KDE 4.1 Alpha1 Release Announcement

What will KDE 4.1 bring?

* Akonadi is among the new big things in KDE 4.1. Akonadi is the desktop-independant storage engine for Personal Information Management (PIM) data. While not yet based on Akonadi, KDE 4.1 also brings a KDE 4 port of PIM applications such as KMail and KOrganizer.

* With KDE 4.0 being available for X11 platforms, KDE 4.1 will also be available on Windows, Mac OS X and OpenSolaris. The ports are not yet completely finished yet, but good for a first preview nevertheless.

* KDE 4.1 Alpha1 is based on Qt 4.4. Qt 4.4 brings improvements in performance and functionality to KDE 4.1. SVG rendering speed has vastly improved, and widgets and layouts can now be used on canvases such as the Plasma desktop and panel. Migrating the Plasma codebase to these new features is still work in progress, so some instability here is to be expected.

Please note that KDE 4.1 Alpha1 is not suitable for daily usage. It is meant as a preview for upcoming technology more than anything else.

Compiling KDE 4.1 Alpha1 (4.0.71)

Source Code. The complete source code for KDE 4.0.71 may be freely downloaded. Instructions on compiling and installing KDE 4.0.71 are available from the KDE 4.0.71 Info Page, or on TechBase.

Supporting KDE

KDE is a Free Software project that exists and grows only because of the help of many volunteers that donate their time and effort. KDE is always looking for new volunteers and contributions, whether it is help with coding, bug fixing or reporting, writing documentation, translations, promotion, money, etc. All contributions are gratefully appreciated and eagerly accepted. Please read through the Supporting KDE page for further information.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

About KDE 4

KDE 4 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.

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