SBLinux.org

OK: I like KDE.
This is not a Gnome vs. KDE or a lightweight WM vs. KDE poll. The topic is:
At this point in time, is KDE 4 something you prefer to use over KDE 3.5x, or does it suck?

Again: not about what KDE might shape up to be in the future. Right now is what we're talking about, June 2008.
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UPDATE!!

Brian Masinick made me realize the error of my ways by creating this as a monthly poll.
KDE 4 is developing. So let's change the poll to an ongoing one. And: you can change your vote when your opinion changes!

--SB

As someone who really, really prefers KDE to Gnome, I am so disappointed by how unready KDE4 is for serious productivity. The developers seem to have been swept away by their own self-indulgent programming agenda, with nary a thought for the poor sods who have committed to KDE to do real world work.

I'll wait and see how KDE4 develops, but at the moment it looks months, maybe a year away, from challenging the usefulness of KDE3. I'm sure it will come right eventually, but let's face it objectively: at the moment, it's pretty crap.

In June or July, there were not very many (if any) implementations of KDE 4 that were truly ready to take on an every day desktop, at least not in my opinion, considering the stability of KDE 3.5.9 and now 3.5.10, plus the stability and usefulness of both XFCE and GNOME as potential alternatives to KDE.

I have, however, been tracking the progress of KDE 4 with interest. When KDE 4.1 came out, however, it was a different story. Not perfect, but KDE 4 became usable. I have found the hybrid implementation in Mandriva 2009 to be quite usable, and I just finished, the other night, applying a set of updates to Kubuntu 8.10, bringing me up to KDE 4.1.2, and I found it to work just fine.

At the present time, for anyone who really wants to use KDE 4, both Mandriva and Kubuntu have usable versions available. openSUSE, another pioneer in the use of KDE 4, ought to have theirs cleaned up too. Last time I tried their implementation, though, openSUSE was really sluggish compared to anything else on the same system, and I have had that kind of frustration with it many times, so I need a rest from openSUSE, my experiences have been too frustrating with it, even though I would love to see the distribution succeed in order to get another mainstream version in the hands of the public.

So... June 2008 KDE? Looked pretty shaky at that time. November 2008 KDE? Probably could use another point release to satisfy everyone, but I would rate it usable at the very least, fairly attractive, reasonably responsive, and certainly acceptable. I used it with good results on a Lenovo 3000 Y410 laptop and Kubuntu 8.10, and I was happy with it.

Wow! You're not pulling any punches here, are you?
No disrespect to any other SBLinux members. . . but if it were anybody but you saying this, Brian, I'd probably be inclined to just chalk up "an opinion on the charts", and leave it at that. But I know what a relentless Linuxientist you are. . . a man after mine own heart, but better educated and with more experience.

I'd intended to install Ubuntu 8.10 in the Gnome flavour, since I've been estranged from Gnome development for a good two years now. JohnnyUtah making me a mod over at kubuntuway.net several months back just reinforced my tendency to ignore Gnome. So I thought I'd best do a Gnome version of Ubu this time arount, so as not to get out of touch. . .
Remember, the SilverBear Motto is:

SilverBear Sees All,
SilverBear Knows All,
And SilverBear Accepts All
. . . Major Credit Cards thru PayPal.

Obviously the "Seeing All and Knowing All" part falls to ruin if I don't keep current. . .
And yet, vile serpent in the garden, thou hast tempted me to try Kubuntu 8.10 instead.

Thanks, man!