Would appreciate more information on the following KDE4 features (I happen to use Kubuntu):

What the heck is Nepomuk / Akonadi / Strigi, and how does it affect me as a user? Every explanation I've found has been too abstract to relate to.

As far as I can tell, "Akonadi" = "You must have MySQL installed or else KDE is completely unusable. Oops, sorry if you already had a running MySQL system set up --we're going to take it over now."

"Strigi" = "If you pre-label all your 'family heirloom-related' files as 'family heirloom-related', then KDE will be able to identify them as 'family heirloom-related' even if the file name is a mundane-seeming 'test.txt'. Impressive, huh? Unfortunately, if you don't pre-label your files, then this feature is completely useless. Go use grep instead if you're looking for info within the files."

"Nepomuk" = "No bloody idea. What the heck is this, anyway?"

I'm being facetious, of course, but can someone please explain how these buzzword-loaded features make KDE easier to use for me? I'm not even sure what exactly they are, let alone how to take advantage of these features. Thanks.

They are big resource hogs that are best left disabled.

You maybe are facetious but that is pretty much my attitude about KDE. I seem to be incompitable with it.

A quick search turned up;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akonadi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigi
http://nepomuk.kde.org/node/1

All of these seem to be features that add another layer of bloat to make up for the lack of a decent menu system or file manager in KDE.

I'm saddened that you fellow posters agree with me. I was hoping someone would come in and say, "This is the correct way to take advantage of these features."

For example, Strigi. The other day I was looking for a file I hadn't used in over a year. I couldn't remember where I had stored it or the filename; I just remember that it was a PDF file that mentioned a former employer. I decided to use Strigi; I was hoping it would be user-friendly and intuitive. (hah! I should have known better) I typed in a keyword but it didn't find anything. I'm not even sure that the "keyword" was going to be used as a search string for the file contents. Maybe it's a search string for the file name? I tested it on some other files to figure out how to use Strigi, and Strigi couldn't come up with a single useful answer. I think I even tried to tell it "just search for any d*** PDF file" and it couldn't.

I ended up using command-line find to look for PDF files in the approximate date range, and then looked at all the files with my own eyeballs until I found the right one.

And I haven't met a single person yet who actually uses Strigi.

Is there anyone who can give a reasonable example where I could use something like Strigi? Am I using it wrong? Is it for certain situations? Searching image files? Browsing history? Something? Anything?