I know this has been said a thousand times but for me the biggest problem with Kubuntu/KDE is still the web browser. In theory I LOVE Konqueror. But fact is that it simply doesn’t work. The Firefox installer is a good idea but I think we need an extension which facilitates Konqueror-like integration for Firefox. File downloads should use KDE notifications for instance.

The web browser thing is really vital. While it may not seem to matter for the general “geeky” user base, research show that a web browser is the most popular piece of software in an OS. People use web browsers a lot.

I have high hopes for Kubuntu 9.10. Keep up the good work.

In GNOME, too, even! For example, now the volume control inside Rhythmbox and Totem directly affects the PulseAudio stream. This finally (and elegantly) solves that problem where one would have to check multiple volume controls to adjust the playback volume and puts it all under a single system. Really slick.

Check out http://www.windows7sins.org – it’s worth a read.

On the 10.04 note, I know I’m surely looking forward to it. Go Freedom!

I think the problem I mention is one of the core issues with Kubuntu (and any other similar distribution). However, it is not so much about the latest and greatest as it is trying to get broken things fixed into the release that people are using. I see two major categories of bugs: (1) broken and must fix now and (2) broken or feature request and can wait until the next release. I am always open to arguments for the latter as long as there is a clear way to work around the current issues. If there is no workaround, that is a complete breakage and practically demands a fix be deployed for the current release. “Upgrade” and “it’ll be in the next release” are practically unacceptable answers for complete breakages.

This is where my frustration with synchronization enters. This is a fundamental issue of any distribution that packages any other major project. Delays from ‘the other major project’ to a given distribution are to be expected. What frustrates me is the way in which it is handled, and sometimes the seemingly careless way in which complete breakages are shrugged off to the next release. However, I am a person who like explanation. If something is functionally broken, I’d like to know why I need to wait months for it instead of days. On top of that, getting that answer for breakages in the LTS release drive me batty — I thought the whole purpose of the LTS release was stability and support. To hear “upgrade” or “it’ll be in the next non-LTS release” seems to complete defeat the purpose of the LTS (to me).

I do understand completely the problem with people whining instead of reporting properly. If we aren’t told what the problem is, it cannot be fixed. This is something I have wrestled with at work for years, and find the same issue in the forums or bug reports.

I also agree that more testing and better communication would help. My first thoughts around improving this have to do with documented processes. Are the processes and procedures for testing and the ideals of communication outlined somewhere, clearly, and easily accessible to people walking into the room for the first time? Keeping such protocols well advertised could help a lot.

Cheers!
__
John

People say Kubuntu sucks and recommend some other distro which they swear it has a better KDE implementation, such as OpenSUSE, which I tried it over and over again, it’s not about KDE or GNOME, that distro just sucks dick for me, because It doesn’t sets up my resolution properly, It doesn’t supports my wacom tablet and tablet pc out of the box, which Ubuntu/Kubuntu do for a long time, yum sucks as well… and last but not least, Yast2 is a piece of fucking garbage, I won’t take that distro seriously until it does something about Yast2; I really agree with Linux-hater regarding his OpenSUSE article… and KDE on OpenSUSE is even worse than his Gnome example (http://linuxhaters.blogspot.com/2009/02/just-let-it-die-please.html). So use whatever you fucking like, because each distro will feel differently to everyone and because everyone points out a finger to some different bug and lack of functionality. Too much shitty freedom of choice is getting on my nerves.

*goes to report a but about Ubuntu/Kubuntu supporting Wacom but making the stylus button not right click, which makes the stylus damn annoying and half useless*

However, it addresses quite a difficult problem. There is naturally a disconnect between the latest and greatest KDE and a distribution. We ship the latest stable bug fix release — and IMO on a good time sync, with 3 months after the major release and time for problems to get worked out and patched upstream. But by then, the KDE developers have done all kinds of work on the next major release that everyone wants to see. I think this actually may be less of a problem for Ubuntu/Gnome simply because there is less progress between Gnome versions*. As far as getting fixes in, it benefits everyone more to have fixes in upstream KDE. This is part of why most launchpad reports will get forwarded there. If your patch is a bugfix only, it usually can be applied to the current KDE release so it will be in the next bug fix release. 4.x.2 is realeased 2-3 weeks before the next Kubuntu, so if you can get your fix in there, we all get the best of both worlds — latest stuff and no patches. If it doesn’t qualify to go into a KDE bug fix release, it probably shouldn’t be added to Kubuntu <1.5 months before release either. So, to answer your question: usually, the fix should go to KDE.

Then there is the reverse problem of getting sent from the KDE bug tracker back to our packages. We try to stay close to upstream KDE, but naturally there are a few patches (there were a few too many in KDE 3 days, but the KDE 4 packages have stayed pretty clean.) This is more of where I'm complaining about people whining rather than reporting the problems properly. There aren't so many patches that this should be an overwhelming problem. More testers and better communication should solve this. One thing we are doing in Karmic to help alleviate the problem of annoying KDE devs/triagers with these reports is sending all the bug reporting methods in Kubuntu to Launchpad.

If you have any ideas on how to make the process less convoluted, please tell

Finally, if you want the latest and greatest, fact is you need to build it yourself and not expect something polished and stable. This applies to any software, but perhaps more so to KDE because of the amount of development going on. That said, I still think the 3 month gap between KDE and Kubuntu releases works out quite well for getting the latest out there.

Cheers,
~ Yuriy

*admittedly baseless claim

This all reminds me of what a band director used to yell at us about: Transitions, transitions, transitions! Ubuntu seems pretty solid; KDE4 seems to be getting pretty solid; however, there seems to be an enigmatic disconnect between KDE and [K]Ubuntu.

In the end, I stay with Kubuntu for several reasons that I can enumerate on my blog (if asked to prevent any kind of dispute over those reasons here). Simply summarized: I like it more than other options I have tried.

To bring this all back around, I get what you mean about developers complaining about things not working, and then not contributing to fix it. But the process feels so convoluted it practically discourages involvement.