KDE 3.1 Released

Ashcrow writes "KDE 3.1 was released early this morning and boasts new usability enhancements, VNC-compatible desktop sharing, tabbed browsing, and a new download manager, among other enhancements. You can read the release anouncement here and start downloading from the closest mirror. Kudos to the KDE Team!"

Comments

Is KDE trying to be Windows?

[Vapor8]

This is another terrific release by the KDE team and I commend them on yet another release of some pretty sweet code.

I have one concern though, that I have seen others raise in the past and which makes me wonder if we're heading in the right direction. A quick scan through the new features is almost like reading about the new features introduced in a previous version of Windows. Is KDE simply trying to be 'more like Windows', which in turn would make KDE a much more familiar 'interface' for newbies to use? If so, then that's great and I'm sure that it will help increase its use amongst the masses.

What bothers me is that I'm beginning to see less and less 'innovation' and more and more 'feature copying'. Now, I understand that it's difficult to add a killer new feature without first having a base that an average user would expect to have, but when will we be able to reach the point where we can begin to 'differentiate' KDE from Windows in a unique way in order to furthur 'entice' potential users who simply see KDE as a 'Windows wanna-be'?

I for one love KDE and have used it as my primary desktop environment for at least a couple years now, and I always look forward to updates such as this one. They're always full of neat goodies. But I always get that feeling in the back of my mind that maybe we should try to 'think out of the box' a little more...

Re:Is KDE trying to be Windows?

[sultanoslack]

First a few things to consider: most of us KDE developer folks don't use Windows -- at all. I used Windows XP for the very first time when I was home for Christmas.

Second, Windows has some very useful and well thought out features. I prefer to substitue copy with learned from. Windows has certainly borrowed many things from Unix land; we shouldn't be too arragant to learn from the things that they've done right.

The last, is a resounding, yes, we do aim to innovate and produce and authentic Unix desktop with all that is entailed by that. I think one of the most innovative examples of this is something like the KDE IO Slaves, which extend the Unix metaphor of everything is a file to exverything is a URL. Being able to use your file browser to copy things directly from an audio cd to a remove machine via scp -- all transparently -- is *really* cool, and I think very Unix like. Or how about regular expression support in many find type of places, or rather nice console, IRC, GPG apps; the list goes on.

For all of the talk about KDE being Windows like -- remember that it's developed by old-school Linux/Unix guys. We're all very comfortable at the CLI; the debate between XEmacs and Vim is a vigorous here as anywhere. KDE is and will remain an Open Source *nix desktop; ideally making such an environment so usable as to bring this environment we know and love to folks that traditionally wouldn't be able to use it.

Is KDE everything?

[cerenyx]

A quick scan through most of the comments on this page reflect the sentiment that KDE represents one of the pinnacles for why any windows user would want to switch to linux, and why linux "is ready".

My two cents on this matter is that what I feel should be Linux's selling point, what should be the reason why people start using Linux, is not so much a single desktop GUI, a smattering of 'features' that windows lacks, or anything. It should be the notion that Linux is an aggregate whole of multiple works, and that under Linux there is always more than one answer to something.

*sniff*
Now wasn't that sentimental and goo-gahish.

Congrats to the Kdevelopers for Kde 3.1

Truly Special

[rookkey]

Once again, I am absolutely amazed at what this little thing called Open Source can do.

Just six years ago, an ambitious proposal was made to the world by a German university student named Matthias Ettrich. The goal of the project was to create a user-friendly, open source desktop environment similar to CDE, the Common Desktop Environment. CDE, at the time, was popular on Solaris and many proprietary Unix platforms. However, CDE's code base was closed and the Linux community was searching for a suitable replacement. Enough support built up that dozens of developers came together to create an entire desktop environment out of nothing. Over 20 months later, KDE 1.0 was released to the public. And there was much rejoicing.

Taking on Sun was an ambitious enough goal. But who would have imagined that Microsoft (Word document) (Google cache) would ever specifically name KDE as a viable competitor to Windows?

Microsoft may even start to get a little hotter under the collar if recent events are to show anything: Wal-Mart's on-line shopping site quickly ran out of their PC's built with a Linux distribution using KDE for its interface; most of the government computers in Largo, FL run KDE; and Apple implements a new Web browser based on KDE's KHTML library.

And if there is nothing else that the release of KDE 3.1 proves, it is that the naysayers are wrong again. All too often, there are those who try to suggest that there is some sort of heated conflict between the GNOME and KDE projects. Nothing could be further from reality. For example, on the Xdg mailing list prominent developers from both the GNOME and KDE projects work together in forming a consistent .desktop file standard. The people that actually make GNOME and KDE have nothing but the highest respect for one another's projects. There is none of the hostility that so many trolls would like others to believe.

It has just been wonderful seeing this release happen. I have been watching the KDE developer's mailing lists since July and I find it fascinating how the whole thing has come together. The graphics designers, the documentation writers, the translators, the event organizers, and, of course, the coders. All of these groups have been equally important in making KDE the enormous success it has become.

So, I just want to say thank you to everyone who made it happen. I just have to wonder what the next six years will bring!

Do they have an installer yet?

[bwalling]

One thing I have never figured out with KDE is the lack of an installer. I like the installer from Ximian for Gnome. It is simple, and it handles dependencies (moderately well).

With KDE, I have to download a ton of files, and then figure out the aRTS dependencies and whatnot. I also have to figure out how to make Linux use KDE instead of Gnome. I can do it and get it installed, but why not have an installer?