All Linux Things

Kalendar has reached version 1. It is a desktop calendar for Plasma. It uses the same backend as Korganizer, so if you have that setup either on its own or via Kontact, Kalendar will open with access to your calendars. You just need to select the calendars to use them. It works very well with NextCloud. It is very similar to Gnome's Calendar application and is just a simple straight forward calendar. It can read and write to local calendars as well as online calendars. Overall a nice useful and simple application.

Fragments is a Gnome bit torrent application. It really does nothing beyond what KTorrent or Transmission does, but it has a very simple easy to understand and use interface. It does appear to work as well as any bit torrent client. If you like the bit torrent client you are using there is probably no reason to switch, but it new to the world of bit torrent and you like simple easy to figure out and use applications it is a nice bit torrent client.

Ive been using KDE for years but never got hooked on the built in K apps,always chosen what I prefer to use.

Agreed. Always found MOST of the K-apps to be...hot garbage maybe too mean, but unimpressive is certainly overly kind....

Agreed as I was never impressed with K apps in general, with a few exceptions.

It seems to me that you need a consistent design language. Otherwise the experience is like attending an elementary school art show. Using desktop should be a guide to using the applications that are part of it. Otherwise you endup with something like XFCE, which is nothing beyond a highly customizable launcher.

OpenOffice, Firefox, Gimp and others are outstanding applications, but they do not really fit on anything. Personally I would rather carve stone tablets, and ship them cross country via truck than use Thunderbird. That is not because Thunderbird is bad, it is because it does not look or act like it belongs on anything I work with. I could probably use any of this software if I had it on its own device where it is all I used the device for, but having them all together appears jarring and confusing to me. Maybe I just need more computers.

I dont want to limit myself to the vision that KDE has for their apps. Just as I do with Windows, I use apps that suit me and my needs regardless of the DE.
If KDE wants to improve their apps then thats a wait and see. Most of my computing life has been about making individual app choices and that wont change anytime soon. Thunderbird doesnt have to look or act like it belongs to anything. Its a great app that is well suited to the needs of many users, but if it isnt go use whatever works for you. Just as people dont want to be limited in their choices for distros, neither do we want to be limited with our choices of apps. The DE is exactly that, a launcher, so that you can create whatever user environment you choose. The DE provides a certain type of foundation/features then add what you like.