As I now officially have started my 2 month test of KDE/kubuntu I thought I'd get started on Kontact, KDE:s calendar/contact/mail suite. In many respects it is very similar to Evolution, Gnomes version of the same thing.
Theoretically Kontact seems to be a lot more integraded and up to date, Evolution has fallen seriously behind. I did however run into quite a lot of bugs setting it up. The google integration didn't want to work half of the time, and then it added two versions of the same calendar. Settings don't always save properly, some crashes, and other small things. This is not to say that for example Evolution would have fared any better, but it is a bit annoying.
Technically, since kubuntu is a community project without corporate backing I shouldn't really complain, but file a bug report. I'll get to that part when I know what actually is a bug and where I just forgot to save the settings. And after a few restarts and logins it seems to be working fine. I do very much appreciate the amount of settings in KDE. There is very little you can't change if you don't like it.
As for the program itself, it seems quite ok. The calendar part is one of the better interfaces of any program I've tested. Contacts is quite basic, but works. And I like the barcodes to copy contacts to your phone. Mail leaves a lot to be desired when you're used to Thunderbird, but I well soldier on and see if I can find all the settings I need to get it to what I want. I'm not giving up on it yet.
All in all, so far I have not been blown away by KDE, but I am suitably impressed. And I haven't found any showstoppers.
Next post will probably be about Kdevelop, as I will trying it out next.