Kubuntu 15.04 Will Use KDE's Plasma 5 By Default

[molecule-eye]

I would have cared about this news a week ago but after having tried out Plasma 5 (Kubuntu 14.10's Tech Preview iso) I've switched to Gnome, and this after having been a LONG time KDE user. I still miss KDE's configurability, but Plasma 5 is nowhere near where it should be, if you ask me. And a minor complaint: why is the default theme (including plasma theme, icons, widgets, window deco, etc.) so ugly? I actually think Oxygen and Air looks much nicer than Breeze, and the "flat" icons don't look good at all. That's surprising since the designers did the numix stuff which DOES look good.

[Luke_Wolf]

I would have cared about this news a week ago but after having tried out Plasma 5 (Kubuntu 14.10's Tech Preview iso) I've switched to Gnome, and this after having been a LONG time KDE user. I still miss KDE's configurability, but Plasma 5 is nowhere near where it should be, if you ask me. And a minor complaint: why is the default theme (including plasma theme, icons, widgets, window deco, etc.) so ugly? I actually think Oxygen and Air looks much nicer than Breeze, and the "flat" icons don't look good at all. That's surprising since the designers did the numix stuff which DOES look good.

Plasma 5 isn't intended for users just yet, wait until ~Plasma 5.3+ or so, maybe Plasma 5.4 unless you want to help develop/test it.

As far as the theme goes... You can't please everybody. I don't like the whole flat movement myself personally but there's this really nice thing about KDE.... you can make it look basically however you want. If you want to use oxygen or air, you can... so go use that. Being user configurable is practically a mantra of KDE's.

[TheBlackCat]

I would have cared about this news a week ago but after having tried out Plasma 5 (Kubuntu 14.10's Tech Preview iso) I've switched to Gnome, and this after having been a LONG time KDE user. I still miss KDE's configurability, but Plasma 5 is nowhere near where it should be, if you ask me.

Yes, that is why it is on a "Tech Preview" rather than an actual release. Plasma developers have said over and over again that this first release was not meant for end users. What do you expect a "Tech Preview" to be?

And a minor complaint: why is the default theme (including plasma theme, icons, widgets, window deco, etc.) so ugly? I actually think Oxygen and Air looks much nicer than Breeze, and the "flat" icons don't look good at all. That's surprising since the designers did the numix stuff which DOES look good.

Because a lot of people didn't like oxygen and air. It is still there, but "flat" icons and themes are what is popular right now. Every KDE 4.x thread people were complaining about how oxygen and air are ugly and outdated, now that they switch to something more modern other people are complaining they prefer things the way they were. No matter what they do, someone will complain. At least KDE is still fully supporting oxygen and air.

[molecule-eye]

Yes, that is why it is on a "Tech Preview" rather than an actual release. Plasma developers have said over and over again that this first release was not meant for end users. What do you expect a "Tech Preview" to be?

Plasma 5 has already released their first point release (and Frameworks its third), so while Kubuntu called it a "Tech Preview", Plasma and Frameworks 5 should be good enough by now to be on "production" systems. I guess it is in some sense, but I personally wouldn't use it for my primary system except to help out with reporting bugs.

Because a lot of people didn't like oxygen and air. It is still there, but "flat" icons and themes are what is popular right now. Every KDE 4.x thread people were complaining about how oxygen and air are ugly and outdated, now that they switch to something more modern other people are complaining they prefer things the way they were. No matter what they do, someone will complain. At least KDE is still fully supporting oxygen and air.

What people want is something more modern but also nice looking. Maybe Breeze is modern--but it isn't very nice to look at. Some elements (the calendar plasmoid, eg) look nice, but on a whole, it's not pretty.

Also, do you really think there's gonna be some major overhaul in the next little while that will make someone like think differently about Plasma 5? I doubt that!

[Awesomeness]

I would have cared about this news a week ago but after having tried out Plasma 5 (Kubuntu 14.10's Tech Preview iso) I've switched to Gnome, and this after having been a LONG time KDE user. I still miss KDE's configurability, but Plasma 5 is nowhere near where it should be, if you ask me. And a minor complaint: why is the default theme (including plasma theme, icons, widgets, window deco, etc.) so ugly? I actually think Oxygen and Air looks much nicer than Breeze, and the "flat" icons don't look good at all. That's surprising since the designers did the numix stuff which DOES look good.

You miss the configurability but are yet too stupid to select a different theme????

[Awesomeness]

A lot of the KCMs and stock Plasmoids from KDE4 are still missing, at least when I tried plasma-next on Arch. An integrated audio solution (and audio hardware config UI), display configuration, and Bluedevil are all absent. Gonna be hard to release a Kubuntu without bluetooth support or the ability to resize your monitor from a GUI.

For reasons no one, except the maintainers, understand KScreen, BlueDevil ect. are not part of the Workspace module but entirely independent Extragear modules (same for KMix).
Those where just covered in Plasma release announcements to give them press coverage they'll never get on their own. Check https://projects.kde.org/ to see whether a piece of KDE software is Extragear, Workspace or something else.

[Awesomeness]

Plasma 5 isn't intended for users just yet, wait until ~Plasma 5.3+ or so, maybe Plasma 5.4 unless you want to help develop/test it.

According to https://techbase.kde.org/Schedules/Plasma_5 new versions of Plasma 5 get released every 3 months. Plasma 5.2 in early January, Plasma 5.3 will then be released in April ? so pretty much along with Kubuntu 15.04. If the Kubuntu people are not stupid, they'll use 5.3.

[TheBlackCat]

Plasma 5 has already released their first point release (and Frameworks its third), so while Kubuntu called it a "Tech Preview", Plasma and Frameworks 5 should be good enough by now to be on "production" systems.

Why should it be? Plasma developers have said that it will be ready for "production" systems when they explicitly say it is ready for production systems, not before. Or is this just your personal opinion of what version numbers should mean?

What people want is something more modern but also nice looking. Maybe Breeze is modern--but it isn't very nice to look at. Some elements (the calendar plasmoid, eg) look nice, but on a whole, it's not pretty.

That is your opinion. Other people have been praising plasma's new look. I prefer it myself, in fact I am using it wherever possible on KDE SC 4.x right now. For those who don't like it, air and oxygen are still around.

Also, do you really think there's gonna be some major overhaul in the next little while that will make someone like think differently about Plasma 5? I doubt that!

What major overhaul? They are missing some widgets (although less with every release), they are missing some functionality (although less with every release), and some software has not been ported (although most of it is being ported as we speak). Where is the need for "major overhaul"?

[TheBlackCat]

For reasons no one, except the maintainers, understand KScreen, BlueDevil ect. are not part of the Workspace module but entirely independent Extragear modules (same for KMix).

The idea of frameworks it to keep things modular. Things that can feasibly be separated out were.

[Yoshi]

Wanted to try out the Kubuntu 14.10 Tech Preview but the current Image doesn't boot neither in a VM nor on a normal laptop. Anyone elese with this kind of problems? I can see the Kubuntu logo and then the screen goes black.