenGL ES supporting hardware, making it better suited for mobile devices. Network management widget is much improved. Navigating through applications and recent files is easier with the addition of breadcrumbs to the Kickoff application launcher. Kontact groupware solution rejoins the rest of the KDE software, with increased stability, better connection to new services and sharing of communication information between more applications. Dolphin file manager has a cleaner default appearance. The menu bar is hidden, but easy to reach and restore. The file searching interface has been improved. Marble the virtual globe now has voice navigation support and a map creation wizard. Gwenview image viewer now offers the ability to compare two or more pictures side by side. Digikam photo management app brings face detection and recognition."

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Each major release is taking longer by thsths · 2011-07-27 14:31 · Score: 2, Insightful

Each release takes longer before it becomes useful. KDE 1.1 was working just right for me. So was KDE 2.3. KDE 3 did not really mature until 3.3 or 3.4. KDE 4 is just now getting there, after 8 minor releases. Some things are still working better in KDE 3, or in KDE 1 for that.
Don't get me wrong, I like KDE. But we are paying a huge price for "progress".
1. Re:Each major release is taking longer by fast+turtle · 2011-07-27 15:17 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Did they return the multiple desktop and individual backgrounds? Locking Apps to specific Desktops?
  No they haven't and they're still pushing Dolphin as the File manager instead of sticking with Konq, which worked quite well for that and browsing the web. Hell I found it quite useful when accessing an ftp site that I had write privs as it allowed me to simply copy files from the system to the server.
  As a 3.5 user, I would have preferred them to simply bug fix and transition 3.5 over to QT4. Some of the restructuring was needed but the complete change to the UI was totally unneeded. Instead they had to copy MS and Vista and loose the one feature that made KDE stand out for me, which was the configurable desktops, background images and locking apps to specific desktops.
  
  --
  Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
2. Re:Each major release is taking longer by SomeKDEUser · 2011-07-27 17:15 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  Uhhh. Nope, that is GNOME (or apple). KDE still has a desktop which feels like a desktop. The mobile/tablet thing is just an option: on a small screen, I prefer the UI designed for it, and on large screens, the classical desktop UI.
  I also note that although you haven't tried the desktop in two years, you still feel justified in saying horrible things about the work people are doing for free. I guess the recent article about people behaving like psychopaths on the internet was not too far off the mark.
  BTW, you may criticize, this is your freedom, and makes for good debate. You may even say "two years ago, I thought it sucked". But it is dishonest to say it still suck when you could not be bothered to try. Presumably because you derive joy in being cruel to people you have never met because of a perceived slight you received years ago. About a computer programme you got for free.
3. Re:Each major release is taking longer by BlackCreek · 2011-07-27 22:51 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  > Also, you say you tried a few releases. my guess is you haven't tries in a year. Which is an enormous amount of dev time. So you maybe should keep trying :)
  You see that is what many FOSS devs (specially Linux Desktop devs (specially KDE devs)) don't seem to get.
  Trying out a desktop takes time and effort. Most people have better things to do in life than "trying out KDE/Gnome/XFCE/etc every 3/6/12 months" to see which are the latest (mostly useless) desktop new effects and integration gimmicks.
Re:Gnome by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-27 14:51 · Score: 2, Insightful

KDE's motd isn't "The user is a idiot" as is the case with gnome.
Quit whining by pinkeen · 2011-07-27 15:37 · Score: 5, Insightful

There will always be something that doesn't work as it should or as you would like it to be. KDE 4 is a stable, solid desktop environment. I used KDE as my day-to-day working dekstop since 3.x. I jumped the wagon when they ironed out showstoppers in SC4 and don't look back.

BTW I wonder why there is so much complaining about KDE when it comes to some minor features? Such scale is unseen in windows world. Maybe windows users don't complain so much because ms doesn't care about fixing and improving things anyway? Here you can discuss and have things fixed or even redesigned in a matter of weeks or months.
1. Re:Quit whining by RobbieThe1st · 2011-07-27 16:05 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Isn't there an old quote that states that when soldiers stop complaining, they've lost hope(or something like that?
  It's exactly that here: With KDE, it's possible to make change happen. Windows? No way!
  So, people complain. Because it might get better.
Re:GTK integration? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-27 15:42 · Score: 3, Insightful

How's that coming?
As a Firefox user who's children love Flash games, that's a /sine qua non/.
Integration of GNOME/GTK+ applications in KDE is very good.
http://kde.org/announcements/4.7/plasma.php

Recognizing the modular nature of KDE software and the ability to mix and match applications from many different sources, KDE has also improved the Oxygen GTK themes, making applications from GNOME (and other applications using GTK+) blend seamlessly with KDE applications in your Plasma Workspace.
It would be fair to say that integration of GNOME/GTK+ applications under the KDE SC 4.7 Plasma desktop is orders of magnitude better than integration of KDE applications under the GNOME desktop of any variety.
Re:GTK integration? by siride · 2011-07-27 15:51 · Score: 4, Insightful

Don't forget QtCurve, which I find to be considerably better than the ugly and garish Oxygen theme.
Re:Gnome by siride · 2011-07-27 15:53 · Score: 2, Insightful

I keep seeing people post these kinds of attacks on KDE, yet they are never followed up with any substantial explanation of what the clutter and bloat actually is. I guess compared to GNOME, where having two checkboxes in a single window is considered advanced and confusing, KDE might look "cluttered". Personally, I like being able to actually do things with my computer. Every other OS lets you do that, why shouldn't Linux?
Re:Personal review. by PeterBrett · 2011-07-27 21:17 · Score: 3, Insightful

conclusion:
it's pretty but it's not exactly the same as GNOME 2.x so I don't like it, and I can't be bothered to type trivial questions into Google.
FTFY.

--
Pirate Party UK
Re:KDE4.x is getting pretty good now. by Anonymous Coward · 2011-07-28 00:58 · Score: 1, Insightful

It's just a shame it took so long for it to evolve into a usable and stable desktop.
I see you weren't around to watch the gnome 2.0 train wreck.
The value of your views would greatly benefit if you went back and tried every version of gnome from 2.0 to 2.16, and then look at the time scale. As for Windows, well you know for how long Vista was baking, including a completely failed and ultimately aborted attempt, and it still failed so badly that they had to spend several years to make it acceptable in the form of Windows 7? Not to mention all the false starts and failures that lead to OSX, which in is argued to have been mostly useless until several years after 10.0?
If you're going to whine about someone's "tarnished" reputation, look around first, and be fair.