KDE 4 Released
Eagerly anticipated, KDE 4.0.0 was officially released on Friday.
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
.
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.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.