> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > I have a few concerns about TDE R14 and 3.5.13.2 SRU
> >
> > It seems to me that 3.5.13.2 SRU has next to perfect stability, features
> > and reliability, while R14 is not there yet.
> > By looking at this page: http://www.trinitydesktop.org/patches/ , almost
> > all I can see is that the dev team is working very hard to just keep R14
> > in working conditions. Sometimes Amarok doesn't start, sometimes desktop
> > or menus are unresponsive for a moment, some themes doesn't work
> > completely and it is not like if the user would benefit from a new set of
> > feature or a complete visual overhaul. I cannot see why an user would
> > benefit from using the upcoming R14 when it is compared to the stability
> > of 3.5.13.2 SRU. Everything works as it should in 3.5.13.2. It would have
> > been a very good ground for improving TDE on top of it. All of this
> > trouble is supposed to be for the integrations of QT4 parts in TDE, but it
> > seems to me that in R14, it will be used nowhere, not even for a single
> > check-box in a config panel. Maybe it is just me, maybe I would need some
> > explanations.
> >
> > I mean that if the efforts has been made to make TDE more attractive to
> > new users and to modernize it, it would certainly have more popularity. As
> > well as making a new ''outside'' on top of an outdated car is not good,
> > changing everything under the hood and keeping the old outdated
> > ''outside'' is certainly not better at all. I know that TDE could be
> > better, if some attention could be thrown at things that are not just
> > under the hood.
> >
> > Just one man's opinion...
> > Tell us what you think!
> >
> > -Alexandre
> >
>
> For starters, look at the number of reported crashes from the threaded
> components of the 3.5.13.x series. Those reports *cannot* be fixed
> without the major threading changes made in TQt3 for R14.0.0. Just
> because something is stable on your system does not mean that it will be
> stable on someone else's system if threading is involved. ;-) Also keep
> in mind that R14 finally gets rid of HAL (and in fact uses many modern
> services for mounting, network management, etc.)--without those changes,
> TDE users would find it increasingly more difficult, if possible at all,
> to perform basic tasks like connecting to wireless networks and mounting
> USB flash drives.
>
> There is a reason that we have been constantly delaying R14--that is to
> make sure R14 is a high quality, stable release.
>
> Tim
>

Hi,

Of course, the introduction of the new hardware platform is not what causes problems and yes, over the time and releases, R14 will get back to the reliability of 3.5.13.2.

But with all the renaming issues (which does not improve TDE at all), a lot of dev time has been used, and this time
would have been better used for things that are not under the hood only. The current TDE look-and-feel was great in Win XP era, but time has changed. Interfaces have evolved, sometimes for the worse (MS office ribbon...) and sometimes for the better (Win 7 and parts of KDE 4). I am sure that there is some things to do to refresh TDE, but it needs some openness from the TDE dev team.

Some pop-ups could be made less intrusive, some widgets could be made to be less Win95-like and many little details could change, just to make sure that TDE doesn't die over the time because it was frozen forever in 2005.
MATE has already improved its theming and color scheme to refresh its appearance. Their website is more attractive, and it doesn't means that it has removed features to MATE or that their website is unusable.

-Alexandre