Preliminary KDE 3.2 Release Schedule

Stephan Kulow (KDE 3.2 release coordinator) and Ralf Nolden announced a preliminary KDE 3.2 release schedule and asked everyone to check with the personal schedule. Every planned feature should be entered into the KDE 3.2 feature plan before September 1st, 2003 and has to be implemented before September 29th, 2003. An Alpha 1 release is expected for release after the KDE developer conference 2003 in Nove Hrady on September 1st, 2003. Provided that only one Beta release on October 6th, 2003 is necessary, the final KDE 3.2 release is planned on December 8th, 2003.

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Comments

by HAnzoSan (not verified)

Crystal SVG is pixel based. Its not true SVG iconset.

Who gives a damn? Its the only thing KDE is currently missing, polish.
Hows it going to compete with OSX and Longhorn if its got flicker and messed up icons.

No, crystal svg is a true svg iconset. It's prerendered into bitmaps before usage, just like in OSX.

SVG has nothing to do with flicker.

by anon (not verified)

> And it seems that the GNOME developers have resolved 250 more bugs than KDE developers, so stop thinking your so far ahead and like I said before, look at the competition.

Why do you have to assume such a competeitive attitude between KDE and GNOME? KDE and GNOME developers, barring the first several years of history (after all, GNOME was created to destroy KDE, which it horribly failed at ;) ), have had a good relationship and have (mostly) coded their own desktop quietly and only taken brief to short looks at the other desktop.

I mean, why would they? KDE was created to created a nice UNIX based desktop environment, not to compete with CDE exactly. GNOME, for the last 3 years, has been similar (pretty much since Qt went QPL and later QPL/GPL)

People don't code for KDE because they hate GNOME. People don't code GNOME (at least for the last 3-4 years), because they hate KDE. They code because it's a hobby for them. Very few on other side are getting paid to do anything. This isn't back in 2000 when Corel employed twenty people with KDE cvs access, Eazel burned through 50 million dollars worth of startup money to create Nautilus, or non-"(Redhat/SuSE) distros like Caldera/SCO, TurboLinux, Mandrakem, etc.. sponsering a whole host of KDE/GNOME developers. Usually the earlier in the case of these distros.

And no, KDE/GNOME aren't even in competition with Windows. Perhaps the KDE/GNU/Linux platform is, though. But that's pushed by other people, and not the KDE developers.

by Datschge (not verified)

Mario, nobody is working harder than before just because you tell them to so so. The only way you can help out is by contributing your own time for supporting those who already work on KDE. You can do so by voting for specific reports which you would like to see being solved, confirming unconfirmed reports when you can reproduce them, looking for duplicate reports so only one report about a certain problem exist etc. At bugs.kde.org there's a tool near the bottom which allows you to search through very old reports to which you could help moving others attention to again (either for closing them as duplicate or invalid or for confirming and reviving them).

PS: Please refrain from using caps, it looks really highly impolite.

by Mario (not verified)

I'm not assuming such a competitive attitude, its jsut that I've heard reviews of KDE vs GNOME all the time and some very biased reviewers said there was nothing GNOME did better and that they are far behind and also some people here repeated the same junk while it is obvious GNOME has some virtues too or else nobody would have switched 80,000 school computers to linux with gnome: http://osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=3832

I actually hope that KDE/GNOME developers work together as said in this interview: http://osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2997 I hope that the FreeDesktop.org, and all the standards like LSB will be very sucessful in acieving their goal and making linux consistent and giving companies the power to attack all of linux wiht a release, not just a few distros.

That's all, i want both projects to stop ripping on each other and to realize each others virtues and work together. I guess I thought this wasn't really happening just because of a few rude reviewers and users.

http://osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=3832

by Dieter Nützel (not verified)

STOP talking about!
DO it yourself, if you can!

-Dieter

by ovidiu pascui (not verified)

I hope the 3.2 release will finally get support for transparent kicker and more flexibility for choosing the look of the minipager applet (horizontal display for "large" and "normal" size of the kicker, etc.).

by Mario (not verified)

Translucency/Transparency, window shadows, menu shadows etc. are all a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME FOR THE KDE DEVELOPERS it means that the result will automatically be slow, inconsistent and not quite feature complete. For example the current menu shadows only work in KDE applications, if I open GIMP the menus have no shadows which ruins the appearance of the desktop. Window shadows are not displayed while you move them and even so they are slow. Translucency again is slow and is not dynamically updated, just a hack.

