As we all know by now, KDE 4 has been released into the wild and we got our long awaited chance to pull it apart and break it.
Yes, I waited out KDE 4.0.0 (released 11 January 2008), installed it but has just a peak and went on waiting for the next release, and lo and behold! KDE 4.0.1 was released only weeks later (5 February 2008)!
Okay, let me blurt it out right here in the beginning, I do not like it....yet!
The plasmoids just don't do it for me, I have never been a fan of superkaramba and I don't see myself becoming one very quickly, but if they only made a few changes and gave us more configuration power, then it might not be so bad after all! But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning!
First thought after loading it?
Everything is so BIG! Almost like it was designed in Texas!
The very first thing most of us will do is try and configure the taskbar, only to find out you cannot! Odd...
Next you will notice you desktop icons having some weard border... So this must be the plasmoids everyone is talking about!
If you click on the default kicker you will notice that the menus are very weard and "funny to the feel", but luckily you can remove that default one and add another kicker right there on the desktop that behaves like the old one we used to use in KDE3, and this brings me to the next part.
You can add more widgets/plasmoids by clicking on the icon in the upper right hand corner. At present there are still very few of them on the net, but just keep your eyes on
KDE Look, they will be coming in fast and furiously. Just popping in there now I saw one or two I would like to give a try...
Over
here is just a very brief tutorial on how you can use the plasmoids to work for you, and this brings me to the next big gripe I have atm, the lack of customization!
If they allowed one to customize the plasmoids a bit, like removing that ugly border then it would not have been half as bad! The configuration options are very few and very far between for about everything and I just hope and pray that they really give heed to this and do something about it in the future releases!
I still believe the reason one chooses x over y is because you can configure it to your needs, and lets face it, stuff like
Yakuake,
Moodin,
kbfx,
Dekorator and the likes have made the configuration options of KDE 3.5 endless!
I understand that KDE4 is still in infancy, and therefore I have high, very high hopes that it will become the trend setter in the Desktop wars!
On to the positive, just look at this:
Yep, composite integrated into KDE. It works flawlessly, just a bit of a lag when playing serious 3D games like Quake Wars. Other than that, NICE! Hope they keep up with the main composite development and new effects and features gets added quickly!
Now for something bizarre, and if anyone know what to make of this, drop me a comment...
You can shrink your desktop by clicking on the upper right hand corner (there is a + and -), but you do not loose any work space? What is this all about? It reminds me somewhat of Windows 3.11 way back when.
I will keep on giving it a try and hopefully it will grow on me, but I must admit,
E17 is staring to look kick butt good as well!
Stay tuned!
