Click on image to enlarge.
KDE SC 4.6 brings a completely redesigned activities system. I have to say I have never used it (and honestly don't see it that useful), but it seems this new system is less complicated and more intuitive. On the other hand, one piece that has also got a new design from the ground up, one I do care about, is the Power Management configuration system.
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Settings have been split into two categories now: Global Settings and Power Profiles. Not that different to what was there before, but perhaps organised in a way that makes life easier for users. The Power Profiles piece is the one that has experienced the most relevant and evident changes, as depicted in the screenshot above. There is nothing revolutionary about the new interface, perhaps not even attractive, but it does what it is supposed to do.
There are many more new features/enhancements, such as improved program start-up notifications and a revamped Oxygen GTK theme that should allow for better integration of GTK apps (it's an improvement, but can't say I am impressed with this one, I still see applications that look out of place). Dolphin gets advanced filtering features and other applications from the KDE realm also get updates, such as Amarok, which is now on version 2.4.
Click on image to enlarge.
Click on image to enlarge.
In my opinion, the most welcome changes come from Look&Feel and Kwin compositing, probably the changes users will notice first. The new wallpaper provides a new vibe to both the KDM theme and the desktop, quite an impact for such a simple change. The widget interface is similar to what we saw in KDE SC 4.5.x, but got a subtle face lift. There are some new widgets added to the mix as well.
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I wanted to save the best for last: Kwin effects are finally worth using! Ever since I started using KDE, I thought its effects were slow, limited and lacked the smoothness and flexibility of Compiz. As a result, I have alwasy tried to fit compiz in, probably not the best idea. This time around, though, Kwin effects look and behave great... it is the first time I decided to get rid of Compiz! Don't get me wrong, I still miss some Compiz features and effects, specially how you can tweak an effect in any imaginable way. I also miss how Compiz provides a much more flexible interface to create shortcuts you can call effects with, but like I said, this is the first time Kwin stands the comparison.
Click on image to enlarge.
A CRITICAL VIEW
Unfortunately, there are still things I dislike about KDE. First and foremost, I think the project is going down a path that can make it quickly become a thing of the past. Efforts continue to make an already thick client thicker, when the rest of the world is looking elsewhere, to the cloud, to be more specific. Projects like Marble or the work put into revamping Kontact (which incidentally had to be left out of KDE 4.6) seem redundant, tons of hours of work that will probably (and sadly) go unnoticed and used by a very small minority.
The way I see it, KDE is stretching way beyond its reach. Instead of using its growing community of developers to take on new projects, I believe they should concentrate all of those resources into creating a truly amazing desktop manager, one that is ready and relevant for the next ten years. I think it's about time we realize Windows is no longer the reference, because even Microsoft is falling behind in this race.
Computer Science has always been about adjusting to change quickly, and the cloud revolution, empowered by an ever growing market of smartphones and tablets, is only accelerating change. It will take no prisoners. It's time to realize efforts to create an ever more powerful client are essentially wasted time. Computing is no longer about productivity, social interaction and enhanced integration are just as important now. People want to see interfaces that are pretty and work efficiently, and they don't want to have to learn new stuff when what they use is already awesome. Honestly, can Kontact ever beat the integration Google is putting in place with all its applications and services? Can Marble ever hope to be better than Google Earth? Can KDE really develop a mobile device interface that is able to compete with iOS or Android? (Note that we are no longer competing against a proprietary monopoly based on closed technology, for many of Google's projects are open source and community supported)
I think the answer is clear. How long will it take for the project to realize many of its elements are already offside? Time will tell, but it is a shame to see so much potential not fully coming to fruition.
SUMMARY
Is KDE SC 4.6 a good release? It is indeed. It still bugs me that certain basic shortcomings, such as a proper icon theming system, are getting no love from developers and keep failing release after release, though. Other than that, there are some undeniable improvements and some exciting new features, so make sure you give it a go.
INSTALLATION ON KUBUNTU
Kubuntu users can easily upgrade their KDE desktop to SC 4.6.0 using the PPA available. Simply follow the following steps.
1.- Open a terminal window and enter the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backportssudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop2.- The last step may or may not work (it did not for me), so you may need to run the following command:
sudo apt-get dist-upgradeDone!
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