Creating these eyecandy features is counter productive because it it a hacked together mess and I hope KDE developers waste no more time on such things unless tehy want to implement such things the right way, into X so all desktops could use this stuff and so it would actually be quite fast and more feature complete.

Anyway, there was a far better done hack that achieves what you want using OpenGL accelration for the desktop which is really cool: http://www.stud.uni-karlsruhe.de/~unk6/transluxent/

by LMCBoy (not verified)

If you don't like pseudo-transleucency or window shadows, it's easy enough to turn them off in KControl.

by Ned Flanders (not verified)

Hey, I think somebody already said to you to stop using caps, it looks impolite...

by HanzoSan (not verified)

I say they should do it right or not do it at all.

Work on making the interface SVG, at least the underlying support for that is ready and it can be done, alpha channel effects and shadows cant even be done in hardware.

by lit (not verified)

> I hope the 3.2 release will finally get support for transparent kicker

Already in cvs

> more flexibility for choosing the look of the minipager applet (horizontal display for "large" and "normal" size of the kicker, etc.).

Perhaps this should be implemented into KDE-cvs? Someone pluged in kpager to kicker in 5 hours or so. http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=6702

by ovidiu pascui (not verified)

The thing with the minipager is possible also for KDE 3.1.1 according to the screenshots of the new SuSE Linux Desktop which is based on KDE 3.1.1.
http://www.suse.de/de/business/products/desktop/sld/images/konqueror_vie...

by Mario (not verified)

I don't really care I jus tthink that developers could spend time doing something which looks good and is not a hacked together pos like helping Xfree get real transparency. But, tis their time so they can do whatever they please, that's just my opinion.

by nac (not verified)

Will KDE 3.2 include desktop shadows? (under the icon texts)
(perhaps using the patch from kde-look?)

I'd like to have this because those white texts are unreadable with some wallpapers and a shadow makes it more visible (and better looking).
(and yes, it's probably possible to change that color somewhere, but I don't like to use other colors than white for texts under the icons on my desktop)

by Mario (not verified)

I totally agree and there's a bug report for this: http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=58944

by Mario (not verified)

http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=4750

Usability wise it is flawed. it should not list OS X or Windows as a type of shadow, taht make us sound like copy cats and besides it wouldn't help someone not familiar wth the way shadows in those other operating systems look, tehre needs to be a proper description. I won't get into more details, because this si obviously ot finished.

by HanzoSan (not verified)

it lists OSX or Windows as a type?

oh geez.

wheres the innovation?!

by Anonymous (not verified)

That's the wrong one for this, you search 33107.

by HanzoSan (not verified)

KDE should focus on doing REAL shadows that are done via Hardware or not do them at all.

I thinn its more important that we get SVG Widgets and Icons.

by Anonymous (not verified)

Kongratulations, you showed that you didn't understand about what "shadow" the parent comment talked.
And KDE doesn't develop XFree86 or other X servers.

by Anonymous (not verified)

Vote for this wish if you want to see this in next KMail version. Citing Don Sanders: "If you can get a thousand votes on 4202 from kde.org addresses before KDE 3.2 feature freeze I'll put my time where my mouth is implement it and send a patch to the KMail list. Otherwise I think people are just whining and they don't really care that much." (http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4202#c23)

I can't imagine a feature I'd want less.

by Joergen Ramskov (not verified)

As others have said: No!

I'm sorry but I've yet to read a convincing reason why html emails are neccesary.

For one thing, they are commonly used outside of your GNU/Linux world. My (13 year old) daughter commonly uses html mail to write formatted text to her friends on Windows. She likes writing with colors and bold/italics and attaching inline pictures. And guess what, all of her friends do that too.

I swear it's not my fault for introducing her to html mail =) : her mom (my x-wife), uses AOL at home.

