Okay, so I installed the KDE4 Remix package over my Ubuntu 8.04 install (which is still chugging away despite me wanting to downgrade to 7.10). I just wanted to get a lay of the land and see what all the buzz is about.

When I booted into KDE4, my first thought was, Wow, this is pretty. After about five minutes using it, I thought, Wow, this is awful. I respect what the devs are trying to do with KDE4. And the beginnings they have are very nice. From what I’ve read, what’s under the hood is very nice as well. But it’s simply not ready for prime time anything. Ubuntu — for once, with this release — wisely chose not to designate Kubuntu Remix an LTS. There’s no way anyone could run this for five years or whatever. It’s barely usable. The rough edges made me want to cry.

I don’t know who designated KDE4 a release in the condition it’s in. Whoever that person is, kindly let someone else handle the releasing of things. You’re not very good at it. This is an 0.5 release, not a 4.0. Or a 4.0.4. Even early adopters do not deserve this much flagellation.

So back to Gnome I went, trailing the wounds of my experience. Literally. Removing the Kubuntu package didn’t remove all the programs that went with it, and now I’m left floundering in a sea of “K”s.

Tags: hardyheron, ithurts, kde4, kubuntu, Ubuntu