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The Linux desktop introduces some major changes after a complete rework by its developers. A Visual Guide helps users with their first steps in the colorful new world of KDE and explains the biggest changes. And a release party was celebrated at the Google Campus.

Dashboards are useful and attractive.

Not all of the planned features have made the KDE 4.0 release, and some say the release has come too early. The first release candidate had numerous bugs, although the quality had improved dramatically by the time RC 2 became available.

KDE developers such as Aaron Seigo defended the early release date saying that authorities, companies and home users who preferred a more stable KDE version should stick to KDE 3 for the time being. The early release of KDE 4.0.0 should motivate more developers to test the desktop and submit bug reports.

The new Dolphin file manager on KDE 4.0.

Critics fear that this release policy might scare off potential KDE users, who expect the same kind of stability from the new KDE that they had from the “older” version. Distributions such as OpenSuse and Kubuntu are taking a two-pronged approach and letting users decide whether to install KDE 3.5 or 4.0

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KRunner can calculate and google.

There have been far too many changes to KDE 4.0 to list them all here. The Visual Guide provides a comprehensive introduction.

New

Kalzium: constructing molecules with KDE 4.0.

Geography lessons with Marble.

KWin supports genuine transparency for windows.

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