I am pretty tired of this whole "discussion". Actually, pretty sick of 
it.

If KDE 3.5 suits you, why don't you stick to it and let others explore 
new approaches to using a computer in KDE 4? Instead, you insist that 
4 must mimick 3.5. No, it must not.

15 years ago, a desktop computer was mostly used as a glorified 
typewriter, developer tool for developers, Internet access if you 
were lucky (not so here in Namibia), email. Games. Music composing 
had just started. Video cutting was in its infancy. So the 
paradigm "desktop" - windows, icons, mouse (WIM) - was probably the 
right approach. No, not probably. It was.

What do we have today?

First of all, the number of personal files has increased beyond 
anything any of us has imagined 15 years ago. I have about 200,000 
files under my home directory. Icons and hierarchical folders don't 
scale for me anymore. I don't want to remember where I have stored 
what. I want to ask the computer for uncle Billy's photo that came in 
by an email from George. Same for the secretary that wants to ask the 
computer for a quotation about vacuumer model A sent out to customer 
B about three weeks ago. Let the bloody computer m0emorise all these 
pesky details and don't bother me with it.

Second, computers have turned into entertainment centres. Did you see 
hired DJs come to a private function with a laptop (and nothing 
else), plug it into the stereo and work from there? What has that to 
do with a "desktop"?

Third, computers have become knowledge centres. None of my friends has 
a printed encyclopedia anymore. Wikipedia, google and such have 
replaced that. When I think of an encyclopedia, I think of an 
easychair rather than a desktop. Or, maybe, of the kitchen table. ;-)

Forth, computers are now multimedia production centres. Cutting 
movies, mastering sounds, mixing autio. Desktop? Naw. Cutting room 
and mixing board.

Fifth, gaming has become far closer to a driver's seat (land, water, 
air) than a desktop.

And on and on.

So, where does it leave us?

It might well be that the times of one paradigm are over. Those using 
computers in an enterprise environment might still be served best 
with the desktop approach (minus icons and hierarchical folders). 

The rest of us might need different approaches that blend in with what 
we do with computers. 

My take is, the "desktop" approach is a single-minded approach. It 
must fracture into different GUIs that can satisfy people doing 
utterly different things with computers.

KDE4's new technologies seem seem to fit this demand better than 
anything else I have seen so far. Plasma just being the most visible 
of them.

Speaking of plasma, it can simulate the old desktop apporach. Good for 
the coporate users - and I mean it. It can also do a hundred other 
things. Needed things! It can't do all of them right now but it has 
the flexibility to do so. Great!

Again for those who are married to 3.5: Just stick to it. It's all 
yours. In a years time, maybe two years time, try out KDE 4 and see 
whether it does not meet your needs. Please let us, who are committed 
to push it, explore future ways in KDE 4.

In the past, OSS was always playing catching up. KDE 3.5 was *pretty* 
good at it. Somewhere between Windows and OSX in my book. With KDE 4 
we have the have the opportunity for the first time to *lead* GUI 
development. 

So, let's do it rather than confine us to the past.

Uwe
(climbing down from his soap box)

-- 
Ignorance killed the cat, sir, curiosity was framed!
 
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