KDE is a powerful Free Software graphical desktop environment for Linux and Unix workstations.

It combines ease of use, contemporary functionality, and outstanding graphical design with the technological superiority of the Unix operating system.

KDE is a network transparent contemporary desktop environment for UNIX workstations. KDE seeks to fill the need for an easy to use desktop for Unix workstations, similar to the desktop environments found under the MacOS or Microsoft Windows.

We believe that the UNIX operating system is the best operating system available today. In fact UNIX has been the undisputed choice of the information technology professional for many years. When it comes to stability, scalability and openness there is no competition to UNIX. However, the lack of an easy to use contemporary desktop environment for UNIX has prevented UNIX from finding its way onto the desktops of the typical computer user in offices and homes.

UNIX dominates the server market and is the preferred computing platform for computing professional and scientists. Without UNIX the internet would not be. But UNIX did not address the needs of the average computer user.

This fact is particularly unfortunate since a number of implementations of UNIX (Debian GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD etc.) are freely available on the internet. All of which are of exceptional quality and stability.

KDE The Desktop Environment

With KDE there is now an easy to use contemporary desktop environment available for UNIX. Together with a free implementation of UNIX such as GNU/Linux, UNIX/KDE constitutes a completely free and open computing platform available to anyone free of charge including its source code for anyone to modify. While there will always be room for improvement we believe to have delivered a viable alternative to some of the more commonly found and commercial operating systems/desktops combinations available today. It is our hope that the combination UNIX/KDE will finally bring the same open, reliable, stable and monopoly free computing to the average computer user that scientist and computing professionals world-wide have enjoyed for years.

KDE The Application Development Framework

Authoring applications under UNIX/X11 used to be an extremely difficult and tedious process. KDE recognizes the fact that a computing platform is only as good as the amount of first class applications available to the users of that particular platform. In view of these circumstances the KDE Project has developed a first rate compound document application framework, implementing the latest advances in framework technology and thus positioning itself in direct competition to such popular development frameworks as for example Microsoft's MFC/COM/ActiveX technology. KDE's KParts compound document technology enables developers to quickly create first rate applications implementing cutting edge technology.

KDE The Office Application Suite

Leveraging the KDE application development framework a great number of applications have been built for the K Desktop Environment. A selection of those applications is contained in the KDE base distribution. At this moment KDE is developing an office application suite based on KDE's KParts technology consisting of a spread-sheet, a presentation application, an organizer, a news client and more. KPresenter, KDE's presentation application was successfully used at many presentations.

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· Significant performance, interaction and rendering correctness improvements in KHTML and Konqueror, KDE's webbrowser
· User interaction, rendering and stability fixes in Plasma, the KDE4 desktop shell
· PDF backend fixes in the document viewer Okular
· Fixes in Gwenview, the image viewer's thumbnailing, more robust retrieval and display of images with broken metadata
· Stability and interaction fixes in KMail