Any hope of KDE 3.5 in F10?

[Bill Davidsen]

Mike Bird wrote:
> QUESTION TO DEVELOPERS: Is there any hope of a full KDE 3.5
> in F10, plus an upgrade path from F8 to F10 that preserves
> KDE 3.5 configurations?
> 
At this point let me say that KDE is dead, now and forever. The old 3.5 
is no longer maintained, and as you note below, the 4.x branch is more 
compatible at the acronym level than the user experience or application 
compatibility level.

This is not to condemn the new direction, simply to offer the opinion 
that it is now and forever going off at a tangent from the progress of 
3.x, and if you define "works right" to mean "works like 3.5" you are 
not ever going to be happy. The root change is not technical, but one of 
philosophy, it will never be the same or work the same, because the 
maintainers have defined "better" as "different." Or vice versa. Like 
the schism of the Catholic and Protestant churches, the KDE developers 
are marching the beat of a different drummer, or perhaps a whole 
different brass band.

In short, classic KDE is *dead* and unless you can find people to help 
you maintain the 3.x branch, it will stay that way.

> KDE 4.0 is incomplete and not suitable for most users.
> 
I would agree that choosing it was premature, it's one thing to be 
bleeding edge, but KDE 4.0 feels more like a prototype or proof of 
concept. I strongly agree that it would have been better to wait until 
it was a bit more robust (I am trying to be polite here).

> KDE 4.1 will be incomplete and not suitable for most users.
> 
Agree with incomplete, insufficient data for suitability. In a world 
where people use VISTA, style may impress more than substance. Like 
movies with great special effects and a plot written on the back of a 
match book.

> The KDE devels are debating whether KDE 4.2 will be usable.

Or the definition of usable. If you don't expect your old 3.5 habits and 
applications to work, 4.0 is usable now.

> The pro-plasma crowd argue that it is theoretically possible
> to implement a desktop by KDE 4.2, but that everyone should
> change to using the folderview and forget about real desktops.

I have heard that, but not attributed with any authority. I also hear 
don't totally agree with your definition of "real" here.

> Probably control center will be fixed by KDE 4.2.  It's
> debatable whether Dolphin will ever have the usability that
> KDE 3.5 Konqueror had, but if it does it won't be until KDE 4.2
> at the earliest.  F9 already includes a usable KMenu to replace
> the KDE 4.0 joke, although the usable KMenu is not the default.
> 
Another dubious decision.

> I'm not a KDE developer but I do have users that need to get
> work done and they are not interested in a religious conversion
> to plasmoids.  After reading a lot of KDE developer discussions
> my best guess is that KDE 4.3 is the earliest possibility for
> most KDE users, but no guarantees.
> 
Look, some will like it, some will hates it, some will change to another 
WM. Unless there's a viable life support system for 3.x I doubt users 
will go to another distribution to get 3.5 because as I said first, it's 
dead.

> This puts us in something of a quandary.  F9 KDE 4.0 is hugely
> annoying to most KDE users.  F8 KDE 3.5 still works fine of
> course but IIRC security updates will end in six months.
> 
Other than questioning "most," you have summed up the situation.

> QUESTION TO DEVELOPERS: Is there any hope of a full KDE 3.5
> in F10, plus an upgrade path from F8 to F10 that preserves
> KDE 3.5 configurations?
> 
Unless you or someone starts a project to keep it getting security 
upgrades for at least a few years, it just isn't a good idea. I suggest 
you base your decisions on that. Long term projects need someone who is 
driven to keep it going.

-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot