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http://www.stefanoforenza.com

rickspencer3 proposes pulling the gimp from the (ubuntu) CD. ZOMG! No offense to Rick Spencer but.. How reasonable is the rationale behind this? That f-spot is enough? Enough for what? For laughing?

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gooogle's picture
Created by gooogle 12 years 50 weeks ago – Made popular 12 years 50 weeks ago
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Balzac's picture

Balzac

12 years 49 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago

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lozz's picture

lozz

12 years 49 weeks 5 days 8 hours ago

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Dumbing GNU/Linux

There seems to be an increasing movement to abandon a "Linux" for GNU/Linux users in favour of a dumbed-down "Linux" that is hoped will appeal to Windows users. The KDE 4+ mess is another case in point.

Dhraakellian's picture

Dhraakellian

12 years 49 weeks 4 days 29 min ago

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Sorry, what?

I'm afraid I don't quite follow you. Please do forgive me if I've misunderstood your comment (and thus inadvertantly strawmanned), but how is the KDE4 series an example of Linux being "dumbed-down" (would reading that as "windows-ized" be correct?) specifically to appeal to Windows users?

The KDE developers specifically decided to innovate and attempt something new with KDE4, rather than mindlessly copy another platform (be it OS X or some Windows flavor). They did change some interfaces in an attempt to make them more usable, doing usability reviews with trained experts along the way, and some functionality was lost in the ground-up rebuild, but a lot of that is coming back with each new 4.x release, accompanied by new features that weren't present in 3.5.

The question of the wisdom strategy and its implementation aside, I don't see how this equates to the KDE4 series being "dumbed-down".

lozz's picture

lozz

12 years 49 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago

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Dumbed-down

I've used the KDE desktop nearly all the time I've used GNU/Linux. I never liked Gnome, and even less with Mono.

KDE 3.5, was almost everything anyone could ask of a desktop. It had it all.

Then, we were assured with a hyped campaign, that KDE would fall behind in the desktop stakes if it wasn't stuffed fall of something called "widgets".

KDE 4.0 duly arrived, along with a confusing mess of "widgets".

A year later, I've updated to the current Kubuntu again, and had another crack at the latest KDE 4+.

It's still a dog!

The default colour scheme encourages suicide and the options are little better.

Compared with KDE 3.5, many applications were deleted altogether, or were reduced in function.

KDE hasn't just been dumbed-down.

It's been Vandalised!

Dhraakellian's picture

Dhraakellian

12 years 49 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago

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Ah

Slight misunderstanding has been replaced by simple disagreement. :)

Even without the use of desktop widgets, I still find KDE 4.2 (and the 4.3 betas) to be quite useable. YMMV (Then again, I'm not using Kubuntu, which might or might not influence a few things.)

As for colors, do yourself a favor and try a light-on-dark scheme. The Oxygen designers did an excellent job making a style that works well in the dark.

lozz's picture

lozz

12 years 49 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago

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Yes

Yes, KDE 4+ is "useable", but it's not useful as the KDE 3.5 desktop was.

The KDE 4.00 developers have lost sight of desktop reality and created complexity where simplicity should reign supreme.

Nothing actually happens on the desktop; it's like a bus terminal; you pass through there when you're going from one place to somewhere else.

That's all a top desktop needs to do; pass you from one high-quality desktop application to another, as quickly and unobtrusively as possible.

KDE 3.5 knew how to do that, but KDE 4+ tries to be too helpful and gets under your feet every time you have to go by it.

A thing that worries me is the apparently deliberate "dumbing-down" of the high-quality applications that have been traditionally associated with the KDE desktop.

I won't even mention the inexplicable decision to replace the prince of file managers, Konqueror, with the inept, under-developed Dolphin.

What gets me is the really dumbed-down, half-witted attempt they made at replacing Kdict with that thingo you get with the current "widgets" catalogue.

With the online Kdict you got a full Webster's treatment of the word, as well as links to other online dictionaries and complete synonyms; the KDE 4+ attempt at a dictionary gives a couple of lines of bland definition, period.

Dumbed-down.

With KDE 3+, the best advertisement for GNU/Linux was a Kubuntu CD.

I couldn't give the latest KDE 4.00 version with anything like the same degree of confidence

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