KDE 4.0 Officially Released

Today, the fourth major release of the KDE series is released in the name of a new era for the free desktop.

Thus begins the era of KDE 4.

January 11, 2008

The KDE community proudly announces the release of KDE 4.0.0. This marks the conclusion of a long and arduous development cycle for KDE 4.0, and the beginning of the KDE 4 era.

In terms of KDE 4 libraries, significant improvements can be found almost everywhere. The multimedia framework Phonon provides a platform-independent abstraction layer to support all KDE programs, while the hardware programming interface Solid makes operations on removable devices simpler and also offers better tools for power management.

On the KDE 4 desktop front, many new features have been added. The desktop shell Plasma presents an entirely new desktop interface, including panels, menus, desktop widgets, and dashboards, among others. Now KDE's window manager, KWin, supports advanced desktop effects that enhance the feel of window interactions.

Undoubtedly, there have been substantial and visible improvements in a large number of KDE applications. With the support of underlying libraries, many visual designs now rely on vector graphics technology, leading to improved user interfaces and new features. Additionally, there are even new programs introduced, including but not limited to Okular, a new universal document viewer, and Dolphin, a new file manager—these are just a few examples of the changes brought by the new technologies introduced in KDE 4.0.

The work of the Oxygen graphic design team has breathed fresh air into our desktops; virtually every visible part of the KDE desktop and applications has undergone such refinement. Beauty and consistency are the two fundamental concepts conveyed by the Oxygen theme.