| Is KDE back? 4.1 launches |
Jul. 30, 2008
Launched yesterday, and available now in Debian "experimental," KDE 4.1 is what 4.0 should have been, one reviewer finds. With some 70,000 software changes since 4.0 launched at Google HQ last Jan., is KDE 4.1 about to usher in the future of the Linux desktop?
The first RC1 release of KDE 4.0 appeared nearly a year ago. The full major 4.0 version was then officially launched at Google headquarters on Jan. 18. Then, team KDE really got busy, implementing a roadmap that called for minor releases each month. Those releases, in turn, culminated with the release of KDE 4.1 yesterday.
As if to apologize for KDE 4.0, the project's release manager, Dirk Muller, released 4.1 along with the news that some 20,803 commits had happened since 4.0, not counting 15,432 translation check-ins, nor about 35,000 commits that went into "working" branches. That's a lot of hacking.
Meanwhile, KDE 3.5 continues to do yeoman's duty, for 52 million Brazilian schoolkids, among others. And despite being "released," 4.1 may take its time trickling down into the major distros, like for instance the upcoming Debian Lenny release planned for Sept.
All that aside, the improvements in 4.1 are apparently substantial. They include the addition of a "Kontact" PIM (personal information managemer), sometimes apparently called "KDE-PIM." It is said to be integrated with the shell, and to include:- KMail email client
- Korganizer planner
- Akregator RSS feed reader
- KNode news reader
- "Many more" components
Another big change is a much more mature version of KDE 4.x's "Plasma" shell. Now boasting an improved "Plasmoid" folder view, the Plasma UI "can replace the KDE 3 shell for most casual users," the KDE project claims. Oh good. It's always great to have a shell that's actually usable.
The rest of the changes include library enhancements, improved applications and frameworks -- all the little things. It sounds promising!
The project's release announcement can be found here. A relatively "rave" review, given the early state of things, from generally staid ArsTechnica no less, can be found here. Meanwhile, DesktopLinux founder Rick Lehrbaum has posted a more sobering review on his DeviceGuru blog, here.
Or, for a little less talk, and a lot more KDE 4.1 action, you can dist-upgrade to Debian "experimental" and apt-get it yourself. Or visit the KDE Project's download page, here, and build all 20 constituent packages.
Or, just rock the screenshots for now, and wait for various distributions that plan to adopt it, which are also listed here.
-- Henry Kingman
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