“I have been using SuSE Linux Pro 9.0 for about two weeks. And here it is, finally, the review you probably haven’t been asking for.” Read the review at TheInquirer.
SuSE Linux Pro 9.0 screeches out of Fernando’s Hideaway
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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It started copying files, showing cute graphical “advertisements” of the applications included, with the first one being a KDE ad. Second is Mozilla, described with the phrase “Mozilla is a fine choice, but its KDE integration is not very good” (!) or “Gnome comes with Epiphany”. All this browser vs. browser advertising, by the same vendor of the package, looks bad, if you ask me.
That seems really weird to have those sorts of comments during the installation. I haven’t installed SuSE yet myself, but I assume he is referring to the standard advertisements similar to Windows or RH9 installation, right?
Why on Earth would they have anything remotely negative about anything during the installation? That’s just bad practice. Imagine installing Windows XP Pro and reading “Internet Explorer is great, except that it lacks tabbed browsing and mouse gesture support.”
Just seems really odd to me.
Sounds like Ferdinand is an uninformed GNOME troll. You can configure KDE to use any mail app as your default, SuSE’s KDE is almost universally known as fast-loading and highly optimized. He is also unaware that SuSE has the very network switching program that he wants. You can easily change the keystroke for add bookmark. Not having his preferred shortcut enabled by default is no reason to reject a browser.
Ferdinand also has no concept of integration. He scoffs at SuSE’s correct advice that Mozilla doesn’t integrate well and slams SuSE for not using the bloated Evolution or Mozilla as its email client. Personally, I prefer my email apps to be small and separate. I don’t want to have to load of a calendar or browser application just so I can check my messages. But KMail also happens to be a very powerful email client. Its filtering features are excellent (though it lacks a Bayseian junk system as does Evolution), it loads quickly, takes up a small amount of RAM and has a wonderful hierarchical folder organization method paralled only by Balsa.
As someone who regularly uses both Konqueror and Nautilus, I must say that I prefer Konqueror for file management since it has tabs, window splitting, integrated searching, supports tons of protocols. Not to mention its superior Location bar which allows me to get a history of previously type URIs as well as clear it w/o ruining my middle button clipboard. Nautilus has some features like notes that I like but lags far behind Konqi if you are a power user.
Ferdinand also is unaware that there is an OpenOffice.org quickstarter program for KDE as well.
In conclusion, Ferdinand is yet another “reviewer” who attempts to evaluate a distribution without attempting to use his brain. I give it 2 out of 5 Bobs.
@Bob:
Ah, but using Evolution is good, because Evolution provides equivalent functionality for what most Windows Users are used to. KMail doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the functionality that Evolution provides. In addition, Evolution being a gnome 2.4 application is far more Section 508 compliant than KMail (which isn’t at all most likely).
KDE acessibility depends on QT 4, and is on its way. They are working together with Gnome. Evolution is not the best answer. Kontact (KDE 3.2) will come with a free server (Kolab). You can use it today if you want, with the 3.1 Kmail client. It works with Outlook clients in Windows (you will have to pay for a conector) or the free Aethera, for windows and unix. Why evolution is the only solution? you will have to pay for a proprietary connector.
Kontact/Kolab is the future. Free server. Free client. No strings. Nobody wants to sell you a connector.
You don’t happen to be a KDE user, by any chance?
He does state it is just personal preference, and he isn’t talking about what KDE can do, he is talking about what it does out of the box with SuSE 9, which is stated clearly in the article. More than a little reactionary to brand the author a “troll”, I think.
I am a KDE user and also a GTK user. I am not a big fan of GNOME’s stripped-down approach. I used to be a GNOME user but was driven away after the 1.x series.
And yes, I do think it’s appropriate to call the author a troll since he states repeatedly that his comments will be inflammatory and the ideas he says (for SuSE to throw out everything and ditch KDE) are absurdly ridiculous given SuSE’s history and infrastructure.
He doesn’t back up his remarks either. Just GNOME is better….
Full of flamebait, moaning about default install selections and wrong facts (e.g. there is a KDE OOo quickstarter and a profile manager for switching network configurations exists too).
“Please, if you are a KDE lover save your flames.”
Why should I save my flames? This poor fellow thinks he owns the truth about other people’s desktops, and he doesn’t even argument why he tinks gtk/gnome apps are better than those based on qt/kde!
Just a thought: people’s posts are censored if they show some kind of trolling. Why aren’t the news published here submited to the same kind of evaluation before????
A Gnome applet crashes and it would get a 5/5. What new user would want to experience this? Gnome has always been for the techies not for every day users. Kde is not much better but it is simpler to configure than Gnome and does not come with broken apps.
