Are We There Yet?
I received an interesting comment from a KDE4 user the other day:
When I read blog entries and see screenshots of KDE4 on people’s blogs like Aarons’, I find myself thinking “Wow, KDE4 looks pretty cool”. But when I try to make my desktop look like that, I can’t. There is nowhere in the UI to do what he’s done to his desktop, at least from what I could find. The average user can’t get what he’s got.
To the Marketing Team: What is this doing to KDE4’s image? It can’t be helping, but is it hurting? How do users feel when they see these beautiful screenshots of KDE4, but can’t recreate them at home? The more mature KDE4 becomes, the more users are going to try it. Is it still too soon?
KDE4 started out targeted at developers and early adopters — those who like to run bleeding edge technology. But when will KDE4 be ready for the rest of the world? Doing something as simple as configuring your desktop is still a major project, with costs in both time and frustration. Kubuntu Intrepid Ibex is planning on shipping 4.1.3 this fall, which makes me a little nervous. How many Kubuntu users will be afraid to upgrade and leave their safe KDE 3.5 behind? How many Kubuntu users are we going to lose because they can’t make the KDE4 transition?
[Edit June 23 2008 18:55 EST]
OK, so I probably shouldn’t have marked this post under usability (bad habit since 90% of my posts are about design/usability). It’s really about product marketing and business.
The post was written because I was curious to know what effect reading about and seeing developer screenshots has on our user base; expecially after they try the latest beta release and realize they can’t do what they see. When 4.0 was released, I didn’t have this concern because 4.0 was marketed as a developer release and not recommended for production use. But 4.1 is supposed to be The Big One. This is where everyone switches to KDE4 and the world is a better place. I know a lot of what are featured in dev screenshots will be done eventually, the question is when? 4.1? 4.1.1? 4.1.3? We’ve got a month to go, will what we see now in blog posts be there at the end of July? Or is this future-Future they are talking about? What effect is the future-Future going to have on a release that hasn’t yet been released? What will stop users from thinking we haven’t delivered on our promises?
More and more users are trying KDE4, but they’re still finding it unready 6 months after release. Yes, there have been great improvements since 4.0 and people who have been using it consistently tell me how much it is shaping up. These are the developers and early adopters saying this, not current 3.5 users who don’t fit that category and are the majority of Kubuntu’s user base. The problem is that KDE4 still doesn’t compete with the stability and features 3.5. I don’t care about the evolved experience from 4.0 to 4.1. I care about the changed experience from 3.5 to 4.1 (particularly 4.1.3). That changed experience is what we’re selling in October, and I want to know if I should begin worrying early if we’re risking the Kubuntu brand.
The 4.1 beta preview will obviously have bug crashes, but there still seems to be a lot of content/configuration missing. Are there really going to be that many content changes between now and the July RC candidate that will address all of these issues? If so, then I’m too early to worry about anything. But what vital pieces are still going to be missing?
seele :: Jun.23.2008 :: General, KDE/Kubuntu :: 44 Comments »
