It's coming! The date for the big release of KDE's new desktop environment has been set.

I think that KDE's track record shows that devs do not remove stuff just because. Quite the contrary.

But sometimes stuff does get removed and often it is because or it is unmaintained (and been so for a while), or because it is built on some old technology that cannot be replicated in the new environment without a complete rewrite.

In both cases, the reason a feature is discontinued boils down to a lack of resources.

Fortunately, the solution is simple: do your part.

KDE is a porous, grassroots and welcoming community. Join us and become part of the effort to build one of the largest and most diverse collections of end user, publicly-owned, free software projects in existence.

I know, I know: "but I can't code", etc., etc. But there are many things you can do to help. You can help organise Akademy 2024, you can translate menus and system messages, you can write documentation, draw wallpapers, design icons, edit videos, support booth staff at events, triage and report bugs, or just donate and contribute to financially supporting devs who still have to hold down pesky day jobs that get in the way of coding for KDE... The list goes on and on.

The point is, regardless of your level of technical knowledge, the more resources you free up elsewhere, the more time the people who do know how to code will have to maintain and translate software and features in the new Plasma 6 environment.

What was the purpose of this message? Was it to prevent conversations about concerns and worries in this thread? Because it seems unnecessarily defensive. Is there something we should be worried about?

I've recently switched from Gnome to KDE in preperation for Plasma 6. I'm definitely noticing some rough edges even on 5.27, so I'm highly looking forward to 6.00

I really couldn't get into KDE before. I'll give it another go when 6 comes out.

That's how I felt with KDE 1 and 2. I left it alone for a while and recently came back to KDE 5 after getting a steam deck and now I've switched my desktop to it.

@kde @kde@lemmy.kde.social In a sense it feels long overdue, but it also does take time and feels very new...

My question is what happens to Qt5? I feel like it's because of #KDE it continues to be maintained at all, and yet many other projects still utterly depend on Qt5, even believe they don't need to migrate to Qt6 or otherwise refuse to. I believe HelloSystems is in this category.

@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social will Kubuntu 24.04 also use KDE Plasma 6? 🤔

I wouldn't expect so. Firstly, the deadline for packages getting into a distro is usually several months before the release date, and secondly that they'll likely (understandably) cautious about an x.0 release for production.
- @milliams If Kubuntu 24.04 uses KDE Plasma 6, they could use KDE Plasma 6.1. But we have to follow the best procedure of Kubuntu decision. 👍🏼

@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social Make it Feb 6th to coincide with Plasma 6.

Awesome stuff everyone, cheers to KDE ❤️

And here I am looking into swapping KDE for a window manager.

@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social I have a good feeling about this. I think 2024 is going to be the year of the Linux desktop.

I used to think it might 2026 (the first year after Windows 10's demise), but seeing how increasingly shit Windows 10 update after update, (weren't they only supposed to be security patches now?) they might just force an unprecedented number of ppl to switch.

@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social That's pretty exciting, but if it needs to bake longer, let us know 😀

Watch this end up like the KDE 4 fiasco. "We removed everything you loved, ain't it great!" Please don't let me down again, KDE.

Another rude and disinformed post. Please refer to this.
- If you were a fan of KDE 3 and got hit with KDE 4, you would remember how awful that was. [CoC doesn't prevent that truthful statement] Simply removing features due to a lack of resources is [censored for your unfavorable CoC]. Don't release until it is equal to or better than your previous release [Constructive advice]. So what if it takes 10 years. Releasing less ready software, as in missing features, is how you got KDE 4 and Wayland. [Another truthful statement.]
  
  And one more edit: Using a code of conduct to deny the problems with previous releases and honest criticism is, shall we say, [censored again due to your unfavorable CoC]. It's already been announced features are being cut. So how am I wrong here?
- Watch this end up like the KDE 4 fiasco. “We removed everything you loved, ain’t it great!” Please don’t let me down again, KDE.
  
  How was that rude, I didn't insult anyone. I even said please when asking not to let me down again. If you want to deny KDE 4 was bad, go ahead, but that is an honest criticism (and one shared by many, as I'm sure you are aware), but to call honest feedback rude is disingenuous. I don't appreciate you changing the context to try to vilify me. Lastly, the CoC is never mentioned on the KDE Community Wiki until "22:08, 12 December 2019‎ Vinzv talk contribs‎ 6,507 bytes +3,285‎ Migrated content from https://manifesto.kde.org over here", which is long after KDE 4, which is already listed on that same page as "Historical Information" as far back as 2011. So from what I can tell, KDE 4 was probably never covered under the CoC, don't think it existed yet. So it wouldn't be protected from honest feedback, if that is what the CoC is being used here to prevent.

@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social excited! Always loved KDE, but finally made the switch to an AMD GPU this month and finally getting to enjoy kde with Wayland and it so good!(once I disabled freesync on my monitors so my computer would stop crashing)

@kde @kde@lemmy.kde.social what I do like from what I have seen of this is the idea, which I love in Xfce, of trying to produce the best possible version of KDE at the time, rather than wasting real user's time by completely re-imagining and re-inventing what a desktop even means to stroke private egos. That is the difference between greater value construction over time, and it's continual destruction.

@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social I'll finally be able to switch to Wayland!

I really miss my keyboard shortcuts... (I use multiple keyboard layouts and the shortcuts aren't consistent across them - it's fixed in Qt6)

@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social Hooray! Very excited for this

Permanently Deleted

Why wish for less options AND a default look you like when you could just wish for the latter and ignore the options?
I like all the options and use a weirdly high amount of them. The default look is a bit windowsy and would be nice to flip through 8 preset layouts and the default themes.
if you like the current look, then you wouldn't even have to see the options, because you wouldn't be trying to customize it.

but you're arrogant enough to assume that if you don't need them, then I shouldn't either
The point of kde plasma is extensive customizability and aesthetics at the cost of performance. I don't like default kde, but after tweaking everything with kvantum manager I can't go back
- There is no sacrifice of performance. Plasma is one of the lighter desktops out there and having lots of options does not impact that. We are also increasing efficiency across the board thanks to the Eco project.

@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social wake me up when you restore the ability to place multiple application tabs in a single window. Many have been up in arms about the inability to use different backgrounds on different desktops for years. But the loss of the ability to combine applications in tabbed windows is a more serious regression in my opinion.

Rude, but a teachable moment:

This is our standard answer to people who need reminding that KDE is a community powered by volunteers and that each contributor works for free to bring you the best software they can make with the means they have.
Maybe I'm very dumb, but I don't even see the utlity right now, or how that could even work..
- @Sina it did work. I used it. It's apparently not for you. Some people like to organize their displays by grouping particular windows together. Tabs are used for this in many applications such as browsers (try it). KDE extended this capability across applications but the feature disappeared with one of their downgrades about the time they removed the ability to set different backgrounds on desktops.
Careful, you might get told you're being rude by someone who doesn't care for honest feedback. Happened to me.