The latest version of my favorite desktop, KDE SC 4.4, is due to be released in just a couple of weeks. Even though it’s still in beta, I just couldn’t keep my hands off of it, being the desktop geek that I am. Let’s take a quick look at how KDE 4.4 is shaping up during the last leg of its development phase.
As usual, I decided to install KDE 4.4 on my spare review machine. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it worked out. I vowed that I would not install beta software on my production machine anymore, but I couldn’t keep my hands off of KDE 4.4 and installed it on my main computer anyway. Did it turn out to be a disaster? You bet! That’s how testing beta software goes, and I eventually got everything working and decided to continue to play around with KDE 4.4. Besides, there’s probably no turning back now anyway.
The first thing I noticed about KDE 4.4 is that it seems to be a more “incremental” improvement than previous releases in the 4.0 series. There are definitely new features scattered all over, but none that are ground breaking or will make you leap at the opportunity to upgrade. I’m not saying that KDE 4.4 isn’t good, mind you. Sometimes taking a step back and fixing bugs and speeding things up is more important.
Speaking of speed, KDE 4.4 feels faster than KDE 4.3, which felt faster than KDE 4.2. Improvements in speed are definitely being made. I don’t know if it’s due to redoing the internal database engines or cleaning up the code, but it definitely feels fast. With lack of speed being one of the primary complaints regarding KDE 4.x, it’s wonderful that some attention in this area was provided.
One of the features that is being applauded all over the blogosphere is the “tabbed windows” feature. Basically, you can get two windows (any window, any program) to share the same window border. While many think that this is an amazing feature, I don’t think it was executed very well at all. For example, when two windows share the same window border, that’s all they do. Each window that is tabbed still has an individual entry on the panel’s task manager. To me, that makes this feature pretty much worthless. If they were tabbed AND combined on the taskbar, that would make this feature very useful to me. (You can see what I’m referring to in the screenshot below).
Another “feature” that was added in is a clone of the “Aero Snap” feature from Windows 7. This means that you can drag a window to the edge of the screen, and have them minimize, maximize, or combine with other windows. While this feature is definitely cool, cloning a feature from Windows 7 makes me nervous. I love KDE and I’m not necessarily wanting it to become Microsoft flamebait if this sort of thing was patented already. (I’d be surprised if it wasn’t). It’s an awesome feature but wasn’t invented in KDE.
Third, the “plasma explorer” applet was overhauled, and it looks much more decent now, but I find it much more difficult to use. Basically, when you want to add a plasmoid to your desktop, a window comes up where you can select your widgets and drag them to the desktop. Now, it’s not a window anymore, it’s a menu that appears above the panel. For me, this makes it much more annoying to find what I want. Perhaps I just need to give it more time and maybe once I get used to it I will enjoy it more.
Don’t get me wrong, KDE 4.4 is pretty sweet as usual. I have some gripes but overall it is a worthy upgrade, even if the only redeeming improvement so far is the increase in responsiveness and the fine-tuning of the desktop pretty much everywhere. (Almost everything has received at least a little bit of developer love in some form or another). Besides, there’s no telling how the final version of KDE 4.4 will be when it is released in early February. I will have a review up on this site as soon as it becomes available.
KDE 4.4 Desktop:
Jeremy is a Certified IT Technician that blogs at ITNewsToday.com in his spare time. He has over ten years of industry experience, and studies the IT industry every single day. Jeremy has become an open source enthusiast over time and is studying for his Linux+ certification. He lives in Waterford MI with his wife Krystal and son Alan.
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Agree on the Plasma Explorer menu. Seems much more difficult to use and find plasmoids. I much prefer the window method. My personal opinion. I would also prefer the window method when setting preferences for the taskbar. That ugly pop-up bar above to me again seems much more difficult than the window method. All in all, I loved KDE 3.x.x, and KDE 4 still has not matured to a level of stability and usefulness as the 3.x.x versions. I understand KDE 4 is going in a different direction, but in my opinion, the wrong direction. I have had to make the switch to Gnome and with KDE 4 still see no reason for me to want a switch back…too bad.
Sorry but once bitten, twice shy. It does not matter how many bloggers try and restore KDE’s image, I will never return. There are too many great alternatives, need I say that I really love XFCE? If it had not been for KDE I would never have tried XFCE so I guess I owe them thanks for that.
@David
I visited this website because I use and like KDE 4.4, and I wanted to know what this reviewer thought about it.
Why did you visit? Do you think that people that are having a good time with KDE are going to read your post, slap their foreheads and cry “goodness, why didn’t it occur to me to use Xfce?”
With this attitude, you must be a KDE dev. Only KDE devs act this way, and I am not the only one that thinks so:
http://www.therussellfamily.org/~doug/?p=52
David your attitude remember me a GNOME fan boy one…;).
David, With this attitude, you must be a troll, only trolls acts this way http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29 (and who the heck cares whether you love XFCE or not, a lot of people also love KDE 4, what’s your point?)
@all
i tried in 5 years of using linux a lot of WM’s, DE’s but i think the kde evolved a lot more then others!! and this is the true! a month ago i used gnome for a year, before that xfce, awesome wm, etc. and now i give a try to kde 4.3.4 and i’m love it! it’s fast, and looks nice and i can do everything what i do in other DE’s. dolphin is the best file manager i think, and as i see it would be better and better. we can say that almost the biggest project in linux is kde.
KDE 4 is surely the prettiest DE available! (Dare I say the prettiest of any available?) Especially Mandriva’s implementation of it! (I eagerly await Mandriva One 2010.1 to see what they do with KDE 4.4!)