3 ms·

KDE 4.0 was essentially a preview for app developers, where the system had lots of new APIs but applications and desktop functionality built on top of them was

by pxc 4y ago

KDE 4.0 was essentially a preview for app developers, where the system had lots of new APIs but applications and desktop functionality built on top of them was still incomplete and not widely tested. Many KDE-based distros nonetheless went with 4.0 as their first KDE4 release. A lot of applications' first KDE4-based releases were missing features as well. I remember that my favorite app at the time, Amarok, took a long time to reach feature parity. Eventually KDE4 did mature nicely, and the transition to KDE Frameworks 5 and Plasma 5 was way, way, smoother. There were enough little quirks to notice the transition was happening, but you had more or less harmonious coexistence between KDE4-based apps and KF5-based apps as the developers of KDE apps each migrated theirs over as they saw fit. There was no big moment of widespread breakage or loss of functionality. Afaict they're taking the same approach to rebasing things on Qt 6. To me it seems like the painful transition between KDE3 and KDE4 is something the developer community learned very well from, but I haven't followed along with any discussions which would really show whether that's the case.

account42 4y ago
> A lot of applications' first KDE4-based releases were missing features as well. I remember that my favorite app at the time, Amarok, took a long time to reach feature parity. KDE4-based Amarok was its own trainwreck. Released without support for dynamic playlists based on hard filters because FUZZY FILTERS ARE THE FUTURE. And it managed to trash its database twice on my system. It's the music player that made me stop using a dedicated music player program.
- robonerd 4y ago
  > It's the music player that made me stop using a dedicated music player program. More or less the same for me. I loved Amarok until KDE4, but had to abandon it then. For a few years I used an XMMS2 client I wrote myself, but I grew weary of keeping that updated so I switched to VLC, and later mpv, with playlists loaded from my (custom, but general purpose) file manager.

by pxc 4y ago

account42 4y ago

> A lot of applications' first KDE4-based releases were missing features as well. I remember that my favorite app at the time, Amarok, took a long time to reach feature parity. KDE4-based Amarok was its own trainwreck. Released without support for dynamic playlists based on hard filters because FUZZY FILTERS ARE THE FUTURE. And it managed to trash its database twice on my system. It's the music player that made me stop using a dedicated music player program.

robonerd 4y ago
> It's the music player that made me stop using a dedicated music player program. More or less the same for me. I loved Amarok until KDE4, but had to abandon it then. For a few years I used an XMMS2 client I wrote myself, but I grew weary of keeping that updated so I switched to VLC, and later mpv, with playlists loaded from my (custom, but general purpose) file manager.