Timothy Pearson wrote:
If TDE were to close down, which desktop would you use instead? You would be allowed to abandon Linux entirely in this scenario. ;-)
I would stay with Trinity as long as it works (even if not maintained). Basically that's what I did with KDE 3.5 as well when I encountered issues with KDE 4 that I unfortunately could not quickly solve. I just reverted back to KDE 3.5.
In the long run I would (maybe will) use KDE 4. I know the same developers built KDE 3.5 and I still trust they will deliver a stable desktop. Right now I use Trinity, but I also have KDE 4.8 installed. There were some graphical issues in KDE 4.8, so I'm using Trinity now. Hopefully I can get in touch with the right people to solve the issues in KDE. I have less trust in running KDE 4.8 on an older systems, so I would likely stay with Trinity there (being too lazy to look for something else and to really test KDE 4's performance).
Please state why you have not already switched; i.e. what item are missing or suboptimal in the other environment.
Right now I have a lot of systems on Trinity and this will not just change, because it requires effort. (Not just installing, also still some bug solving it appears.)
I am curious as to why TDE still exists and need some concrete examples to fall back on to counter detractors.
It seems in large corporate settings, KDE 3.5 is found to be more attractive right now. In Munich there is also a big roll-out with GNU/Linux desktops and they appear to use KDE 3.5 for this. There is an article in German about this here: http://www.golem.de/1112/88559.html
I am not convinced yet that Trinity will have a long and strong future, but for the past years I have been using Trinity on Lucid as my main desktop which was working just great. I think the next release will also be very useful for many people who for whatever reason are not ready (yet) to go to KDE 4. In the end I do expect that Trinity users will join the KDE 4 crowd again.
I cannot just predict when/that I would fully switch from Trinity to KDE 4. Maybe I will stay with Trinity much longer and development will even prove over time to be reliable and maintain a full alternative desktop environment. As a long-time KDE and now Trinity user, I hope to see as much cooperation possible to get a desktop environment that is both using modern technologies and provides the classic KDE experience that I've grown accustomed to.
Julius