KDE-Forum.org

I am a newbie who for the last six months has struggled to figure out Linux. Most of my energy has gone into grasping KDE. Linux line commands were easy. You typed "man" with the command you wanted, and you could figure it out. But KDE was a nightmare. The documentation was all over the place. Error messages didn't make any sense. Configuration settings were located in all sorts of strange places. Programs crashed. I had to spend hours going through forums to find fixes for bugs.

Then, last week, I discovered Blackbox. It was a revelation. Yes, I know it lacks many of the features of KDE and certainly isn't as pretty. But it's quick, intuitive, highly configureable, and even with the meager documentation that exists is easy to figure out. I was just going over all the recent posts in this forum and laughing because with Blackbox, I don't have to struggle with any of these issues.

What I am saying is that KDE is a mess. I know the people who are working on it are doing their best and probably making no money, but it seems to me they've developed a GUI that is a hodge-podge of applications, rather than a coherent system. I think the real problem is that they've shot for the moon without making sure the basics were in place first. Does anyone need all the configuration settings in Konqueror? Why should you have one way of installing new icons, another for styles, and another for splash screens? It's amazing to me that we have Cervisia and kwalletmanager, but KDE still doesn't deliver users clear, easy-to-understand error messages.

I am sure that the KDE programmers are hard at work on improvements, but my fear is that these improvements will only add to the complexity and bloat. What's desperately needed is a halt to the development of new applications and a return to the basics, where the emphasis is on bringing order and coherence to this GUI. Unless this is done, KDE is always going to be an absolutely daunting prospect for newbies looking to try out Linux. My prediction is that sooner or later a private company will come along, steal the best parts of KDE and market an alternative GUI that will cost us a lot of money, but be so much better than KDE because it's easy to understand, much quicker, and bug free. And this will be a tragedy because Linux is supposed to bebased on the idea that anyone -- even in the poorest nations -- can use this system at no cost.

I know I am going to get flamed for this post (if anyone takes the time to read it), but remember, this is not the usual post where I am saying I am abandoning Linux and going back to Windows. It's Linux all the way for me. I'm just giving up on KDE.