I upgraded my main workstation to KDE 3.3 because I wanted the newer applications, not because I was looking for excitement. Desktop upgrades have supplied quite enough excitement already.

My first attempt was the usual impatient one: replace the packages, keep every old setting, and hope. The desktop started, but a couple of panels behaved oddly and Konqueror inherited some settings that no longer made much sense. I briefly blamed KDE. Then I tried a fresh user account and discovered that my carefully accumulated configuration was the real antique.

What impressed me was how little else needed attention. Session restoration brought back the applications I expected. The file manager, terminal, editor, and control modules felt like parts of one desktop rather than strangers sharing a theme. Even mundane details such as keyboard shortcuts were consistent enough that I stopped thinking about them.

That is what maturity looks like to me. It is not a spectacular new dialog. It is being able to spend the afternoon in C++ rather than repairing the environment used to write it.

I copied only the settings I understood into the fresh account and left the archaeological layers behind. KDE 3.3 may not make for dramatic dinner conversation, but a desktop that gets out of the way is doing its job very well.