—————————————————–
Stability: 4/5 <- no OS crashes. Only a funny segfault in one Gnome applet.
Default setup: 3/5
Yes, the kde-centric rant you have read above, due to the bad choice of programs on the default install…..If, however, you install Gnome, Evolution, and Mozilla and use these as the default desktop …. this score would turn into a “5/5”
> KDE acessibility depends on QT 4, and is on its way.
and what’s the bet that it’ll work right out the box with very little effort when Qt4 comes out? i’d put money on it, myself, unlike the accessability support in GNOME which exists primarily in spirit, but in reality hardly works and isn’t trivial to get going.
Quote “Mig”: “This poor fellow thinks he owns the truth about other people’s desktops,”
Quote the article: “The difference with Gnome 2.2 and KDE 3.1 is outstanding, in my humble opinion, in favor of Gnome2 of course.”
“However, I realize this is entirely a personal preference, and some people might prefer KDE. Just not me!”
RTFA. ‘Nuff said. It is usually a good idea before posting on a topic.
and what’s the bet that it’ll work right out the box with very little effort when Qt4 comes out? i’d put money on it, myself, unlike the accessability support in GNOME which exists primarily in spirit, but in reality hardly works and isn’t trivial to get going.
Have you really tried the accessibilty stuff in GNOME or are you making baseless accusations. I think you are a troll. The accessibility works well, out of the box too. You have to install all the right stuff to do it. Configuring is simply a matter of going to the control center and turning it on. I do not use accessibility, but I have given it a try, and it worked. Out of the box, in Fedora Core, no configuring necessary. Only the text to speech thing doesn’t work by default, but that is a distributor issue.
The fact that his opinion is in favour of gnome doesn’t justify his suggestion that in the future KDE should be a 2nd choice! Those who make such a statement must back it up with valid arguments, not just personal taste!
Anon, before posting, take the time to understand (not just read) other people’s comments!
As a final note, let me ask you this: would you agree with me if I said all people should like blue, just because I don’t like other colours?
… there are several usability things which KDE beats GNOME hands down. Bellow are some that comes to my mind just now but surely there are others:
1) Create desktop shortcuts is much easier in KDE than GNOME.
2) KDE has a functional and intuitive menu editor!
3) KDE and QT file dialogs… ´Nuff said.
4) Eye-candy: just look at http://www.kde-look.org.
Of course there are things that needs some improvement, like the contextual menus, but overall I think KDE provides a much better look-and-feel-and-experience than GNOME. Of course, it is just my opinion.
But I don´t understand the author´s remarks about Kmail and Konqueror. Kmail is much better than Evolution, unless you´re into the Outlook looks. Surely, Konqueror still isn´t better than Mozilla at rendering pages but it will be at least on par when Konqi incorporate some of Apple code.
Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but I also think that the article was purely flame-bait. There is nothing worth to discuss here.
DeadFish Man
Fernando invites flames by using terms like “nightmare” to describe KDE software. But moving on…
He’s right about SUSE’s obscure module names. There’s no reason not to use plain English to describe SUSE’s system configuration tool (Yast) or the other crypticly named programs.
I can’t understand why he would fault Konqueror for speed. Mozilla’s rendering is better for the moment, but Konqueror has always felt more responsive to me than Nautillus (in file mode) or most other browsers.
The reason some might prefer Kmail to Evolution is — once again — speed. I really want to like Gnome, but Evolution is the heaviest of all Linux mail clients. Kmail is far faster and features better security. When KDE users need PIM functionality, they open appropriate programs. KDE 3.2 will better integrate these functions, but I usually don’t *want* a contact manager open when I’m zapping spam or sending short notes.
I agree that the install splash screen is not a good place for browser wars, but SUSE is right: Mozilla can’t touch Konqueror’s integration. It’s not supposed to.
Gnome should be pleased with its startup time. But I’ll wait a few extra seconds on the rare occasions I log out of KDE to get what feels to me a much faster, better integrated environment.
As another writer noted, the Open Office quickstart works fine in KDE. Odd the writer didn’t know what he was doing.
As a Gnome cheerleader, I am also surprised Fernando didn’t mention that the default Gnome install is 2.2, not 2.4. I’d rather SUSE include the more recent release. And *of course* SUSE is KDE-centric — especially when you choose not to install the base Gnome packages!
SUSE configured my Winmodem properly, though I’m sure everyone’s milage will vary here.
I’m sure Novell will get Ximian Gnome running sweetly as SUSE’s default, and it will be a great desktop. I’ll use it. But SUSE has always been “the” KDE distro. KDE runs nicely on 9.0, regardless of this review’s obviously biased criticisms.