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----- Original Message ---- |
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> From: Neil Bothwick <neil@××××××××××.uk> |
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> > Okay - that's not entirely KDE's problem; though it would have helped a |
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> > long way with the KDE4 transition if they kept a few people working on |
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> > those issues. |
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> |
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> How would you feel if you were a KDE dev told "we're all going to play |
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> with the cool new toys now, but we want you to stay here and look |
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> after the boring musty old stuff."? It would be bad enough if you were |
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> being paid for it. |
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|
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Many software developers are exactly in that position. So what? it's what you do |
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when you want to maintain something. |
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That's the also very much the case with numerous kernel developers - they work |
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to keep older versions going as Linus and team move to the next version. |
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So yes, there are even volunteers that will do it. |
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|
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> > The big issue is that in moving to sole development of KDE4, distros |
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> > started to drop KDE3 and replace it with KDE4. For example, Kubuntu |
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> > 8.04 TLS dropped KDE3 and used KDE4 long before KDE4 was really user |
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> > worthy - long before KDE was calling it user worthy. |
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> |
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> I think that says more about Ubuntu than KDE, after all ,they'd done a |
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> similar thing with GNOME/Unity now. |
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|
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There were other distros too. Gentoo dropped KDE3 around 4.3. |
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|
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> > But KDEs actions |
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> > of moving sole development to KDE4 prompted most distributions to do |
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> > likewise. |
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> |
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> Many distros, especially the enterprise focussed ones like SUSE, kept 3.5 |
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> around for quite a while. |
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> |
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> > Had they kept a small team working on at least the build issues until |
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> > KDE4 reached 4.3 then the transition would have likely gone a lot |
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> > smoother. |
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> |
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> True, but no one expected it to take that long to get ready, and |
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> diverting resources to look after 3.5 would have meant it taking even |
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> longer. |
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> |
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> > > So install a distro that still supports KDE3 if that's what you want |
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> > > or need. KDE 3.5.10 is still there, it hasn't been withdrawn from the |
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> > > shelves. You're hardly likely to use Gentoo for such users, so lack |
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> > > of core support for 3.5 in Gentoo is not an issue either. |
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> > > |
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> > |
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> > While I am not personally interested in it, please name one. |
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> > |
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> > Gentoo doesn't support KDE3 any more. You have to go to Trinity to get |
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> > the newer, forked KDE3 series. Last I heard they were equivalent to a |
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> > 3.5.12 or so; but I haven't seen anything on the Desktop list for a |
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> > while about Trinity. |
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> > |
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> > Needless to say, you may be very hard pressed to find a modern, |
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> > up-to-date distribution that offers KDE3 support. |
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> |
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> If it defaulted to KDE 3.5, it would be neither modern nor up to date. |
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> But at the time of the transition, when KDE4 was still too flakey for |
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> many, there were several - openSUSE for one. |
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|
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Difference between "modern, up-to-date and functional" versus "modern, |
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up-to-date, and bleeding-edge". |
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If you are aiming for bleeding-edge, then yes, moving to KDE4 at 4.0 would have |
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been fine. |
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But most don't use or want to use bleeding edge - they want functional. In both |
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cases they still want modern and up-to-date. |
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|
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Ben |