KDE Simple Overview
We are asked many time per day, “what is K Desktop Environment anyways and why everyone in the Unix world is talking about it”? Well, we prepared a simple overview of KDE for you that gives you a fair idea about this thing.
KDE or K Desktop Environment is a software system that aspires to become a potent system so as to provide a convenient desktop environment. The aim of the system is to facilitate fundamental desktop applications and functions for regular requirements. Also, it is provides documentation and tools so that the web developers can write down stand-alone claim for the computer system. There are numerous small ventures and standalone applications that make use of KDE technique. They are Amarok, KOffice, K3b and KDevelop.
KDE was set up just a decade ago in the year 1996. Established by Matthias Ettrich, he initially made use of Qt toolkit for the development of KDE project. He set up K Desktop Environment so that users could work, feel and look stable. The K does not carry any meaning and does not stand for any word.
KDE program features a mascot of dragon of green color. It is known by the name of Konqi. The dragon is visible in all the KDE applications and its screen.
Assembling of KDE program is a complicated task. Numerous organizations hire professionals to develop the project, such as, Trolltech, Novell and Mandriva. Mostly all the problems are discussed on various mailing lists. Significant decisions like addition of latest applications and dates release are prepared by core developers on KDE-core-devel index. Germany is the epicenter for the KDE development. Moreover, all its conferences are held in Germany.
New versions of KDE are released on regular basis. Two important kinds of release are minor version and major version. In the category of major version, there are 11 significant releases, such as 3.5, 1.0, 3.4, 1.1, 2.0, 3.3, 2.1, 3.0 and 2.2. By the end of 2007, KDE 4.0 will be released. It will work on the pattern and function of Qt 4x version. Another special release is KDE X.0 that enables to decode both source and binary-compatibility.
It implies that program that was developed to work for KDE 3.0 will function on the entire future KDE 3 versions. In contrast to major versions, minor ones do not add any significant features. The exception has been 3.5.x which had minor additions. Some of the versions of minor versions are KDE 1.1.1, enhancing usability and emphasis on rectifying minor errors and fixing bugs.
The main emphasis of KDE is to develop programs that can be used conveniently. Also, it ensures that while developing programs no other feature is sacrificed. Although the development of the KDE project is complicated, efforts are being made to reduce difficulty from 3.2 to 3.5 versions. Recognition of areas that are deficient in usability and rectifying them is the major aim of KDE 4.0. Features, such as modern window and font decorations, installing of security settings and addition of networked or local printer have been provided for a convenient desktop environment.
Some of the KDE applications are - Konsole (terminal emulator), K Word (word processor), Akregator (aggregator), Kate (text editor) and KMail (e-mail client). The project is sponsored by business houses, individuals and universities.
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Filed under: KDE Technology