Outside of the technical geeky world or buisness worlds, html composing is a must have for any email client. Just because you find it annoying receiving html emails (I do too), doesn't mean other people don't have viable reasons for using it.

I can't understand why html mail composing is a must have, as you say neither geeks nor buisniss needs it, but it's a nice thing for the kids. This does not make a must have in my book :-) Besides as I understand KMail show recived html mails quite well since 2.x, not sure cuz the only html mail I get are spam, and thats what filters are for :-)

> I can't understand why html mail composing is a must have

Just looking to answer the question here. Been using regular old KMail for over a year now sending out all plain text messages. A couple of things worth noting.

When putting together some business letters, being able to utilize tables can be extremely helpful. There's just no telling if the recipient is using monospaced fonts or not. In fact, it's probably more common to have HTML capability by default than monospaced fonts. Sad but true.

When writing tutorials an author may wish to emphasize certain points with bold or italics. Inline screen shots of configuration dialogs can also be helpful. Especially true when sending to folks who normally don't ever look at configurations.

I'll absolutely grant the point that 99% of the HTML mail out there is fluff. Comic Sans default anyone? Furthermore, I'm not sitting here arguing for HTML composition in KMail as a "must have". The point here is that there are valid reasons why someone would want this ability.

Personally I love saying to folks, "You just gotta wonder how Twain and Hemmingway managed to get along with only one font?" The point of course being that the important thing is what is said, not how it's presented. The counter point being that sometimes presentation is important. If it weren't, we'd all still be using CLI apps and magazines wouldn't include pictures. We're a bunch of visual critters, and presentation does add to what is being communicated.

What I do hope to see in the not so distant future is some decent way of composing an HTML document via a word processor style interface. Along similar lines to what Mozilla's composer does. In my dream world of apps (peacefully resting in my wee brain) I would picture two such applications. One being KWord working in solid HTML support for regular user types just looking to get stuff posted to an Intranet. The other being a Quanta style approach for those folks actually doing web development work. For some reason these two distinctly different audiences get treated like one group, which they are most certainly not.

by Alojz Stanich, ... (not verified)

[No copy option.... Well, I must rewrite by hand.)
"What I do hope to see in the not so distant future is some decent way of composing an HTML document via a word processor style interface. In my dream world of apps I would picture two such applications. One being KWord working in solid HTML support for regular user... The other being a Quanta style approach for those actually doing web development work."
[I shortened.]

It should already be realised.

By word modelling the possibility of personal expressions has enhanced a lot.
But it requires a taste and inteligence.

by Robert Coulter (not verified)

I use HTML in my personal and business email(s). I was using Thunderbird and decided to try kmail, to me, that was a mistake because of the lack of HTML sending. I hear the arguments that it is not required for email, and people don't need it. I disagree completely, plain text was the 80(s) even for the console(s), now the desktop has to be a GUI or it will NOT be used. For me, email must be HTML capable or I will NOT USE IT!

Oh yes, I really hate html emails. Btw.: Why don't exist Anti-Votes?

Because bugzilla doesn't support anti-votes.
(See http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=48570)

If you really want this feature, you can get an account and
vote for it. :-)

Christian

Thx, did it. :-)

Hello friends,

Aren't there security vulnerabilities to implementing HTML in mail apps. I'd certainly turn this feature off. It's absolutely useless.

Regards,

Mystilleef

No thanks. HTML has nothing to do in email.

by Jordi A. Camús (not verified)

I don0't know if i have time or just out of it, but in a fight for the freedom in writing.. please, support HTML in Kmail. (natively or explain a way to do it via external editor). thanks

Tables, tables, and more tables please.....

by Living in the p... (not verified)

Narrow minds. Why not just use plain text on your web pages also?

There is no reason lacking one option deliberately in a great email client ,
then this option is in almost everyother client ,
I would vote yes to have html composer

Well I used to lean towards 'no need to write HTML mails'...

Recently I had to exchange some info/thoughts with guys using M$ tools. They simply could not understand the text with picture attachment at the bottom (actually if a mail contained more then one picture, they had problems matching them ;-). I simply did not belive that a mature product like KMail does not have a text/HTML configuration somewhere...

