Posted on December 15, 2003
For those that don’t already know, I use Linux, not Windows, as my operating system. I use KDE, not Windows, as my desktop environment. And I just installed KDE 3.2 Beta 2. And “wow”.What’s especially neat is that I was able to install KDE 3.2 while KDE 3.1 was running, and as each part installed, that part (for example, the menu) changed to the KDE 3.2 version. I was expecting to have to close KDE and open it again to see the new version, or even to have to close KDE before I could install the new version.
The very first thing that I notice is that this version of KDE is FAST! I mean, I though Windows 98 went at a decent speed, and I thought that KDE 3.1 was rather quick in comparision, but everything just speeds right along quickly in KDE 3.2!Supposedly there’s SVG support, but I can’t see SVG in Konqueror, nor for I have any SVG icons to try out. I have seen screenshots showing it working, though, so maybe I just need to download something else for it.
Sound is working! In KDE 3.1, I had to wrestle to be able to listen to CDs, but couldn’t get basic sound effects working. Now they work just fine! They’re annoying… I’m going to turn them off.
The Universal Sidebar looks neat. I might play with that a little in the future.
The menus in the K Menu (Start Menu for you Windows users) are organized very well now, and have plenty of options for what to show and where. And the screen savers are now well organized. I never imagined screensavers as something that would be organized. I always thought of them as a long list of items that would be in ABC order and that’s that.
KDE 3.2’s “Network” package comes with the latest version Kopete, the IM program that I use. I can now set buddy icons with it and see other people’s buddy icons! Wait, I don’t need to see those… I’ll disable that.
The Plastik window decoration is quite nice. Quite nice indeed. And I can make my own splash screen image and easily set it up to be used as the splash screen, now. Spiffy.
Konqueror, the file manager part, is looking better. New protocols like fonts:/ (manage fonts), system:/ (like “My Computer”, sort of), and setting:/ (is that new or old? It’s like the “Control Panel” in Windows) are nice additions. It’s nothing new to KDE as features — they’re just added as protocols for easy access.
Being able to preview videos and music files in the file open dialog’s nice. I would assume that Windows XP has this, although I never checked.
Everything and anything’s been updated and upgraded and improved in KDE. It’s simply amazing. Like an early Christmas.
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