Q4OS Forum

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,593

Website

Discussion about a critical review

We have noticed a critical Q4OS review on Distrowatch, you can read it here https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resou … istro=q4os

We consider this "review" as a peculiar attempt to target Q4OS reputation. It clearly shows an unfriendly style and uses incorrect arguments. Unfortunately the review is anonymous and we have no way to explain things on Distrowatch directly, so we do it here.

The key points backwards:

1. But the worst thing about Q40S ... KDEWallet is not preconfigured for the user as system keyring. ... users who install Chrome, Vivaldi and a bunch of other high-profile apps that use system keyring to store credentials are in for a treat...

This is non-sense. Many of significant KDE Plasma distributions, including Neon and MX Linux, have Plasma Kwallet disabled by default. They let user to choose Kwallet as an option. Q4OS has exactly the same configuration.
Applications don't need Kwallet at all - they must work on another desktop environments safely after all. Chrome and Vivaldi even feature own and safe password manager. It appears the anonymous author tries to draw Q4OS as a threat for users ?

2. I noticed there was not any splash screen. ... Plymouth and plymouth-themes are not installed by default. I have reasons to believe this is because Q4OS does not offer its own custom plymouth theme ..

Reasons to believe... hmm.  We want to keep Q4OS lightweight. Plymouth adds additional services and significant load to the system so we consider it to be an overkill for Q4OS purposes. Plymouth is a nice project, but unfortunately it appears a bit inconsistent at the current status. It flashes sometimes, moreover it doesn't work on some hardware properly.

3. But if you're not going to provide a plymouth theme with your distro, then why the loglevel=3 grub boot argument, dearies?

Dearies?? Why are you arrogant, author ?  Loggelevel is configured to display important system messages. If someone wants to debug, they won't just quickly view the messages during boot, but simply open journalctl. For realtime boot debugging, you can simply start fail-save mode or edit loglevel parameter at the Grub boot screen.

4. Software center applications ... Well the collection is a mixed bag. Mostly a showcase for their copying of install-shield setup wizard. Guys these imitations of windows-styled installers do not look so polished against the backdrop of modern KDE. ... Also it lists some unverified flatpaks while official debian packages are available from developers themselves.

Here we can agree, if we would pass over author's offensive tone. We are working on porting the Software centre code to Qt6 and on separation of Apt and Flatpak applications too.

5. Fastfetch says Debian 13 Trixie, system info in Plasma settings says Debian 13 Trixie, cat /etc/os-release says... Debian 13 Trixie. So what is this? Just Debian with Calamares?

Yes, it's Debian. We haven't ambitions to modify the Debian base, instead we want to stick as much as possible to Debian and offer additional tools and perks. We do not consider this a weakness, but a forte.

6. Beyond the debatable choices for default applications, desktop is too vanilla, alarmingly vanilla Debian.

Alarmingly??  No, it's not vanilla Debian, it's KDE Plasma vanilla, an another theme. KDE Plasma vanilla desktop is well worked-out and it's an excellent choice for new users. The author "missed" out, that any user who love Q4OS branding can switch to dedicated Q4OS Debonaire theme easily. It's our intention.

7. Chromium instead of Firefox. Not my choice. KTorrent by default which cannot hold the candle to Qbittorrent. Clementine! Clementine is an example of pseudo-development. Its maintainer changes a letter in a translation and builds a new release out of it. It is a dead app. q4os team does not know that Strawberry Music Player exists. Same basically app with Clementine but in active development. ufw instead of firewalld with gufw as a gui instead of the integrated in KDE System Settings Firewall settings. ufw is more accessible but gufw (GTK3) has shown buggier behaviour in newer systems/distros.

We are standing behind choices of Chromium as a web browser and Ktorrent for Plasma. We would agree Clementine is not a best choice at these days. We will replace it with Strawberry player soon. We will also remove Gufw from Plasma installation as a superfuous one, however the Plasma integrated system settings configuration works fine and safely.

8. Sorry Q40S team but I will definitely direct my donations elsewhere...

Author, whoever you are, you are always welcome to use Q4OS for free   Also you are welcome to support your point of view in this discussion.

For those wondering why to use Q4OS Plasma, we have compiled a few reasons https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5770 We welcome everyone to join the discussion on this review, any opinion is welcome.

Last edited by q4osteam (2025-11-05 10:36)

FRW74

Member

Registered: 2025-10-11

Posts: 3

Re: Discussion about a critical review

I just read the review, and I agree that the tone comes across as a bit harsh. However, I don’t believe it’s meant to be malicious (after all, the reviewer gave it a 3-star rating, not a 1). There are always going to be “distro snobs” out there, and it’s possible this is one of those cases where someone tried your distro and focused on what they perceive as its weak points.
It’s important not to assume that someone is out to damage your reputation just because they’ve pointed out areas for improvement. As you’ve already done, take the constructive feedback to heart, use what’s useful to make improvements, and don’t be afraid to explain your choices where necessary. For instance, if you chose Chromium over Firefox, that could easily be addressed in your FAQ section to clarify your reasoning.
Haters will always find something to complain about, so try not to take it personally. You and your team are doing great work. With so many positive reviews, one critical opinion shouldn’t shake your confidence. Keep moving forward!

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,593

Website

Re: Discussion about a critical review

@FRW74
Quite a reasonable opinion   All in all we like a positive criticism and factual pointing to bugs and shortcomings. By discussing the review here, we have a chance to get the minds of others and evaluate the real problems of Q4OS.

However the review, if you read it carefully, really looks like a sophisticated attempt to defame our distribution and make others avoid using it. Also, why the author made purposeless remark about donations.

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,593

Website

Re: Discussion about a critical review

... take the constructive feedback to heart, use what’s useful to make improvements, and don’t be afraid to explain your choices where necessary ...

+1. We will do

Midas

Member

Registered: 2017-12-15

Posts: 252

Re: Discussion about a critical review

Unfortunate tone, if you ask me -- personal preferences trumping long time stated distro goals.

I'm all for open and free criticism, but free community work should always be treated with respect, IMHO.

Some points are apparently warranted, as q4osteam acknowledges in fair play. Good.

Highlight: Q4OS is still getting an 8.7 average rating.

danielson

Member

From: AR - U.S.A.

Registered: 2018-08-29

Posts: 214

Re: Discussion about a critical review

Rarely look at Distrowatch reviews.

Forums are always best places to find honest user feedback.

Curious as to why Chromium is adopted as default.
The guy or gal isn't as geeky as the extensive post would like to make us believe.
After all, any Linux user knows how to install a browser.

Good show at starting this thread @q4osteam !

Last edited by danielson (2025-11-03 19:43)

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DELL Optiplex 7060 - 8G RAM.

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,593

Website

Re: Discussion about a critical review

Curious as to why Chromium is adopted as default.

We love all, newcomers as well as experienced users. We believe Chromium is more familiar and suits better for most of new Linux users. At the same time we believe experienced user's preferences about web browsers are more diversified, so they are able to choose another one and install it more readily than a novice. Another reason is that Debian repositories host Firefox ESR, but not Firefox release. And the last is our own preference, we consider Chromium more robust and backed up by community than Firefox. But we admit it could be very debatable.

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,593

Website

Re: Discussion about a critical review

... free community work should always be treated with respect

+1

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,593

Website

Re: Discussion about a critical review

For those wondering why to use Q4OS Plasma, we have compiled a few reasons https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5770

q4osteam

Q4OS Team

Registered: 2015-12-06

Posts: 5,593

Website

Re: Discussion about a critical review

We have added answers 2. and 3. regarding to Plymouth to the OP