A Screenshot Review of KDE 4

billybob2 writes "PolishLinux.org has an extensive screenshot review and commentary on the development version of the Free and Open Source KDE desktop. Highlights include the ability to run any desktop applet prepared for Mac OS X inside Plasma, on-the-fly annotation and rating of files from within the Dolphin file manager. It also has an improved GUI for the Amarok music player, flexible 3D eye candy configuration in KWin, and improved support for both accessing digital cameras via the Solid hardware layer and the DigiKam photo manager."

"Error establishing a database connection"

[Anonymous Coward]

That is the oddest screenshot I have ever seen. Is the applet that it is running designed to fail to establish a database connection?

There's still hope

[alx5000]

I hope PolishLinux.org has an extensive backup server, too. And a fire extinguisher or two.

Re:What's with the Fisher-Price trend?

[Hal_Porter]

So, we have all the major operating systems/window managers fully in the Fisher-Price camp.

Use FreeDOS. I use it on my 8GB USB flash disk, and I still have 7.999GB free.

Re:What's with the Fisher-Price trend?

[zullnero]

Make your desktop manager. Seriously, there's a market for a desktop manager where all applications are bound to an elaborate set of keystrokes, and if you mess up and get the keys out of sequence, an image of Denis Leary pops up out of the desktop and glares at you like you're an idiot. If you fail a login to your encrypted volume, your background turns into a graphical sound wave representation of Sam Kinison screaming. In fact, I think a considerable amount of that is going into the next Emacs rev.

Desktop managers are designed and made for people who can't use command lines and want something graphically cute. They are designed by people whose minds work in ways that most real engineers can't fully understand. They are designed by the same folks that really want their computer to match the color scheme of the rest of their office, as well as reflect the color that they best associate themselves with.

Re:Seems to be up now.

[dh003i]

No, you're wrong! Apple invented everything good and pure in the OS world. They invented the GUI, not Xerox. And they invented computer cases with front vents to provide for better cooling, not companies in the server market, or even (gasp!) Gateway in 2001 with their old computers. Apple also invented hot-swapping -- err, no, it's called slide-in storage. Apple invented memory riser cards. Apple invented columnar file-browsing. And Apple invented the dock. It's all about Apple, Apple, Apple. ;-)

Re:slashdotted already

[DJCacophony]

That's okay, here's a copy of the article text:

Re:Why is KDE still not the mainstream?

[Anonymous Coward]

Besides the lingering effects of KDE's former nonfreeness, I think many Linux users care a lot about the "mainstream" success of Linux. People who have invested a lot of effort into becoming Linux adepts naturally want to incorporate Linux as a major positive aspect of their social identity. This is a real puzzle.

As a programmer and Linux nerd I have put a lot of thought into this :-)

I don't think it can be done, but there are two ways to try. They both sound pretty stupid, but keep the following in mind:

• People don't think straight when they're teenagers, especially about their relations with other people.
• Linux nerds tend to be socially even more stupid than regular teenagers. (I said "nerd," this this is tautological.)
• For Linux nerds, the teenage years continue until the age of 25 or so. (Maybe I'm just projecting.)

So, with that in mind, there are two major ways to try.

First, you can regard Linux as a powerful tool for the initiated. Linux makes you powerful, and you have to be smart to master Linux. This would not bias you towards either KDE or GNOME, but it might tilt you towards a leet-looking window manager-based environment such as Enlightenment. This has the advantage of having a kernel of truth, but it has the disadvantage that it only works within your peer group and inside your own head. This does not raise your status anywhere else. From the point of view of a young nerd who gazes longingly across the chasm separating him from "real" people, and looking with mild disgust at the plump, pimply, faintly mustachioed people of the same or opposite sex on his or her side of the divide, this approach is completely useless.

Second, you can regard Linux as a force that will shake up the world and become a major part of everyone's life. You understand these things; you saw the writing on the wall; you jumped confidently on the Linux bandwagon while everyone else pooh-poohed it, and soon you will be vindicated as a master of the new world order. Of course, as you gaze longingly across the chasm, you realize that nobody IRL gives a shit about the server market, and your clever plan (wishful fantasy?) depends the success of Linux on the consumer desktop. So you fight for the consumer desktop, and you try to get people to try it, and for those purposes you promote the user-friendly Linux desktop made by usability experts for Mom and Pop. You use GNOME.

None of it ever pans out, of course, but a few years later it doesn't really matter anyway. The faintly mustachioed people have lost weight, cleared up their skin, and started shaving. You realize that you can finally let go of your fear of wedgies and other public humiliations imposed by third parties. (Just like everyone else, you only have to worry about the first two parties.) You make enough money to buy nice dinners for the smooth-cheeked person who sleeps next to you, and you have plenty left over to build quad-core boxes for your Netflix Prize weekend dilettantism. All is well.

(Personally, I'm not passionate about KDE. I'm with KDE just because KDE and I get along. I felt the same about GNOME, but we kept having these awful fights. I wanted to try something, and it felt like I wasn't respecting its usability, and I'd be like, "I don't give a damn about your usability. Why can't you be less uptight? KDE was never like this," and it was like, "You're a monster! I'm leaving you!" and I was like, "Fine!" Then one day I realized KDE was exactly the same except without the fighting. Anyway, even though KDE is very accomodating and efficient and cooks a nice lasagna, it doesn't really excite me. Every time I see another guy using Enlightenment, the danger calls to me... unwholesomely lean, tats all over -- a little bit scary, and I always look for tracks, even though I know they won't be there. When it catches me staring and fixes me with that neglected, wild look in its eyes, I start breathing fast and

Re:Seems to be up now.

[godawful]

Finally, _someone_ who gets it!! ;)