i should be working (but i'm fixing my computer).

My two main work computers now run OpSu 11.2, with the KDE 4.4 RC1 -- and I 'm glad they do. But do I risk updating my HP ZD7000?

...

I had trouble with my Toshiba A15 and had to roll it back to OpSu 11.1.  Not sure whether I want to run this risk on the ZD7000.  There is just too much setup involved, especially as I will do a clean install, so if it fails, I'll have to do the setup twice.

The setup I'm referring to has nothing to do with OpSu or KDE -- runs fine out of the box.  But, I have a lot of specialized directories/installs/etc.

It's time once again to reflect on the awesomeness of the linux world and especially OpSu and KDE, which I am most familiar with.  I was just reading a post by a KDE user/programmer who had migrated to Windows 7 for a short time and now is back.  His view, linux is better.

It may be that linux is not now and perhaps never will quite be a system for casual users.  An IT dept. can set up and deploy linux company-wide, resolving any issues that may exist.  But can a non-computer person be wholly successful with linux?  Don't know.  There will always be bugs and broken stuff.

Or, not precisely "broken stuff," more like "incomplete" software.  I recently read that a couple of Okular maintainers were leaving the project.  Does not bode well for those of us who use Okular daily.

It wasn't all that long ago that Okular was the new "mystery" project for those of use using the existing PDF programs, such as Evince, kpdf, xpdf. Little by little, it eclipsed those and became the go-to choice.

But, the maintainers have expressed concerns about the rudeness of individuals reporting bugs.  Fair enough.  I don't report any, but there are some issues I would be really happy to see fixed.  Such as, for some reason Okular thinks my documents should print A4 unless I open the printer properteries.  And, I can't print multiple copies, which is problematic when I want to ... print multiple copies.

Anyway, so what?  Okular is awesome.  You just make a mental note of the shortcomings and work around them.  Casual consumers are not fault-tolerant. The trade off is they never get cutting edge performance.

Speaking of "cutting edge" -- I never run the "unstable" packages.  But, I generally DO run the "factory" stable packages.  Which makes me, yeah, I know, a complainer.  (I'd rather think of it as reporting bugs, but anyway ...)

I saw a post recently that could have been replying directly to something I said about having to change OpSu KDE repositories all the time.  It laid out the [present] OpSu KDE repository philosophy and basically told me (or whomever it was responding to) to "get over it."

Well, yeah, I agree.  They're doing me a favor to even HAVE these various repositories.  I don't mind hunting for them now and then ... though it's still inconvenient to have to change them, especially when I am unaware they have moved on.  But if the alternative is to not have them in the first place, nevermind!

What would be even easier would be to have a one-click install in the Build Service.  I've even been thinking of building such a thing myself.  The reason is, I know it "can be done" -- I sometimes update my repositories by finding a version of KDE in the build service or something and installing it.  Presto! The current repositories for that version are installed, I don't have to hand install them.  So, given that I do this on numerous computers, it would be convenient to build a "one click" that would simply install the repository set that I want all at once.

Anyway, as the post noted, if you use anything beyond the "current:stable" version of the repositories, you are likely to run into some issues and some instability.  I accept the risk.  After all, I discovered a long time ago that the factory version has features -- and sometimes STABILITY -- not available in the current "stable" version.  Plus, once KDE announces the next major release, it's just way too frustrating to wait to use it until the next OpSu release that will include it.

So, yeah, I use the slightly "unstable" version, I accept the consequences -- and ... I will comment on stuff that doesn't work for me!  That's just human nature.

But, it doesn't mean I don't realize the awesomeness of the work that all the programmers and maintainers are doing.  What would I do if one day I logged in and software.opensuse.org was simply no longer there?  Yikes (reminds me of when Novell bought OpenSUSE in the first place ...)