I've normally used Ubuntu or Fedora for Gnome and openSUSE for KDE. My past evaluations of Kubuntu have typically resulted in a "work-in-progress" assessment. However, things have changed for the better in the past eighteen months or so, and Kubuntu Maverick is beginning to look like a pretty good option.
With that in mind, I've been looking for bits and pieces that could use attention in order to make the release really attractive to the less experienced (and accordingly less committed) users that flock to Ubuntu (and Mint). Probably others have done the same, and I apologise for any duplication (which I know will be quickly pointed out to me).
For example, I understand from the development mailing list that work is already in hand to upgrade the initial boot and installation process to align it more completely with that for Ubuntu. It would be nice if that extended to the login process as well - it shouldn't really be necessary to type in a user name each time. It would be nice if a Kubuntu-specific splash screen could be developed for OpenOffice - the current Ubuntu brown clashes horribly with the spare blue-gray Kubuntu theme. Why does KPackageKit hide the authorisation dialogue (yes, I know it can be accessed from the lower panel, but surely it could have been opened on top in the first place, since nothing is going to happen until it has been completed)? Why does KNetworkManager lag behind its Gnome equivalent (it works quite well but, for example, you receive virtually no assistance in configuring a new mobile broadband connection, something with NetworkManager handles really well)? None of these are really bugs (well, the penultimate one might be, but I suspect that its priority on those grounds alone would be very low). However, fixing them would add a sense of polish to the Kubuntu installation comparable to that associated with the Main version of Ubuntu.
Finally, and more controversially, I suspect that new users probably don't want to spend much time messing with Rekonq or Kmail. Neither of these packages could really be described as "state-of-the-art" at the moment, and neither of them really interacts well with packages having similar functions on other platforms. That such is the case is implicitly conceded by the decision to include the "install Firefox" application by default. Unfortunately, that package doesn't seem to work particularly well at present, and I have usually had to access KPackageKit to get FF (and T'bird) installed. I appreciate the difficulty of getting everything on a LiveCD (and the Kubuntu daily images regularly drift over the 700MB limit already). Perhaps FF and T'Bird could be installed by default? After all, users savvy enough to really want Rekonq and Kmail will find few problems in installing them via KPackageKit.
I'm sure that other forum members have similar lists, and that many of you will not feel that my initial list has any great merit. However if we could agree on some "look and feel" priorities, we could put a coherent community proposal to the (very busy) development team.
With that in mind, I've been looking for bits and pieces that could use attention in order to make the release really attractive to the less experienced (and accordingly less committed) users that flock to Ubuntu (and Mint). Probably others have done the same, and I apologise for any duplication (which I know will be quickly pointed out to me).
For example, I understand from the development mailing list that work is already in hand to upgrade the initial boot and installation process to align it more completely with that for Ubuntu. It would be nice if that extended to the login process as well - it shouldn't really be necessary to type in a user name each time. It would be nice if a Kubuntu-specific splash screen could be developed for OpenOffice - the current Ubuntu brown clashes horribly with the spare blue-gray Kubuntu theme. Why does KPackageKit hide the authorisation dialogue (yes, I know it can be accessed from the lower panel, but surely it could have been opened on top in the first place, since nothing is going to happen until it has been completed)? Why does KNetworkManager lag behind its Gnome equivalent (it works quite well but, for example, you receive virtually no assistance in configuring a new mobile broadband connection, something with NetworkManager handles really well)? None of these are really bugs (well, the penultimate one might be, but I suspect that its priority on those grounds alone would be very low). However, fixing them would add a sense of polish to the Kubuntu installation comparable to that associated with the Main version of Ubuntu.
Finally, and more controversially, I suspect that new users probably don't want to spend much time messing with Rekonq or Kmail. Neither of these packages could really be described as "state-of-the-art" at the moment, and neither of them really interacts well with packages having similar functions on other platforms. That such is the case is implicitly conceded by the decision to include the "install Firefox" application by default. Unfortunately, that package doesn't seem to work particularly well at present, and I have usually had to access KPackageKit to get FF (and T'bird) installed. I appreciate the difficulty of getting everything on a LiveCD (and the Kubuntu daily images regularly drift over the 700MB limit already). Perhaps FF and T'Bird could be installed by default? After all, users savvy enough to really want Rekonq and Kmail will find few problems in installing them via KPackageKit.
I'm sure that other forum members have similar lists, and that many of you will not feel that my initial list has any great merit. However if we could agree on some "look and feel" priorities, we could put a coherent community proposal to the (very busy) development team.
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