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KDE 4.7.0 Released
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."
I've always liked the KDE interface better anyway. It seems more professional (even back in the 90's) while Gnome has always been somehow "childish". And this was even before Unity-time.
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".
I like them both, I just found that for low resolution laptops Gnome fit better, while if I had a nice desktop with lots of space for widgets, etc, I'd probably go with KDE. As an Ubuntu user, I'm re-evaluating my options and may go with KDE or possible XFCE if Gnome 3 does not allow me the configurability I need. The ridiculous 'menu at the top' decision of Unity completely rule it out for me.
KDE's motd isn't "The user is a idiot" as is the case with gnome.
For me it isn't only a matter of space, I'm not that fond of widgets. Being an Ubuntu user I prefer indicators, they suit me better than any other option, and they feel less bloated. XFCE is my backup option. I still don't blame Ubuntu for Unity, though. I found myself getting used to it pretty fast. The only direction I didn't really appreciate was the one Gnome took with Shell. That said, it's good to see that KDE is being conservative about their interface.
This is in fact the whole point of a wireless connection, that it is NOT always on.
You mean like cellphone, wireless keyboard and mouse and of course GPS. You really nailed it. /sarcasm
"Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
Perhaps it's not as prevalent but it does exist in KDE as well. Mind that I was dedicated KDE user after 3.4 hooked me. I stuck with it until 4.4.something, or about a year ago on Debian. I installed a second video card and KDE4 lost its mind and barfed widgets, apps, and desktop backgrounds everywhere. I dumped it in short order, tried GNOME which coped better with the setup only by a matter of degree. I then gave XFCE4 a spin and it handles my Zaphod heads independent desktops like a champ. Session restoration does what I expect by putting apps back on the screen/desktop I prefer them and doesn't bork backgrounds or panels either.
The download/installation footprint of KDE these days makes it a non-starter to see if things have improved with respect to handling independent desktops. If it's working for someone else, that's great. I'm not going back.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over again expecting a different result."
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.
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.
your professional is another mans clown show
a) your pet bug has actually probably been fixed: there was much work on multi -desktops
b) The size of KDE?? Uhhh, it is modular now.your download is probably smaller than it ever was in the KDE3 days.
Don't forget QtCurve, which I find to be considerably better than the ugly and garish Oxygen theme.
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?
I thought the whole point of a wireless connection was for mobility and convenience. The fact of the matter is knetworkmanager was a fail when 4.0 was released imho. I had nothing but issues with it on 3 out of the 4 machines I run. Shortly after I discovered wicd and never looked back. It may require a little more configuration depending on your needs, but I have no problems with it period!
It's just a shame it took so long for it to evolve into a usable and stable desktop. After losing hope due to months of buggy, incomplete and lame releases that prevented me from using my computer in the same way(s) I could with 3.5.x, I actually switched to Windows 7 some 8/9 months ago.
I installed Kubuntu 11.04 yesterday, with KDE 4.6.2. I've not yet tried 4.7, but KDE4 is extremely good now. I just hope the devs begin to recognise that having revision numbers two-thirds of the way to the next major release is far from being an acceptable situation, and this has tarnished the reputation of KDE for quite some time to come.
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
> my biggest complaint is that they took away the desktop icons.
Which is why you can switch to folder view.
> it's graphics accelerated but not snappy.
It's vector graphics. Until you have built a cache of the sizes custom-rendered for your system, it takes a bit. For how long did you try KDE?
> it's really annoying to have to open eight different configuration windows
Specific examples?
I have my own problems with KDE and I am definitely not one who migrated to 4.x lightly, but your issues seem to stem from being used to Gnome and simply accepting that you can't change any settings, anyway (no, their "registry" abomination does not count).
orders of magnitude better than integration of KDE applications under the GNOME desktop of any variety.
Nope, Qt supports GTK+ themes natively so those KDE apps work and look fine under GNOME. None of this playing-nice-with-others effort came from the GNOME camp, of course.