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KDE Plasma 5.7 Released (neowin.net)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Neowin: Earlier today, the KDE project released KDE Plasma 5.7, its popular Linux desktop environment. The update brings improved workflows, better kiosk support, a new system tray and task manager, and further steps towards Wayland windowing system. New live images of KDE Neon have been spun which feature the all-new Plasma 5.7, and other distributions will get the new software sometime in the future based on their release model. Plasma 5.7 builds on the jump List Actions that were introduced in Plasma 5.6, which allowed users to use certain tasks within the application; now the feature has been extended and those actions are present in Krunner. Another change which improves workflow is the return of the agenda view in the calendar, providing users with a quick and easily accessible overview of upcoming appointments and holidays. The volume control applet in the system tray is now able to control volume on a per-application basis; it even allows the user to move application sound output between devices by just drag and dropping. The Wayland window manager -- which has been kicking around for at least half a decade -- still isn't the default window manager on many Linux distributions, mainly because desktop environment (DE) developers are still making their DE work properly with it. With KDE Plasma 5.7, support for the windowing system is greatly improved, especially when it comes to tear-free and flicker-free rendering, as well as security. The image can be found here via KDE.
I feel as if KDE is the beset Desktop Environment Linux ever produced. with maybe the exception of KDE 2, it has been one of the most methodical, configurable environment there is. It should have been the defacto Environment space for Linux.
Gee, heart surgeons need to quit coming up with new techniques for saving lives with heart surgery and switch to using those sewing and cutting skills on making clothing! lol.
Seriously, I get that you don't understand why the desktop is being rebuilt and improved when you don't see the bigger picture. Thing is, KDE is rewriting their code to support Wayland -- which is a vast improvement over X Windows and necessary for a lot of future programs. X Windows is inherently insecure and causes a lot of graphics issues. We'll never get gaming on linux of decent quality if we stick to X Windows forever. Someone has to re-write the desktop environment to work with the new, better way of doing things so programmers for games can have a better API to work with.
Yeah, I don't give a crap about KDE's "Workflow" BS either... but, corporations do. They also care about locking down settings... so, KDE's been working on those, too. But, they did re-write their audio output for per-program sliders, which is an improvement. They did some other things on the back end to help future compatibility with Wayland.
I mostly use Cinnamon as my DE, but KDE does a really good job of delivering the bleeding edge of what linux is capable of, so don't knock it just because you don't fully understand the difference between the various versions and the reasons for the re-writes.
Not so with KDE5. A few programs reopen, placed completely randomly (wrong desktops). Most don't reopen. Konsole won't reopen. It's been buggy like that ever since. So IS IT FIXED NOW ?!?
Non-Linux Penguins ?
When they say "new workflows" it means they've moved/hidden something you use all the time.
Unless we're talking about Gnome or Firefox. Then it means they've deleted it completely.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
You missed his point entirely without really giving details on your own. He was saying that redefining well established workflows in vain attempts to simplify already simple things (eg file management) is a plague that's been dogging the entire industry for the last decade or so. Needed functionality and intuitive controls (and even hotkeys) are being stripped away to bottom out the learning curve. This is done intentionally to make the desktop as dependent on 'web services' as mobile devices.
Corporates don't want to have to retrain their employees on remedial computer skills. This is one of the main reasons windows 8 bombed, and why there's still resistance on windows 10 (hint: it's not just about the start menu).
As far as apis for games go, it's really not that hard, especially with SDL. Even if not, ALSA, opengl, and keyboard/mouse/pad input are well understood. Wayland may upgrade the graphics stack to something more modern, but that shouldn't affect games much unless it adds an exclusive fullscreen mode.