Software Update: KDE 4.4.0 RC2

The second release candidate of version 4.4.0 of K Desktop Environment was released on Monday. KDE is a popular desktop environment developed primarily for Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris, but there are versions for it as well Windows and Mac OS X. It comes with a standard desktop, including fifteen packages of applications, including a personal information manager, multimedia, administration and network management programs, and games. Below are the release notes for this release, explaining the main improvements since version 4.3.0:

KDE Software Compilation 4.4 RC2 Out Now: Codename “CampKDE”KDE has released the second release candidate of the next version of the KDE Software Compilation (KDE SC). KDE SC 4.4 Release Candidate 2 provides a testing base for identifying bugs in the upcoming KDE Software Compilation 4.4, with its components the KDE Plasma Workspaces, the Applications powered by KDE, and the KDE Development Platform.

The list of changes between 4.3 and 4.4 is especially long. Important changes can be observed all over the place:

• the Nepomuk Semantic Search framework has made leaps: A new storage backend makes it a lot faster. New user interfaces to interact with the Nepomuk database are first delivered with KDE 4.4.0. A timeline view of your files makes finding files used in the past easier.
• the Plasma Desktop has been further polished. Many user interface elements have received attention by developers and designers. The new widget explorer provides a richer experience for managing desktop widgets. Plasma widgets can now be shared with other users over the network and the handling of storage devices in the desktop shell has been streamlined. Also, in 4.4 Plasma’s little sibling, the Netbook shell debuts as a technology preview.
• New applications on the horizon range from Blogilo, a rich-client blogging tool to cantor and Rocs, two scientific applications for advanced math and graph theory needs. Many other applications, such as the Gwenview image viewer and the Dolpin file manager have been further improved.
• The KDE Development Platform adds the new KAuth authorization framework for easy and secure privilege escalation, printing of odd and even pages, scanner support for the Windows platform and the first pieces of integration of the popular webkit rendering engine.

These are only some of the new features one can expect from the new KDE Software Compilation 4.4, there is also a longer list of the changes. The long list of changes also comes with an even longer list of smaller and bigger bug fixes and performance enhancements which lead to a noticable improvement of the user experience.

The release is named after Camp KDE, the American KDE conference held last week in San Diego, California.

To find out more about the KDE 4.4 desktop and applications, please also refer to the KDE 4.3.0, KDE 4.2.0, KDE 4.1.0 and KDE 4.0.0 release notes, as KDE SC 4.4 is the next evolutionary step on top of these releases. KDE SC 4.4 RC2 is not stable software, as such, it is not suitable for everyday or production use. KDE SC 4.4 RC2 is aimed at testers and those who would like to have an early look at the next KDE SC release.
This release candidate will be followed up by the release of KDE SC 4.4.0 on February, 9th 2010. After that, KDE will supply the usual monthly bugfix and translation updates to provide further polish and fixes.

KDE, including all its libraries and its applications, is available for free under Open Source licenses. KDE can be obtained in source and various binary formats from http://download.kde.org and can also be obtained on CD-ROM or with any of the major GNU/Linux and UNIX systems shipping today.

Dolphin and System Settings, click on the image for a larger version.