Oh yea finally Kubuntu 9.04 is OUT replaced the embarrassing™ Kubuntu 8.10, KDE 4.2.x replaces the embarrassing™ KDE 4.1.x and finally user can get some better experience.

Let’s check how it looks like and what are the new features.

KDE 4.2.2

Kubuntu 9.04 Desktop

KDE 4.2 is not yet perfect, but at least looks better than 4.0 and 4.1 and is a bit less buggier. Desktop is sexier and finally systray’s icons are not having garbage in the background.
Solved finally also the X corruption when opening new windows/popup.

GTK Applications look

If you used the embarrassing™ Kubuntu 8.10 you remember how ugly was Firefox for example, finally they took care of this aspect, look how nicer is now:

Firefox on embarrassing™ Kubuntu 8.10

Firefox on Kubuntu 9.04

KPackageKit

Finally embarrassing™ Adept 3.0 beta4 is replaced by KPackageKit. Definitely better if you consider that embarrassing™ Adept 3.0 beta4 had an embarrassing™ search engine that was something so silly that you think nobody ever tried it: too many irrelevant results and not even alphabetically ordered, can you imagine the mess?

Adept 3.0 beta4 default under embarrassing™ Kubuntu 8.10

KPackageKit default under Kubuntu 9.04

UPDATE 2nd of May 2009:
Trying to install amule I discovered that KPackageKit cannot uninstall software if this conflicts with a software you wan to uninstall, check:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/packagekit/+bug/342671

Trying to install sun-java6-jre another old bug that was fixed in older Kubuntu versions, check:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kpackagekit/+bug/350972/

Trying to install kubuntu-restricted-extra fails too, unbelievable:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kpackagekit/+bug/366703/

These are really bad regressions since even embarrassing™ Adept 3.0 beta4 worked better on these cases, what a pity, another version of Kubuntu screwed!

Solution:
Install Synaptic and use that one for installing new software and forget about this bad (again) step from Kubuntu.

Network Plasmoid

In the embarrassing™ Kubuntu 8.10 you cannot be without an embarrassing™ network management program, that was called KNetworkManager. It was so buggy that you cannot even think to release an OS with such crap preinstalled by default.
Now they switched to this plasmoid, but I’m still not super happy, seems that Ubuntu’s one is still better, at least when you need to configure a wireless network with static IP and not with DHCP it just works™ on Ubuntu, thing that honestly under Windows works since ages.

Anyway I appreciated the removal of another embarrassment™ present in the embarrassing™ Kubuntu 8.10 and now enjoy the new Network plasmoid under Kubuntu 9.04

Network plasmoid

So what are you waiting for? If you are a bit brave go, download it and install it or if you have already a previous Kubuntu, upgrade!
Instructions are here!

Do not forget if you have an old version to clean all old updates that are consuming your hard drive space doing via terminal:

sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb

or using Synaptic that has a nice option under Preferences.

Last but not least:
3 upgrades out of 3 went smoothly, two from embarrassing™ Kubuntu 8.10 and one from the good stable™ Kubuntu 8.04, finally you do not ends up in a mess installation!

UPDATE 2nd of May 2009:
Unluckily 4th one failed, we are still investigating causes but we still do not know.

Non-brave people

For all people that do not want to upgrade or even worse stay on another OS then you can wait till “Karmic Koala” aka Kubuntu 9.10 will be out end of October 2009.