KDE is now my favorite desktop

KDE has been phenomenal since the days of KDE 3.5.x. I wish that I could use it more than I'm able to (limited selection of desktop environments at work etc.). The KDE 4.0 release has given the project an unfortunate lasting bad reputation that stuck around despite the fact that it was really just a single bad release that got fixed very quickly.

> The KDE 4.0 release has given the project an unfortunate lasting bad reputation...

True, but frankly, KDE team repeatedly said that 4.0 to 4.2 is considered beta, and not production ready. I'm also coming from 3.5.x days, and just waited for KDE to mature a little before jumping 4.x bandwagon, and I'm still on KDE.

Maybe, we, the users shall read the announcements with a keener eye.

I haven't ever really used KDE, and I'm quite sure that it's still not my desktop, but as someone who was aware of the trouble around 4.0, the view I had of the project was that those problems were long gone, and that most people using it today were pretty happy with it.

So I'm not sure whether it's try that that caused a bad reputation that sticks around to this day. (I have other reasons for not preferring it.)

Uhh... No? https://kde.org/announcements/4/4.0/

Even KDE1 and KDE2 were very good for their time.

This is one of the places I have found the relevant note [0].

It states the following:

    Some of the more obvious issues are listed below. If these issues are important to you, you should stay with KDE 3.5 (KDE 3.5.10 was released in August 2008) until KDE 4.2 is released (scheduled for release in January 2009) when most of these issues are scheduled to be resolved.

    It is possible that distributions will work around some of these issues before distributing to users. 

Also, IIRC, KDE developers were openly saying that releases from 4.0 to 4.2 will be buggy, and things will stabilize in 4.2 and beyond.

[0]: https://community.kde.org/Schedules/Is_KDE_4.1_for_you%3F

We all (not just KDE) learned that users don't read those. Worse, distro maintainers either don't read them or in their "we are on the latest" push will ignore them. KDE was pushed out to a lot of people who shouldn't have got it.

It is safe to say that many other projects have not done beta .0 releases like that because they don't want the same to happen to them - even though they really need beta testers. Of course few projects will admit that they learned the lesson from KDE.

> KDE was pushed out to a lot of people who shouldn't have got it.

Yeah, I remember that turmoil, and was really sad for all KDE devs.

> It is safe to say that many other projects have not done beta .0 releases...

This was a brave move by KDE back then, and still a brave move, but with proper communication, it can be done, I guess...

KDE developers and volunteers embody a great trove of wisdom about software development. I learnt how to make proper bug reporting from AmaroK project, and still use the same methodology, even with projects which do not enforce any style. It makes things much easier. ...and everyone needs beta testers. That's true.

> Worse, distro maintainers either don't read them or in their "we are on the latest" push will ignore them

Oh, this is so true. Ubuntu adopted Pulse Audio long before anyone (including Poettering) considered it stable. IIRC the readme even said something like "The sound system that breaks your audio"

I probably shouldn't complain though, since as a non-Ubuntu user, I get the benefits of all the Ubuntu users beta testing software for me.

Author here. The last time I used KDE was during the 4.x days. I remember trying multiple versions, from the earlier 4.0/4.2 days until something like 4.14. Even so, I kept getting crashes and instability.

I remember the one that finally made me stop using KDE altogether and migrate to Gnome 3 at the time was one crash that I would get frequently with Dolphin while randomly browsing fils (that would stop once I removed all Dolphin configuration files but go back after a few weeks).

That's about 4.1. I think the developers either underestimated the amount of bugs an average user would run in to on the 4.0 release, or forgot to tell those responsible for communication about their concerns. The release caused a shit storm, hence the more careful expectation management around the 4.1 release.

That being said: I've been using KDE since the 1.x days, with only a short Ubuntu Unity-intermezzo around the 4.0 release. Most of that time, it's been great!

I remember seeing similar things before release of 4.0 in the social media, the bird site and other places.

However I neither have the time, nor the desire to dig these places, yet alone logon to them.

Of course my mind may be lying to me, as well.

Anyway, these days are over and KDE is better than ever, so it’s only nitpicking over some trivia.