Bottomline: my vote for adding this feature.

by Jordan Peterson (not verified)

What about writing HTML for Kmail anyway? At least building the functions will fix this list from growing and you can be done being harassed about it. I think it's a great idea.. not for HTML in Kmail, but freedom for you, in the long run.

Ok, so I'm three years late, but amen, AMEN, and AMEN!!!!

I want to paste a table from a spreadsheet straight into an email.
I want to compose in HTML

I want to include an HTML link in my signature.
I want to compose in HTML

by Antoine Aubry (not verified)

What is really necessary is not a full-featured HTML editor, but it would be nice to be able to include some basic formatting such as hyperlinks or italic text. Of course some people overuse HTML but most people only want to do simple formatting.

Yes, a full HTML editor *is* necessary in Kmail. It's the ONE reason I have Windows XP still in VMWare. I use Incredimail and/or Outlook. It may seem like useless eyecandy to YOU, but to thousands of everyday users, it *is* a necessity and we flat refuse to use something that does not have this capability. Please, I cannot stress this enough, add full HTML capabilities (both reading and composing) to Kontact/Kmail in the near future!!
Most Linux users are not idiots, let us choose our own security risks!!

by ALG (not verified)

Sorry, i think plain text messages are far more useful.
Yeah HTML looks well, but.. when i write a message, i care in content, not in look of the message. It's my way of understanding e-mail ....

by Giovanni (not verified)

I agree with you

by HanzoSan (not verified)

While KDE is nice, http://slicker.sourceforge.net/ is the only innovation I have seen in terms of making KDE easier to use.

KDE is great, its nice, but it lacks polish. How about one of these developers steps up and tells me and the world what the plan is?

When will we get SVG Icons, Widgets, Alpha Channel, etc?

I know, the backend is still being worked on, but this should be the goal, along with innovating. Maybe setup a site where the community can submit ideas or something, this could help with innovation.

by Anonymous (not verified)

> Maybe setup a site where the community can submit ideas or something

Already exists, http://bugs.kde.org - how about a Troll newbie FAQ?

by Ashish (not verified)

I think right now konqueror is great over its previous version, very good java script support and all that stuff, and even then it is light in terms of memory(than mozilla). But still there are some features required as:
1) Support for flash with konqueror /KDE distribution itself, it will benefit it as a file system explorer/viewer also. I whole lot sites keep flash but konqueror can't show them and downloading and finding appropriate plugin, if there is any, for koqueror flash is a pain in neck. It can be supported right from start , just as in case of java script and all that.
2) Many a times while i am surfing i want to DOWNLOAD a tgz file, but it just opens them in konqueror. That's good, but we should have an option to download/saveas it also in the right mouse click. Shift click does not work always.
3)*if i am surfing say, yahoo.com with only one tab in konqueror and i want to open a new tab in which i want to surf google.com , then i cant do it unless i right click on a link in yahoo.com for opening it in a new tab. And when that url of yahoo.com opens , then i type google.com.
Only when i have two tabs in konqueror now , i can right click on a tab and get the option of opeing a "new blank tab"
What i want to say, that there is no option in menu bar for opening a new location in a new tab ( not in the current tab) and neither we have any shortcut buttons for it
4)**** MOST MOST IMPORTANT *****: somehow integration of samba protocol understanding in konqueror itself. so that we can see Windows Network Neighbourhood in konqueror (just like in MS-Windows explorer) itself without using say LinNeighbourhood and all that stuff.
Cheers :-)
Ashish

by Alex Chejlyk (not verified)

MS Windows NT is no longer supported as of Jan 1, 2004. If KDE 3.2 meets its schedule we should see a large number of migrators from NT4 to Linux. Kroupware will also help this migration since many organizations will be forced to either upgrade and learn Windows 2003/Exchange Server 2003. The cost will be high as will the learning curve. With KDE, the learning curve is no higher but the price can't be beat!

I would like to thank the KDE team, I love the look of KDE and do not have the problems others in this list have. I am looking forward to the next version though.
For all wondering about the Windows desktop users after migration of exchange, there are bynari connectors and/or cygwin.

Thanks again KDE team!