KDE-Forum.org

I writing this post only to express my opinions on my experience on linux as a normal desktop user.

I don't know about you but I'm sure a lot of linux users (not only currently kde users, because I'm not a kde user) are really expecting something special from the upcoming version of kde.

The first time I read about the project and how well the subprojects are defined I really got the impression that this would be something really revolutionary and would change the whole idea of the desktop bringing a lot more functionality, look&feel, ergonomical interface etc. and still have the rock solid unix based operating system. After a while I came back to reality and realised that I'm really dreaming and such goals can't be achieved in so little time.
I cannot express my opinions about kde4 unless I express my disappointments as a desktop linux user. I am going to take the kde4 subprojects and tell you what I expect from them to fix my current disappointments.

1.SOLID - This must be the most important subproject of kde4 because the lack of cooperation between the linux desktop (graphical interface) and the hardware. I know it isn't a total lack but still it's really frustrating to insert a weird type of cdrom and the desktop enviroment not mounting it, or inserting a webcam and still have to type some cli commands just to make it work.

2.PHONON - This for me is second as importance because another thing that really bothers me is that applications cannot be forced to use just one audio backend or even if it uses another backend at least emulate it so that you can still hear the music player from the background,watch a movie and play a game with sound.

3.DECIBEL - This would be a really extraordinary goal to reach. Actually talking to any friend even if they are on different protocols and implementing the protocol specific features (voice video avatar etc. <- these are the difficult part) would seem really really unreachable to me and really hard to mantain. This is a great challange.

4.APPEAL Project - This includes Oxygen, Plasma etc. I personally don't want to rush these projects and I want to be assured that the first 3 are rock solid and working but eye candy is really important and fashionable these days. I am pro for functionality and good looking desktops. As I have seen on the Internet the icon set looks really good and there are quite a lot of artists with good taste that can really give kde a fresh stylish look, the one that it needs. As for plasma I've seen quite a lot of ideas coming from users that would really make your desktop special and I hope the developers reckon with their opinions.

Althought I am quite an old linux user and have a rather satisfying experience that would make me resolve all my current problems from time to time I just wonder how would it be if it would just work ! .

In my opinion if Apple's OS ... MAC OS X wouldn't be so hardware/software specific considering its really rock solid good looking ... it's a matter of time if it gives up that restriction to just destroy the competition (Microsoft) in the desktop area.