Let me share my experience with KDE 4.4 (by installing Kubuntu 10.04).
Previously, I have upgraded my Ubuntu 9.10 install to 10.04 (gnome), but that was completely FUBAR. So I backed up everything and decided on a clean install. Having heard good things about KDE 4.4, I decided to try Kubuntu (and I was turning off so many options in Compiz+Emerald I was at the level of KWin ).
I put the Kubuntu image to a pen drive, and because I still hadn't made my mind I started Live mode. Made some modifications there, but eventually started the install (from the live mode screen, not from boot).

Then Regional settings panel had crashed and restarted itself immediately. That was "uhh" #1. As I was installing to a formatted disk, I restarted the whole install, not to break anything. This time I started the install from boot, and the install was smooth.
Desktop pops in, then I wanted to put machine to sleep (my favorite way of "turning off"). So I pressed Fn+F4. Nothing happens. Ok, then go for Hibernate, tried Fn+12. Nothing. Uhh #2.
Select Kickoff, and Leave. Decided to Shutdown. Window pops in, that I have gazillion of tty-s open and should select some action. uhh #3.

I might be a bit harsh on these things, I'm sorry for that but I'm a project manager working in software development. What I have written about is the most simple and basic flow of events that everyone will meet including the inexperienced first-time user and the most experienced pro. Install + Shutdown. And I had to stop 3 times to think about what is happening and what actions I should take (if we leave the crash, then it is just 2). These little annoyances will ruin the experience of the "whole" (like those popup windows with folder contents that cannot be turn off)
My journey went on with KnetworkManager, but that is another story.

And what goes wrong in KDE can be tried out in GNOME in about 2 minutes. This kind of competition is close. Being worse, certain KDE components can be replaced by their GNOME counterpart on the fly (like knetworkmanager versus nm-applet).
I urge every developer in my team to go for the details (regarding user experience) because these will define the whole experience on the "service".
The best example is Apple. They polish the details, yet throw out whole functions, because it is easier to tell people why a system or a device is missing a "basic" function as telling them why it is broken.

My current experience with KDE is "okay", things work as they should, I get only a few crash, and the important part is that I don't lose data. I will continue to use it, and I hope things get better under the hood.

sayakb wrote:I believe that 4.4 will be worth trying. Personally, I am happy with the performance, but crashes are something that bother some times -- although I don't have them very often (and as I pull from backports in Kubuntu, I shouldn't ideally be complaining at all).

The "Shutdown" action will by default not end sessions in use by other users to avoid data loss, thus this is expected behaviour.

For 1) and 2) it is likely just a case of binding the correct keyboard shortcuts ( assuming they exist, however you can always use Input Actions and a D-Bus call to create these )

bcooksley wrote:The "Shutdown" action will by default not end sessions in use by other users to avoid data loss, thus this is expected behaviour.

This happened the first time I logged in (after the install), then immediately tried to shut down. With no packages installed, not even bugfixes.
As for the Sleep function, I checked Fn+F4 with 'xev' the keys give back "XF86Sleep".

In the case of sleep, please check in System Settings > Keyboard & Mouse > Global Keyboard Shortcuts. Check "Powerdevil" in the drop down list for the appropriate action.

Ooops. There is no Powerdevil in that list...

bcooksley wrote:In the case of sleep, please check in System Settings > Keyboard & Mouse > Global Keyboard Shortcuts. Check "Powerdevil" in the drop down list for the appropriate action.

I've been a long time user of kde,as long as I use Linux.
Tried gnome first (red hat).
But now I'm having problems with solid!
I cannot upgrade to xorg-server-1.8.
Solid depends on hal which is being deprecated.
Without hal I can't mount anything automatically.
Gnome 2.30 has solved this.
When will kde follow?
Gerard.

The reason why KDE still depends upon HAL is that the developers of upower and udisks have refused to stabilise their API's.

This means that time invested by KDE developers to port to them would be ultimately wasted, and KDE's own binary compatibility promises could potentially be broken ( binary incompatible changes to kdelibs, which contains solid, are strictly prohibited ).

I believe in very recent times however both have finally begun to settle.

So...any news about when this apparently 'revolutionary' tech that (yes I dont understand it at all ) will be useful, rather then a headache?

Which technology are you referring to?

If you are referring to upower / udisks, something may be part of KDE 4.6, although if distributions are determined to remove HAL, a Solid backend may be written by them ( although it will still probably only be in 4.6 officially at the earliest )

For Akonadi, the 4.5 PIM release should be quite a big step forward, with critical applications like KMail now using it.

Well, Kubuntu has more or less killed HAL for the next release, I think...just wondering if I might as well resign myself to the LTS now and wait till KDE gives out the 'ok' singal

I think that would be a very wise decision. And I will do likewise.

And after chasing this rabbit from Gnome to HAL, I have to wonder if we ever answered the OP's question.

Dante Ashton wrote:Well, Kubuntu has more or less killed HAL for the next release, I think...just wondering if I might as well resign myself to the LTS now and wait till KDE gives out the 'ok' singal

HAL is still around in Kubuntu and will remain until KDE no longer requires it.

JontheEchinda wrote:

Dante Ashton wrote:Well, Kubuntu has more or less killed HAL for the next release, I think...just wondering if I might as well resign myself to the LTS now and wait till KDE gives out the 'ok' singal

HAL is still around in Kubuntu and will remain until KDE no longer requires it.

Really? I was sure I read on a Kubuntu dev list that HAL was going to be removed for 10.10 (mind you, I'm pretty sure it was deprecated in 10.04 as well)

Well, we'd like to get rid of it as soon as possible, but if a mature replacement backed by KDE is not ready we most definitely won't.