I would move to an Indian ashram and forsake computing all together, although they probably also have a few boxes but certainly not with enough processing power to run KDE4.
Funny you mention that option. When I wrote my original response I considered writing something similar. I'm at an age when I see and accept my own mortality. As much as I enjoy tinkering with computers I realize my days are numbered and much of what we discuss and argue about here is insignificant in certain ways. That is, simply abandoning computers altogether is an option I won't ignore. :)
Community based projects keep the end user in mind, and that is what we need. This is why my preference lies with projects such as Trinity. KDE3 was an abandoned child, adopted by Trinity and slowly growing to be a respectable, viable alternative to the bloated, overweight and overly complicated (read non intuitive) standards adopted by KDE4 and other DM's hell bent on moving forward while throwing caution (and compatability throughout linux) to the wind.
Community indeed! In hindsight, the KDE developers could have accomplished a whopping public relations coup had they spent a very serious three months collecting all known patches, significantly resolving open bug reports, and releasing 3.5.11. They then could have informed users that they polished the 3.5 series in a serious way to last several years until they could release a usable 4.x.
They could have (and still can) accomplished another coup by redesigning the three backend technologies to be truly optional.
Darrell