I'm a linux user of 10 years. (almost half of my lifetime just to give you an idea of how long it seems to me ) Since then I've used a myriad of software implementations, from binary to source based distros, desktop environments to stand alone window managers, taskbars to docks, etc.

For some time now I've managed to stay comfortably ignorant in my ubuntu-based gnome-centric setup, until several things (unity/shell and the phoronix topic on yet another feature purge by gnome devs) came to my attention. I liked gnome/ubuntu because ideas like sane defaults and one-app-per-task were consistently applied throughout the desktop. Alas, I could feel the winds of change blowing again and I was compelled to follow.

After installing my old love (Arch Linux) I fired up pacman and installed KDE4 for the first time. I poured hours of time into figuring out how to tweak it to my expectations. These were expecations of functionality, not aesthetics, because I love the oxygen theme. And now that I have my desktop working -mostly- as expected, I'm blown away. I love the event indicator, system tray, plasma, and even the new app launcher. (sidenote: Whoever designed the run dialog that slides in from the top of the screen is brilliant; That is exactly how I wanted it to "feel")

Overall I feel like a kid in a candy store, and I want everyone who is working hard on this project to know that I'm deeply grateful for all of their work. I would also like to leave a friendly reminder. I know simplicity is desirable, especially for the less adventurous users, but hiding options that people might want to use is preferable to removing them entirely.

Anyway, thanks KDE team.

nice!
btw i am using kubuntu
sudo apt-get install kde-standard
i guess...

rolling distros are not for me,arch, i like stable release, here kubuntu 10.04
but i like test too so ... 11.04 right now i am on kubuntu 11.04 alpha 2

btw i could compile kde4 some days...

cynical wrote:(sidenote: Whoever designed the run dialog that slides in from the top of the screen is brilliant; That is exactly how I wanted it to "feel")

I kind of had the same situation, but i switched from gnome to kde back in the kde 3.5 days lol. You can thank Aaron Seigo for that little gem with the runner, he's also the lead developer of plasma, so he's done a lot to make KDE what it is today.

cynical wrote:I know simplicity is desirable, especially for the less adventurous users, but hiding options that people might want to use is preferable to removing them entirely.

Thats the truth. And i hate to tell you this, but now that you've seen what it's like to have so much control over your system, going back to gnome will seem extremely frustrating. I invariably try it every once in a while, usually with linux mint since it seems like the closest thing to what i want. but its lack of options in nautilus the file manager and other places just makes it impossible to settle for less anymore.

Anyways, welcome to KDE.