KDE 4.0 Released

KDE Project Ships Fourth Major Version of cutting edge Free Software Desktop

With the fourth major version, the KDE Community marks the beginning of the KDE 4 era.

January 11, 2008 (The INTERNET).

The KDE Community is thrilled to announce the immediate availability of KDE 4.0 [ http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/ ]. This significant release marks both the end of the long and intensive development cycle leading up to KDE 4.0 and the beginning of the KDE 4 era.

The KDE 4.0 desktop
The KDE 4.0 desktop

The KDE 4 Libraries have seen major improvements in almost all areas. The Phonon multimedia framework provides platform independent multimedia support to all KDE applications, the Solid hardware integration framework makes interacting with (removable) devices easier and provides tools for better power management.

The KDE 4 Desktop has gained some major new capabilities. The Plasma desktop shell offers a new desktop interface, including panel, menu and widgets on the desktop as well as a dashboard function. KWin, the KDE Window manager, now supports advanced graphical effects to ease interaction with your windows.

Lots of KDE Applications have seen improvements as well. Visual updates through vector-based artwork, changes in the underlying libraries, user interface enhancements, new features, even new applications -- you name it, KDE 4.0 has it. Okular, the new document viewer and Dolphin, the new file manager are only two applications that leverage KDE 4.0's new technologies.

The Oxygen Artwork team provides a breath of fresh air on the desktop. Nearly all the user-visible parts of the KDE desktop and applications have been given a facelift. Beauty and consistency are two of the basic concepts behind Oxygen.

Desktop

Learn more about KDE's new desktop interface in the KDE 4.0 Visual Guide [ http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/guide.php ].

Applications

Some applications are introduced in more detail in the KDE 4.0 Visual Guide [ http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/applications.php ].

Filemanager, System Settings and Menu in action
Filemanager, System Settings and Menu in action

Libraries

KDE's TechBase [ http://techbase.kde.org ] knowledge library has more information about the KDE libraries.

Take a guided tour...

The KDE 4.0 Visual Guide [ http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/guide.php ] provides a quick overview of various new and improved KDE 4.0 technologies. Illustrated with many screenshots, it walks you through the different parts of KDE 4.0 and shows some of the exciting new technologies and improvements for the user. New features of the desktop [ http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/desktop.php ] get you started, applications [ http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/applications.php ] such as System Settings, Okular the document viewer and Dolphin the file manager are introduced. Educational applications [ http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/education.php ] are shown as well as Games [ http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/games.php ].

Give it a spin...

For those interested in getting packages to test and contribute, several distributions have notified us that they will have KDE 4.0 packages available at or soon after the release. The complete and current list can be found on the KDE 4.0 Info Page [ http://www.kde.org/info/4.0.php ], where you can also find links to the source code, information about compiling, security and other issues.

The following distributions have notified us of the availability of packages or Live CDs for KDE 4.0:

About KDE 4

KDE 4.0 is the innovative Free Software desktop containing lots of applications for every day use as well as for specific purposes. Plasma is a new desktop shell developed for KDE 4, providing an intuitive interface to interact with the desktop and applications. The Konqueror web browser integrates the web with the desktop. The Dolphin file manager, the Okular document reader and the System Settings control center complete the basic desktop set.
KDE is built on the KDE Libraries which provide easy access to resources on the network by means of KIO and advanced visual capabilities through Qt4. Phonon and Solid, which are also part of the KDE Libraries add a multimedia framework and better hardware integration to all KDE applications.

About KDE

KDE is an international technology team that creates free and open source software for desktop and portable computing. Among KDE's products are a modern desktop system for Linux and UNIX platforms, comprehensive office productivity and groupware suites and hundreds of software titles in many categories including Internet and web applications, multimedia, entertainment, educational, graphics and software development. KDE software is translated into more than 60 languages and is built with ease of use and modern accessibility principles in mind. KDE4's full-featured applications run natively on Linux, BSD, Solaris, Windows and Mac OS X.

Trademark Notices. KDE® and the K Desktop Environment® logo are registered trademarks of KDE e.V. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks and copyrights referred to in this announcement are the property of their respective owners.