Fear of change

A recent article on dotKDE caused really a stir and a rather long (more than 430 comments!) debate. What is the reason? The decision to use the [Dolphin file manager](The Road to KDE 4: Dolphin and Konqueror) instead of Konqueror as default file manager.

I found myself rather surprised at such a reaction. After all, Dolphin and Konqueror will share much of the code base (which means that they will improve both) and Konqueror won’t be removed and will be available as default file manager through configuration. It sounds like a safe choice for me, however people didn’t like it that much apparently.

Different opinions are good, however many replies on the dot weren’t really constructive, or even informed. I just hope they don’t demotivate the developers, as they’re doing their best (I’m eagerly awaiting for KDE 4). Personally I think it’s fear of change, because Dolphin is not and will not be a file manager with stripped down functionality (what GNOME does), but instead it will be a specialized file manager, and rather powerful too.

To whoever doesn’t like the decision, they’re fine to think so. I would advise them to try Dolphin at least, though.