Frameworks 5: KDE Libraries Reworked Into Portable Qt Modules

jrepin writes "The KDE libraries are being methodically reworked into a set of cross platform modules that will be readily available to all Qt developers. The KDE Frameworks, designed as drop-in Qt Addons, will enrich Qt as a development environment with functions that simplify, accelerate and reduce the cost of Qt development. For example, KArchive (one of the first Frameworks available) offers support for many popular compression codecs in a self-contained and easy-to-use file archiving library. Just feed it files; there's no need to reinvent an archiving function." This is a pretty major thing: "The introduction of Qt's Open Governance model in late 2011 offered the opportunity for KDE developers to get more closely involved with Qt, KDE's most important upstream resource. ... These contributions to Qt form the basis for further modularization of the KDE libraries. The libraries are moving from being a singular 'platform' to a set of 'Frameworks'. ... Instead it is a comprehensive set of technologies that becomes available to the whole Qt ecosystem." The new KDE Frameworks will be layered as three tiers of components, with each tier consisting of three semi-independent groups of libraries (the article explains the category/tier dependencies; it's a bit hairy for a quick summary). A dashboard shows the status of each component.

The enigma

[MetalliQaZ]

KDE does so many interesting things. I love modular, general purpose, and cross-platform tools that combine into a greater whole. This news item and also their work on a common desktop framework for mobile and desktop fall into that category. QT also has so much going for it.

But why then is the KDE user experience so awful?? I just can't use it. Coming from Windows for Office, web, and gaming, and GNOME2 on my servers and workstations, trying KDE is like a huge regression. It looks bad, it feels clunky, it is always broken somehow. I just don't understand why they can't get it together. Does anyone actually use it?