KDE 4 out, and my, it looks gorgeous!

[jgpaiva]

Interesting, Carol!

It's good to know more people are paying attention to this project, it's exactly what it needs

I'm sorry to know that the shell replacement isn't available yet, though

[Lashiec]

The important thing IS... Amarok is coming to Windows

And KOffice, and maybe I could kick out that monster called OpenOffice, and use it as office suite. And KDevelop, an IDE for a zillion languages which does not use Java. And Kopete, and, and...

[jgpaiva]

KDE was updated to 4.1 a few days ago. Arstechnica also made a few positive comments to this new release. Read more about it here: http://arstechnica.c...inux-experience.html

[40hz]

It's beautiful, it's colorful, it's big and bright and all things nice...

And I just don't like the way it looks.

But that's just me.

I guess if you have it up on some huge wide-screen LCD it's the cat's pajamas. But on my  12" laptop it looks like an arcade puzzle game. The performance improvements are great, but the presentation doesn't do it for me.

So now I have to figure out if I have the patience to start hacking big time to get it to be something I would like, or just stick with Xfce. Hmmmmm....

[jgpaiva]

40 hz: Did you try 4.0? Do your think this new version is an improvement over it? Do you think 4.0 was usable? How about 4.1?

[Deozaan]

I'm with mouser on this one. In my opinion, it looks like a boring grey Windows XP theme mixed with the ugly HUGE icons from Vista.

EDIT: Just realized how old this thread is. 

[Carol Haynes]

Haven't tired it - but the 4.1 article posted by jgpaiva above looks interesting .... although am I the only person who thinks it looks remarkably like a Vista clone?

[zridling]

Wow, where'd they get those huge icons at in that article?! I like the Vista UI, but this 4.1 version has both stability and some extremely convenient shortcuts. (And this coming from someone who's used Gnome and xfce to date.)

KDE 4 out, and my, it looks gorgeous!

click for larger

[jgpaiva]

Carol: At this point, I don't really care if they just copy each other, as long as at least one of them comes up with something half decent. Actually, to have them copying each other is a good sign, means they are looking at the others and (hopefuly) improving over what they see

Zaine: That walpaper is just gorgeous

I have mixed feeling with that new "icons" thing, I think it's useful to have it displaying several folders on the desktop, but I also think it takes quite a bit of screen real-estate, with displaying the frame and its title. Zaine: does the frame resize when you add files to the folder, or do you have to resize it yourself? (yeah, I know I could install kde4.1 myself, but I'm on vacations and can't download it while on this mobile connection )

[40hz]

40 hz: Did you try 4.0? Do your think this new version is an improvement over it? Do you think 4.0 was usable? How about 4.1?

-jgpaiva (August 10, 2008, 01:45 PM)

Tried 4.0 and thought I would never use KDE again.

Tried 4.1 and was very impressed by the improvements across the board.

I always liked the degree of control KDE afforded the end-user. I am of the school that believes you should be able to change, tweak, and tune every aspect of your desktop. Not that you should necessarily, but Linux is supposed to be all about choice right?

But I still can't get my head around the visual presentation. I don't really know what it is about the appearance of the new KDE that bothers me so much. It reminds me of Adobe AIR or the Enlightenment desktop. Everybody I know loves the look of both. I don't. And I very much dislike widgets in any way shape or form.

It probably has more to do with my individual sense of aesthetics and work style than anything rational. If you buy into NLP, my preferred representational system is auditory rather than visual. I guess that comes from my being a trained musician - and not having the world's greatest eyesight.

So anytime I'm commenting on visual design issues, just take it with a grain of salt! My sister, who owns a design agency, certainly does.

In the long run I'm sure KDE will turn out to be a winner. So much so that I'll probably keep an installation of it on a swappable hard drive just so I can keep on top of it.

[jgpaiva]

Thanks a lot for your opinion, 40hz
I can't wait to test kde 4.1

[40hz]

Thanks a lot for your opinion, 40hz
I can't wait to test kde 4.1

-jgpaiva (August 11, 2008, 09:58 AM)

My pleasure. Always happy to share my misunderstandings and lack of expertise!

You might want to take a look at these articles (pro):

http://www.linux.com/feature/142661

http://itmanagement....d+of+the+New+KDE.htm

http://arstechnica.c...inux-experience.html

And this one (con):

http://www.devicegur...kde-410-disappoints/

A friend pointed me to this link for an easy way to install it if you're running Ubuntu.

http://news.softpedi...ntu-8-04-91034.shtml

Can't vouch for it since I did it the hard way, like always. But friend said it worked perfectly for her. Please note she did it immediately after a clean installation from CD. Your mileage may vary if you're installing on top of an existing copy (i.e. not recommended).

Luck

[40hz]

On a quasi-related note: if you're just looking for an alternate desktop to what you're using, check out this article - 20 Most Nimble and Simple X Window Managers for Linux

Link: http://www.junauza.c...simple-x-window.html

Although these are small footprint desktop managers, they don't lack in features or innovation. Some (Fluxbox et al) rival the functionality of the bigger desktops. Some of them (like Rat Poison which doesn't use a mouse at all) border on the bizarre.

And just because they're small doesn't mean they lack in eye candy. This is an example of OpenBox:

[jgpaiva]

40hz: Thanks a lot for the links!
I read the "con" review, and from what I understand, the problem was that the reviewer didn't make a clean install, just updated 4.0, or something like that. Good thing I haven't installed 4.0 on my ubuntu machine, I hope I won't have problems installing

[40hz]

40hz: Thanks a lot for the links!
I read the "con" review, and from what I understand, the problem was that the reviewer didn't make a clean install, just updated 4.0, or something like that. Good thing I haven't installed 4.0 on my ubuntu machine, I hope I won't have problems installing

-jgpaiva (August 11, 2008, 03:54 PM)

I'll burn a new incense stick in front of my stuffed penguin for you.

Best luck - and let us all know how it works out.

[zridling]

jgpaiva: no, it doesn't resize when you add items, but it does add a scrollbar automatically. Even better, you can add links to any folder and filter their view within the [desktop] folder. Pretty cool.

[jgpaiva]

Zaine: Interesting! I specially like the filter view thing