Okay, to be more precise on the performance thing and to avoid misinterpretation of what could be called fast and what could be called slow in kde2: The launching of apps itself is it which decreased my enthusiasm about kde2. I absolutely agree to what people said above, that it become quite boring to wait for an standard app like kmail or korganizer to come up. I even cannot make the binaries responsible for that since I went through three kde2-releases after final came out and all were the same slow block of software. If I should be wrong, I may ask, why didn't the kde-team give advice to the distributors to do their job properly.

If I should be wrong, I may ask, why didn't the kde-team give advice to the distributors to do their job properly.

I think that may be where the real problem is. Maybe the packagers just aren't building optimally (not to complain - their efforts are appreciated). I know that I thought kde2 was slow until I found the thread here on the dot about how to compile kde (and qt in particular) correctly. It has been speedy since then. I used gnome for a week or so, and it wasn't any faster than my kde2 desktop.

Aside from that I can only assume that the speed issue is more subjective than anything, because I just can't relate to your experience. For me, kmail opens quickly (certainly quicker than Outlook did) and I never really feel that I'm waiting for it. Anyway, I hope it gets worked out.