Over the past 6 years I've had a few issues with upgrades before, some of which lead to complete re-installations. But nothing is more frustrating than something that screws with my contacts. I use Kaddressbook for home and business usage. I'm a Government and Corporate Sales Rep for a computer company I've got hundreds of contacts to manage. I've taken advantage of the custom fields to additional details of my customers and suppliers like account numbers, day to return, warranty info.

Now with this new Kaddressbook everything is screwed. Not only do you not have the various interface choices, but all my custom info is gone. This basic three column interface is beyond ugly and useless. It reminds me of interfaces from 25 years ago.

I really would like to know who at KDE.org thought this was a good idea? I hate the thought of downgrading just for this one app. I even wonder if this upgrade pooched all my custom contact info?

</Rant>

PS. I've read a lot of posts in the last 5 days. Nothing I've read explains how to fix the problem short of downgrading to 3.5.4.

Using KDE PIM from KDE 4.3 or updating to a KDE 4.5 Release Candidate may solve your issues.

Additionally I'd like to know if the developers of Kontact/KDEpim intended this to happen? Did they really intend such a poor upgrade path? In the 15 years I've been a Linux user I've run into many a problem. I've more or less forgive them. But I've spend a lot of time working on my contacts, customizing them, adding notes. And yes the presentation of the contact info is in many ways as important at the info store in the address books. So a basic 3 column presentation is unacceptable.

Oh, and by the way what happened to all my distlists?

I'm upgrading as per your suggestion. But I feel this is something I should not have to be done.

</rant>

It was known that some fields would not be readable by the KDE SC 4.4 KAddressBook, however the data is not harmed in any form, it is simply not visible in the user interface.

I finished the upgrade on my home computer and there is no change in the interface or in the data that is accessible. I would appear that my only recourse is to downgrade to 4.3.5 . Not liking this option, but it is what I'll be doing over night.

The issue in this case is that KDE PIM 4.5 will not be shipping alongside the rest of KDE SC 4.5 in this cycle due to stability concerns. The developers are taking extra time in this case to ensure that everything is stable.

User interfaces are always a problematic thing.
For users who use them a lot more complex interfaces allow them to leverage functionality that other users aren't even aware of.
For these other users these interfaces seem to overwhelming, makes the longing for something simpler (maybe not even having an address book selection column).

It is unfortunate that the resources available for address book UI development have at this stage only achieved the interface for the second group and not yet a replacement of the interface for the first group.

The general advice is to stay with the software that has the desired features and making sure the need for those features is communicated properly so they become part of the roadmap of future version as well.

One of the side effects of the recent framework changes is more flexibility when it comes to end user applications.
Previously applications dependent on each other for certain forms of integration, e.g. applications specifically calling KAddressBook to show or edit a contact.
Nowadays they can do this themselves (by using ready-made components from the framework), which in turn makes it possible to have more than one address book application.

So a "no compromises made" application for power address book users could live alongside "mainstream usable" interfaces.

It is a pity that core resources are currently tied up on framework and maintenance level and no new contributors have grasped the opportunity to create new "ultimate" applications for certain user groups.

Putting all kinds of use cases with the same application has reached maintenance limits, using specialized applications sharing core infrastructure and processing has a way better chance of long term viablity and user satisfaction.

I appreciate the response and you covered all the talking points nicely.

So do I take away from this that there is no power users interface being planned or alternative to the 3 column presentation presently provided?

I'll keep using the 4.4.4 KDE on my desktop at home, but for work. I need something with greater flexibility? If the the KDE team does not have that on the drawing board any times soon is there a suggested alternative?

To be honest the main reason I've stayed with KDE was the development of KDEpim(Kontact). As a person with significant ADD and Learning Disabilities contact managers have been a lifesaver and a key part of my daily life. Seeing impaired ppl have canes and dogs. I rely on smartphones, pda's, computers and contact managers to survive. So I'm a Kaddressbook(KDEpim) power user by necessity.

Thanks to you and everyone else for taking time to reply to my comments.

DancesWithWords wrote:So do I take away from this that there is no power users interface being planned or alternative to the 3 column presentation presently provided?

There is currently nobody working on it as far as I know.
However, my personal take on this is that there will be an alternative user interface at some point. My reasoning is that some companies are involved in contracts based on KDE PIM technology and I find it likely that these customers are also in need of more features than the normal end user interface can provide.

DancesWithWords wrote:I'll keep using the 4.4.4 KDE on my desktop at home, but for work. I need something with greater flexibility? If the the KDE team does not have that on the drawing board any times soon is there a suggested alternative?

It is less a matter of not having things on the drawing board but rather a matter of the work force still working on completing the things that were on the drawing board a while ago.

If one has a look at developer blogs, basically everybody is working on some task related to KMail and KOrganizer, the two biggest and most complex pieces of the KDE PIM suite.

Cheers,
_