How is K Desktop Environment Developed
K Desktop Environment or KDE for short is constantly being worked on by a team of developers from around the world. The main base for KDE development is in Germany where the main servers are housed, but people from all over have had a hand in developing the KDE project.
KDE developers communicate through email with a messaging system that allows them to discuss the progress and any issues. The final decisions are voted on by the key desktop platform developers. These key developers have been working on the KDE project for a long time and have made great contributions to the project.
New versions of KDE are released on a regular basis read it. There have been a number of major and minor releases of the KDE.
There have been 11 major releases with the next release scheduled for late 2007. Of the major releases there are 1.x, 2.x and 3.x. All the 1.x versions will work together, and so on. So, for example the 1.0 and 1.1 versions will be able to be used together. However, 2.x and 1.x or 3.x versions of K Desktop Environment are not guaranteed to be compatible.
Minor releases are designed to fix problems or make minor adjustments to the major releases.
The next KDE release, KDE 4 is going to be a huge revision of the last KDE release. It will be faster with more memory. It will be more clean and efficient. The desktop is redesigned with several new implements. It is also going to have a more streamlined browser and file management. There is going to be a better multimedia program as well. Other major improvements are new spell check software and a new communications framework.
Since KDE is being worked on by numerous people on a continuous basis there is always some new idea or something new to bring to the table and upgrade the unix desktop environment.
This form of community development is very beneficial. It allows for many minds to work together. It lets each developer bring their skills and knowledge to the work.
This type of software development can really help in the aspects of new applications and to catch bugs or problems. Everyone works independently on whatever aspect they are interested in and then shares it all with the other developers.
The people working on KDE are mostly working on a volunteer basis. They are not driven by money, but they are driven by their desire to create the best Unix operating system and desktop possible. This makes the KDE development process more of a labor of love then just work.
Filed under: KDE Technology