KDE3.0 is out...

[littleman]

It all looks very promising. There are way too many improvements to list here, but you could read about them at:
[kde.org...]

Check out the screenshots [kde.org], they look really good!

The RPMs are ready:
ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/stable/3.0

[Air]

hm... more stuff to play with, going to get it now, probably install tomorrow. BTW Mandrake 8.2 is almost ready too, in a couple of weeks or so from what I hear, should be good too.

[nwilson]

just hopw 'konsole' stops being such a big bag of poo...

[David]

Just got done upgrading, I think this is going to be good. The programs load quicker. Kmail has a cleaner look and the file manager (konqueror) is a lot faster. Still checking it out.

Air;
How did your upgrade go ?

[littleman]

This is the third time I've read that KDE3 is faster than 2, now I'm going to have to upgrade.

[Josk]

and there I go switching to kde as window manager...hmmm...I don't much like kde apps so I'm still using the gnome ones...

[lazerzubb]

Someone have to write a review of it :)

[littleman]

Okay, I am not a really KDE user, but I do think the KDE apps are quite good. I mostly did the update to test out the improved Konqueror. It was a bit of work to get KDE3 to take on mandrake 8.1, I have read that it's easier in 8.2.

First impressions, (once I worked out a few bugs in upgrading) it is a very solid very complete desktop. Konqueror is much nicer. If you are going from windows to Linux I would definitely recommend using KDE3. BTW, looks like SuSE is shipping with KDE3 already.

[littleman]

KDE3 observations:

Eye candy, lots and lots of eye candy. The transparent menus are a very cool effect. There are a ton of options for window dressing, one thing I thought was nice is that KDE3 now has compatibility with ICEwm themes. Another thing that sort of surprised me is that KDE some how put theme hooks into non-KDE apps. I am not sure how that is being done it makes for a very clean desktop.

KDE3 is also highly configurable. Keyboard shortcuts are abound and easy to modify. You could break the menu free of the launch bar, and have it one click away like window maker. The taskbar is also very configurable, you could make it any size, width, and length you want, and place it the way you want. KDE3 now has a pager, it reminds me of Enlightenment but with better rendering, and it's more intuitive.

All the KDE3 apps seem very solid to me, I've liked them since the KDE1 days. They just keep getting better. Sorry, no full review -- I just don't have the time. But the Koffice suit, Kmail, and Konqueror seem improved from my limited time with them.

It is probably the most integrated desktop environment I have ever used all things considered.

Downside? KDE3 is huge. It makes this 533 P3 with 128 ram seem a bit sluggish.
screenshot after messing with the settings... [cgi-fun.hypermart.net]