There are already articles on the web discussing the release of KDE 4.1 in the past tense, yet a quick look at the KDE website indicates that it has not yet been released to the public. Furthermore, the KDE techbase already has an article for any naysayers who might complain about new features (or lack of old ones) after installing it. This article beats them to the punch and tells them exactly what to expect and whether, if they do notlike what they should expect, they should stick with KDE 3.5.x.

Do not get me wrong here. I am not criticizing the new propaganda machine at work. If anything, I think it is brilliant and well played. I have been using the release candidate of 4.1, and I can tell you that it is phenomenal and will live up to the hype. It won’t please everyone, but it is revolutionary for desktop computing. There is nothing else like it on the market, not from Microsoft, not from Apple, not from Sun, and not even from Gnome.

I have been reading more complaints by the day, primarily from bloggers (some of whom I suspect are not even full-time Linux users) that KDE 4 was a complete mistake and should be scrapped. Some have likened it to Windows Vista. Others have even suggested that KDE should be forked so that the KDE 3.5 line will remain alive.

As someone who has been using KDE 4.1 (a Beta version mind you) on my production system for quite a few weeks now, I am wondering what the big fuss is really about. No doubt, I agree with some in that KDE developers should have not called a “work in progress” “4.0″. That is misleading. Heck, Google keeps things in Beta for years. The word “beta” is in fashion to the point where they could just always have “Beta” after any KDE release and it would probably attract users.

Therein lies the problem. This time around, “still in development” was a literal warning, not a modest display of humility. The KDE developers warned everyone that 4.0 was not ready for production. Certain distributions, such as Kubuntu, took heed and left KDE 3.5 as the main desktop, offering 4.0 as an option.

If a distribution left KDE 4.0 as the only option, that means KDE 3.5 applications were no longer available. There is no question that certain applications are much further along than others. Dolphin, the file manager, for example is very stable and feature-rich, whereas most of the KDE-PIM applications are still under heavy development.

With both desktops still installed, one can use KDE 4.0 as the desktop and still use some KDE 3.5 apps without any decrease in performance and with no difficulty. That is drastically different from an operating system upgrade. There is no problem with compatibility between 4.0 and 3.5 apps. Therefore, comparing it to Windows Vista carries little weight.

I think those who hate KDE 4 can be placed into four categories:

1. Those who just dislike the new features (plasma, krunner, etc). That is fine. Everyone has their opinion.

2. Those who actually did not use KDE anyway and are just making noise for the sake of making noise.

3. Those who are not very patient and/or not very good at making things work for them (They were used to using KDE 3.5 which “just worked” out of the box — KDE 4 will eventually reach that stage, but it is not quite there yet).

4. Those who miss their favorite component fromKDE 3. Some people especially miss the “kicker” (KDE’s desktop panel), but a lot of them miss it for the strangest reasons. For example, someone mentioned that he did not like that plasma does not have the various options for different types of secondary panels. My response to that is, how many people actually used any of those secondary panels? I’ve seen plenty of KDE desktops and have seen very few, if any, who used the “Mac OS” menu bar or any of the other available features. Having a feature only for the sake of having it only leads to bloated software.

I for one think KDE 4 is coming along nicely. I am in love with plasma. However, I will be the first to admit that it has some way to go, as did KDE 3 when it was first released.
The truth is some people just hate change, but change is going to come with or without them. That is the nature of this world and is certainly the nature of technology.

There are many things to love about the new KDE and the new Firefox. I have personally always preferred Konqueror for most of my web browsing for simple things like dragging an image from the browser to the desktop. It was not that I wanted to leave an image file on the desktop. It is just a quick way to grab something and use it for whatever I need.

With previous versions of Firefox, dragging an image to the KDE desktop produced an empty clipboard text box and no image. Now, icons on the KDE desktop are essentially gone, replaced with the Folderview plasmoid. Firefox 3.0 also allows for perfect dragging and dropping. I can drag an image not only into folderview or one of folder icons but also directly into Dolphin (file manager).

It just keeps getting better and better.

Other cool plasmoids:

1. Prayertimes plasmoid
2. Weather plasmoid (I have been waiting for this one)
3. Quick Access plasmoid (just so useful).