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The KDE 3.5.x vs. KDE 4.x Debate© Copyright Darrell Anderson. (July 2008) I am not a computer software developer. Yet I have written my share of shell scripts and in Windows, many Word VBA macros. Years ago I completed several programming classes. I am not naive about programming. I am not naive about the scope and intent of creating a computer desktop environment. Such a project is staggering. I have been watching the development of KDE 4.x. I have not tested the desktop and currently have no interest in doing so. I have seen many screenshots and have read many reviews. Overall I do not like KDE 4.x. Yes, that is a limited opinion based upon reading reviews and looking at screenshots, but the old adage that familiarity breeds contempt often is true. As is the old adage that I don’t have to actually sit on a hot stove to know the results. I am not overwhelmed with KDE 4.x nor am I intimidated. I’m just not sold on KDE 4.x, that’s all. The current desktop model has been around for a few decades. The essential fundamentals have changed little since the original Xerox PARC days. When something has been around that long then users are going to be comfortable with that interface. Anything new must be presented with caution and deliberation. The bottom line is that many people actually like the classic computer desktop model. They do not want to change. The KDE developers have embraced a steep challenge: to provide a new model for the computer desktop. My observation is that despite all the original excitement, the developers are not faring well. Recently many knowledgeable users are deciding that KDE 4.x will not work for them. The typical end-user is left without any true feel for the debate. The new model is supposed to help users become more organized. This puzzles me because I never have had a problem keeping my computer files organized. Seldom am I faced with being unable to find what I want on my computer system. Perhaps I’m the exception, I don’t know. Regardless, I don’t need KDE 4.x to help me organize my computer files. I don’t need KDE 3.5.x to help me organize my files. All humans — all animals, resist unwanted or unexpected change. Humans more so because of their unique ability to think in the abstract. Humans become especially resistant when they believe change is being rammed down their throats — even when the change is for their benefit. All computer interfaces must be learned. I have argued for more than two decades that computers remain user-hostile rather than user-friendly. I still believe that. The new KDE 4.x interface will have to be learned, just like the KDE 3.5.x interface. Yet people do not want to learn something new when what they have continues to function as they expect and have learned. The old familiarity challenge. The KDE developers then should not be surprised that many people are voicing their opinion against KDE 4.x To me, a more important question is what happens to all the many users who like the classic desktop and do not want to change? From the KDE developers perspective, they will be abandoned. Those users can continue to use KDE 3.5.x, which in a few years will be all but dead from a development and maintenance perspective. They can migrate to other desktops such as Gnome and Xfce. They can shrug and sigh and start using KDE 4.x. Perhaps in a few years KDE 4.x will have matured to render all concerns moot. Who knows. In Windows I continued using NT4 long after the operating system had been declared dead and obsolete by many people. Yes, NT4 is not XP and NT4 lacked many bells and whistles of XP. Yet NT4 also lacked all the phone-home nonsense and all the restrictive bloat. NT4 was remarkably uncluttered. NT4 easily could have been massaged into a champion desktop with little effort. Likewise, I likely will stick with KDE 3.5.x for a long while. I suspect at least another bug and security release or two will appear but no more. In the end, like with NT4, I will have to decide how to maintain my computer desktop. I’d like to see KDE 3.5 continue for many years. Many times in my life I have changed but many times I have not. Frankly, I have no major issues with the classic desktop and I don’t want to change. There are online reports that KDE developers are shrinking away from the public spotlight because of the recent criticisms. Reports that some have lost their enthusiasm for coding in KDE because of the turmoil. If true, such a retreat is understandable — that too is part of human nature. I don’t know any of the KDE developers and likely never will. I have nothing against them. I expect they all believe they are doing something worthy with their efforts with KDE 4.x. They should continue their efforts. Innovators are the ones who change this world for the better, not those who purposely remain stagnant. There is something to be said about the adage “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” The KDE developers believe the current desktop model is broken and they yearn to remedy the problem. Others believe differently. There will be many people who love and enjoy KDE 4.x. I might even be one of them — some day. Yet perhaps many of those developers should ask a simple question: have they made some incorrect decisions with KDE 4.x? That is, is the backlash by users against KDE 4.x justified? Finis. |
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