On a Desktop, it's orthogonal to virtual desktops. You can use Activities in the same way as virtual desktops, but while VDs are only suitable to group windows, Activies can group pretty much everything. This is of course not a coincidence.:)
Yes, the basic idea is that you group everything into Activities, which you can switch between.
In such an Activity you can have running apps, app launchers, documents, images, links, bookmarks, widgets, contacts, messages. These "items" are all tied together by a semantic layer of metadata which represents your grouping as activities.
You can easily add (or remove) those. Adding a bookmark to your current activity is for example as easy as tipping the connect button in the top panel, and then choosing "connect to current activity". It will then automatically be shown on your activity screen and "semantically associated" with the other bits of informations you have there.
I'm using an exopc as development machine, for end-users, ARM-based devices, such as the NVidia Tegra base ones, or the Archos G9 are interesting options. Basically, as long as we can get kernel (and driver) sources from the device vendors, and the device has an open boot loader, we'll be able to get Plasma Active onto it. Here are two links showing interesting devices that run Plasma Active:
http://dot.kde.org/2011/11/30/plasma-active-archos-g9-tablet (Plasma Active on Archos G9)
http://dot.kde.org/2011/10/24/plasma-active-arm (Plasma Active on NVidia Tegra 2)
In the MeeGo and Mer images, pinch-to-zoom works for the image viewer, the webbrowser, and other Plasma apps that implement this gesture. It's just not shown in the video.
As far as I recall, there's Summer of Code project dedicated to getting Quanta4 going. Basically, most of the things that quanta3 did can now be implemented as some sort of chrome on the kdevplatform (the framework that also backs the recently released new version of KDevelop).
http://milianw.de/blog/gsoc-revive-quanta-brand-for-kde-4 has more details about that. Milian is also the guy who has implemented pretty awesome support for PHP in kdevelop, by the way.
That's a misconception. Plasmoids can both be installed through your system's package manager (just like basic plasmoids that make up the desktop interface are), and starting with 4.2 also through webservices (Those of course only works for non-compiled language plasmoids such as Javascript, Python and Ruby). A security mechanism for installing them through webservices is in place. It'll probably also be possible to share plasmoids among users, to just drag+drop them from a webpage onto your desktop, panel or sidebars. The system is quite flexible.
KDE 4.1 is not using webkit instead of KHTML. Webkit comes with Qt now, but KHTML is part of kdelibs which will remain binary compatible until we release 5.0. KHTML is actively being developed and improved. Konqueror still uses KHTML for rendering webpages.
There is work for a webkit part under way, so in the future one might be able to use Konqueror with webkit as rendering engine. Some other features of KDE are already using webkit, however. As a developer, you can choose.
He also writes that the panel cannot be resized and thus not repositioned. That's done with the small arrows you get when you open the panel controller with the cashew.
That desktop has been there for more than 20 years. What are you complaining about?
On a serious note, you'll be able to use the desktop as file dump just like in traditional desktops with 4.2 again.
Did you try? I saw KDE running quite well on an Eee PC, and Plasma even reasonable well on an OpenMoko FreeRunner. It doesn't seem to need either a lot of MegaHertzs or RAMs.
A desktop goes a bit further than only installing files in the right place. You also want it to tie in with security mechanisms (su vs. sudo), just as an example, and maybe you also want to install two binaries with the same name at the same time. LSB doesn't solve that problem for you...
Where is KDE packages not LSB compliant, btw? That would be useful information, rather than just a random statement I cannot verify (and thus fix) at this point...
Which context menu on right click are you talking about? They do show up fine here as expected, like in one of the announcement's screenshots: http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.1/screenshots/plasma-folderview.png
Thanks for calling people all these words, but note that it doesn't make you look good in the eyes of those that are actually able to find something as simple as a context menu without having to curse in public first. I guess it's just a bad day for you. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
That's actually one usecase we tried to improve. You can now arrange folderviews on your desktop spatially. For example, put a folderview with your work-related files top-right, underneath a directory that holds your movies, and maybe one with application shortcuts, bingo.
In 4.2 we'll make it possible for you to have it messy as well:)
Not entirely true, if you type for example "cd" in kickoff's search bar, the following options appear:
- CD Ripping
- CD & DVD Burning
- CD Player... no need to learn application names.
Last time I checked, KDE 4.1 supported black, empty background pretty well. I think that even worked in 4.0 already.
As to the icons on the desktop, with 4.1 you can have any directory you like displayed on your desktop -- if that's what you prefer. The folderview will keep it restricted to a certain area on your desktop, so it won't cover valuable black background.
KDE's default font is "Sans", so whatever your vendor or yourself set up as your system's default font.
If it doesn't look good on your display, it's probably due to AA settings, which you should be able to change easily.
I do agree that some distros ship sucky default fonts that do not even have AA capabilities, but on my system, the fonts look crisp and clean.
Unless you consider your mother an advanced user, I'd say it wasn't smart to install 4.0 before testing it yourself, or reading a bit about it (it's been repeated over and over that 4.0 is not for end-users).
It's not specific to KDE btw.
KDE's window manager supports compositing now, via plugins and ships some handy ones by default. ARGB visuals also belong to the new goodness that comes with Qt4.
KDE now uses DBus for inter-process communication, poppler for pdf rendering, Xesam for desktop search queries, icon-naming as FDO wants it and a lot more.
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The Semantic Desktop *is* optional, both compile-time and runtime.
Can't say anything about Nexus10 support, but the webbrowser, it does support pinch-to-zoom. (I think it's also shown in the demo video.)
