| KDE 4.0 alpha arrives! |
May 11, 2007
 Analysis -- Some people have been anxiously waiting for the summer blockbuster movies to arrive. Many Linux fans, on the other hand, have been waiting impatiently for what they hope will be the next Linux desktop box-office smash hit: KDE 4.0.
On May 11, the KDE Community released the first alpha of KDE 4.0 -- aka "Knut" -- which will boast a completely renovated desktop appearance. The appearance is based on the Oxygen theme. Oxygen, in turn, has been influenced by Apple's Mac OS X's Aqua desktop interface.
Underneath this layer, you'll find TrollTech's latest Qt 4.3 GUI (graphical user interface) development environment. This revised C++ GUI framework includes better OpenGL support for 3D visualizations, support for SVG (scalable vector graphics) and other improvements.
KDE4's slick new desktop
(Click to enlarge)
At a higher level, KDE 4 provides new application frameworks. Solid provides improved hardware integration, while Phonon will improve multimedia integration for both developers and end-users.
Under the hood, perhaps the biggest change will be in the IPC (interprocess communication), which is moving to D-Bus. This provides both a system daemon and a per-user-login-session daemon. It's designed to improve interoperability between Linux desktop applications. D-Bus has already been adopted by the Portland Project for its forthcoming DAPI (desktop application programming interface).
What this means for KDE is that ISVs (independent software vendors) and IHVs (independent hardware vendors) should have a much easier time bringing programs and device drivers to the KDE-powered Linux desktop. This, in turn, would make it much more attractive to end-users.
Now, for just users who want to give it a try, rather than developers, this alpha unveils the revised file manager, Dolphin.
The new Dolphin file manager
(Click to enlarge)
If all goes right, on June 1, the KDE trunk code feature list will be frozen. Simultaneously, a list of main modules that will be included in the final release will be announced. This will be followed by the release of KDE 4.0 beta 1 on June 25.
Next, beta 2 will be released on July 2, followed by beta 3 on Aug. 25. Then, on Sep. 23, KDE goes into a total release freeze. From there on, only regressions, breakage caused by the KDE4 port, or grave bugs can be fixed.
Moving in to the finish, the KDE team will release KDE 4.0 RC1 (release candidate 1) on Sep. 25, followed quickly by RC2 on Oct. 9. Presuming that no show-stopper bugs appear in these close-to-final test releases, KDE 4.0 will appear on Oct. 23, 2007.
If you want to try it now, though, you can. There's a KDE 4 live CD, based on openSUSE, that's available for download. There are also distribution packages available for Kubuntu and Gentoo. Packages should also soon be available for openSUSE and Mac OS X.
Would-be testers should keep in mind that this is an alpha release. To quote the disclaimer from the OS X release: "They may not work. They may not even install. We are not responsible for any problems or system problems this may cause."
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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