On a Desktop, it's orthogonal to virtual desktops. You can use Activities in the same way as virtual desktops, but while VDs are only suitable to group windows, Activies can group pretty much everything. This is of course not a coincidence. :)
Yes, the basic idea is that you group everything into Activities, which you can switch between. In such an Activity you can have running apps, app launchers, documents, images, links, bookmarks, widgets, contacts, messages. These "items" are all tied together by a semantic layer of metadata which represents your grouping as activities. You can easily add (or remove) those. Adding a bookmark to your current activity is for example as easy as tipping the connect button in the top panel, and then choosing "connect to current activity". It will then automatically be shown on your activity screen and "semantically associated" with the other bits of informations you have there.
I'm using an exopc as development machine, for end-users, ARM-based devices, such as the NVidia Tegra base ones, or the Archos G9 are interesting options. Basically, as long as we can get kernel (and driver) sources from the device vendors, and the device has an open boot loader, we'll be able to get Plasma Active onto it. Here are two links showing interesting devices that run Plasma Active: http://dot.kde.org/2011/11/30/plasma-active-archos-g9-tablet (Plasma Active on Archos G9) http://dot.kde.org/2011/10/24/plasma-active-arm (Plasma Active on NVidia Tegra 2)
In the MeeGo and Mer images, pinch-to-zoom works for the image viewer, the webbrowser, and other Plasma apps that implement this gesture. It's just not shown in the video.
As far as I recall, there's Summer of Code project dedicated to getting Quanta4 going. Basically, most of the things that quanta3 did can now be implemented as some sort of chrome on the kdevplatform (the framework that also backs the recently released new version of KDevelop). http://milianw.de/blog/gsoc-revive-quanta-brand-for-kde-4 has more details about that. Milian is also the guy who has implemented pretty awesome support for PHP in kdevelop, by the way.
That's a misconception. Plasmoids can both be installed through your system's package manager (just like basic plasmoids that make up the desktop interface are), and starting with 4.2 also through webservices (Those of course only works for non-compiled language plasmoids such as Javascript, Python and Ruby). A security mechanism for installing them through webservices is in place. It'll probably also be possible to share plasmoids among users, to just drag+drop them from a webpage onto your desktop, panel or sidebars. The system is quite flexible.
KDE 4.1 is not using webkit instead of KHTML. Webkit comes with Qt now, but KHTML is part of kdelibs which will remain binary compatible until we release 5.0. KHTML is actively being developed and improved. Konqueror still uses KHTML for rendering webpages. There is work for a webkit part under way, so in the future one might be able to use Konqueror with webkit as rendering engine. Some other features of KDE are already using webkit, however. As a developer, you can choose.
He also writes that the panel cannot be resized and thus not repositioned. That's done with the small arrows you get when you open the panel controller with the cashew.
That desktop has been there for more than 20 years. What are you complaining about? On a serious note, you'll be able to use the desktop as file dump just like in traditional desktops with 4.2 again.
Did you try? I saw KDE running quite well on an Eee PC, and Plasma even reasonable well on an OpenMoko FreeRunner. It doesn't seem to need either a lot of MegaHertzs or RAMs.
A desktop goes a bit further than only installing files in the right place. You also want it to tie in with security mechanisms (su vs. sudo), just as an example, and maybe you also want to install two binaries with the same name at the same time. LSB doesn't solve that problem for you ...
Where is KDE packages not LSB compliant, btw? That would be useful information, rather than just a random statement I cannot verify (and thus fix) at this point ...
Except that Troy is still active in KDE, only less visible, and never "removed from the project" as you try to put it.
Which context menu on right click are you talking about? They do show up fine here as expected, like in one of the announcement's screenshots: http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.1/screenshots/plasma-folderview.png Thanks for calling people all these words, but note that it doesn't make you look good in the eyes of those that are actually able to find something as simple as a context menu without having to curse in public first. I guess it's just a bad day for you. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
The cashew on panels disappears as soon as you lock your desktop (which for me is "normal operating mode").
That's actually one usecase we tried to improve. You can now arrange folderviews on your desktop spatially. For example, put a folderview with your work-related files top-right, underneath a directory that holds your movies, and maybe one with application shortcuts, bingo. In 4.2 we'll make it possible for you to have it messy as well :)
Not entirely true, if you type for example "cd" in kickoff's search bar, the following options appear: - CD Ripping - CD & DVD Burning - CD Player ... no need to learn application names.
Last time I checked, KDE 4.1 supported black, empty background pretty well. I think that even worked in 4.0 already. As to the icons on the desktop, with 4.1 you can have any directory you like displayed on your desktop -- if that's what you prefer. The folderview will keep it restricted to a certain area on your desktop, so it won't cover valuable black background.
I can send you a patch to make the battery applet report bogus values when there's no battery, if you want ... ? :-)
KDE's default font is "Sans", so whatever your vendor or yourself set up as your system's default font. If it doesn't look good on your display, it's probably due to AA settings, which you should be able to change easily. I do agree that some distros ship sucky default fonts that do not even have AA capabilities, but on my system, the fonts look crisp and clean.
Unless you consider your mother an advanced user, I'd say it wasn't smart to install 4.0 before testing it yourself, or reading a bit about it (it's been repeated over and over that 4.0 is not for end-users). It's not specific to KDE btw.
KDE's window manager supports compositing now, via plugins and ships some handy ones by default. ARGB visuals also belong to the new goodness that comes with Qt4.
KDE now uses DBus for inter-process communication, poppler for pdf rendering, Xesam for desktop search queries, icon-naming as FDO wants it and a lot more.
So yes, KDE did made cross-desktop progress.